Welcome to the Cote dAzur! Monaco is an independent principality that has been governed by the Grimaldi family for the last 700 years. It has 50,000 citizens and over 2 million visitors a year. It is smaller that New York’s Central Park and contains some of the most expensive real estate in the world. A favorite spot of the jet set it is known for its nightlife, posh hotels and beautiful beaches.
Once off the ship we walked up to the Prince’s Palace high above the sea. It is close to the Jacques Cousteau Oceanographic Museum. We took the trolley tour through town that showed us all the historic sights including the hairpin turn of the Grand Prix. Pretty amazing that race cars speed through this little town at speeds of over 100 miles per hour. There are statues throughout the city that mark different places along the car race route.
The church where Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier were married is not far from the palace. That was our next stop. I remember when I was a kid that my Mom and Dad had a book about her in their collection. It seemed like a fairy tale story and I used to love looking at the pictures of the Prince and Princess in that book. Both of their graves are also located in the church along with all the former Grimaldi monarchs.
The architecture of the palace is not that impressive compared to the other buildings in the city. The tour of the palace takes you through some of the more formal rooms including the throne room. They are still used by the family for special occasions. Pretty cool to be in the some of the same rooms as the royals.
If you like fancy boutique shopping this is the place for you. All the designer names are here and you can spend all your money very quickly. Shopping is such an exhausting activity that we needed a café con leche. Did you know that cappacino is really only served as an after dinner drink meaning after 8pm. During the day you drink café con leche…coffee with cream…more cream than coffee...mmm, good. We sat at the famous Café de Paris outside the Grand Casino, Monaco’s biggest attraction and enjoyed the sun, the sights and our cafe con leche!
