Old and New in Monaco

Trip Start Apr 30, 2004
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Trip End May 09, 2004


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Tuesday, May 4, 2004

The narrow streets of Old Monaco, which is the original city built atop a rocky outcrop fronting H.S.H. Prince Rainier III's Palace, are immaculate. It's still raining, but more of a drizzle than actual downpour. The ladies are enchanted with the small boutiques on every side. My tummy is rumbling, so I see a pâtisserie offering the most delectable pastries and quiches. With two mouth watering quiches inside me, I relax at a pavement café and enjoy coffee and croissants with Bryan, who after 10 minutes is quite boutiqued out. While the girls are occupied with shopping, we visit the local post office and send off a series of post cards to friends and family with Monégasque stamps. Monaco is, after all, a Principality which has its own tax system, postal service and representation in the United Nations.

After enjoying the old town, we pick up our car and drive past the yacht harbour to the new town, Monte Carlo. We enter another hyper car park beneath the Hotel de Paris and the Casino, and sally forth in the rain to view modern Monaco. We want to visit the casino, but it isn't opening until 2:00 pm today we decide to give it a miss. We look a bit scruffy to visit the elegant Hotel de Paris, so we just wander the dripping boulevards, greatly disappointed at the miserable weather and deserted streets. All around us are preparations for the upcoming Grand Prix de Monaco to be run on the 23rd. May. It's one of the most important and oldest on the Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit, and is, together with the Cannes Film Festival, the major social event of the season. 01. Pick your yacht!
01. Pick your yacht!
 Notwithstanding we soon return to our car in order to continue our journey.

Prior to leaving home, I had tried to map out our return route to Paris, passing as many places of interest as we could possibly squeeze in during our 5-day drive. In order to do this, I started a Mapquest. By chance I happened to come across Via Michelin. This was a wonderful find as it showed intimate detail of the French highway system right down to detailed city centre maps, especially useful when it came to locating our hotels. I could even print out the maps in glorious technicolour. With Via Michelin under my belt, I was able to create an itinerary with startling accuracy that was to take us all the way from Monaco to Paris Charles de Gaulle with amazingly few errors.

Our first task is the route from Monte Carlo to La Turbie. This route zigzags up the mountainside from the shopping area of the city with drop-dead views all the way to the summit at the village of La Turbie, which is famous for its amazing Roman monument crowning the Maritime Alps. It's thanks to Via Michelin and the excellent signage that we wind our way out of Monaco, through lush condominiums and into more rural France. Although the views are impressive at the beginning, we soon enter the cloud belt and are to see nothing more except on scarce occasions when the mist briefly parts.
http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichelin/gbr/tpl/hme/MaHomePage.htm.
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