1101 (out of sequence) Monte Carlo & Monaco (Monte Carlo or bust)

Oh Dear. We’ve just been going through what we have done over the course of our holiday and I was looking at my blog and I suddenly realised there was no post that had covered our visit to Ville Franche. I knew that I had written something but it was not where it needed to be. So, here is the story of our visit to one of the most exclusive casinos in the world.

The Sunday morning trip was relatively straightforward and required only a little effort.

Our tour guide whose name I have sadly forgotten was very good. She was quite a cheerful person without being overboard.

One of the first things she did was something I had never thought about and that was to clarify the relationship between the two. It turns out that Monaco is the second smallest principality in the world, the smallest being the Vatican. Monaco is politically divided into four quarters, of which one is Monte Carlo. Easy when you know isn’t it?

I can’t check who rules Monaco at the moment as I don’t have an internet connection, but whichever Prince it was was clearly interested in marking Monaco’s place on the world map. Gambling may not be one of its main industries, but it is certainly one of, if not the biggest earner. (Afternote; it is of course Albert II, Prince of Monaco).

By far the biggest and most opulent casino is the Grand Casino. This building dominates the square. It doesn’t open for business until 1pm but it is possible for a small fee in the morning to view the casino as a museum. We wanted to have a go on the slot machines, but sadly weren’t allowed to.

I’d love to know how much money changes hands on a typical day, I’m willing to bet it’s hundreds of thousands if not millions of pounds.

Of course Monaco is also famous for the Grand Prix, and even I can admit that it was interesting to stand on part of the track (route really – it’s all normal roads).

We went to the palace, we saw where Princess Caroline lives and watched the changing of the guard, an impressive little ceremony involving much slamming down of rifle butts and slapping of thighs. I don’t mean to paint any kind of silly pictures. It’s just the was it is. It was nice to see.

There were several old American Second World War vehicles lined up on the square, and there was a rather good jazz band playing ‘40’s music. A little bit of digging revealed that the day we were there, 3rd of September was commemorating September 1943 when leadership of Monaco passed from the Germans to Mussolini but much more importantly, 3 September 1944 when Monaco was liberated by allied forces and this date is a public holiday.

We returned to Azura via small village called Eze. It is to be found at 1400 feet, making it one of the highest villages on the French Riviera. A very interesting and informative day.