Monaco: An ode to concrete and glass
Squeezed into just 200 hectares, Monaco is the world’s second-smallest country (only the Vatican is smaller), but what it lacks in size it makes up for in attitude. As a magnet for high-rollers and hedonists since the early 20th century, it’s also renowned as one of the world’s most notorious tax havens and home to the annual Formula One Grand Prix.
Despite its prodigious wealth, Monaco is far from being the French Riviera’s prettiest town. World-famous Monte Carlo is basically an ode to concrete and glass, dominated by high-rise hotels, super yachts and apartment blocks that rise into the hills like ranks of dominoes, plonked into an utterly bewildering street layout seemingly designed to confound lowly pedestrians.
Le Rocher
Monaco Ville, also called Le Rocher, is the only part of Monaco to have retained its original old town, complete with small, windy medieval lanes. The old town thrusts skywards on a pistol-shaped rock, its strategic location overlooking the sea that became the stronghold of the Grimaldi dynasty. There are various staircases up to Le Rocher; the best route up is via Rampe Major, which starts from place d’Armes near the port.
Casino de Monte Carlo
Peeping inside Monte Carlo’s legendary marble-and-gold casino is a Monaco essential. The building, open to visitors every morning, including the posh salons privés, is Europe’s most lavish example of belle époque architecture. Prince Charles III spearheaded the casino’s development and in 1866, three years after its inauguration, the name ‘Monte Carlo’ – Ligurian for ‘Mount Charles’ in honour of the prince – was coined. To gamble here, visit after 2pm (when a strict over-18s-only admission rule kicks in).
Palais Princier de Monaco
Built as a fortress atop Le Rocher in the 13th century, this palace is the private residence of the Grimaldi family. It is protected by the blue-helmeted, white-socked Carabiniers du Prince; changing of the guard takes place daily at 11.55am, when crowds gather outside to watch.
Most of the palace is off limits, but you can get a glimpse of royal life on a tour of the glittering state apartments, where you can see some of the lavish furniture and priceless artworks collected by the family over the centuries. It’s a good idea to buy tickets online in advance to avoid queuing.
Cathédrale de Monaco
An adoring crowd continually shuffles past Prince Rainier’s and Princess Grace’s flower-adorned graves, located inside the cathedral choir of Monaco’s 1875 Romanesque-Byzantine cathedral.