Monte Carlo - Hob Nobbing in Schwanksville

Just Thirty Minutes Away but a World of Difference
In what may go down as the best deal in France, you can take a bus for just one Euro from Nice to Monaco.  The bus teeters along steep cliffs, through tiny ports and by famous places like Cap Ferrat for thirty minutes.  We got off in Monte Carlo, the capital of Monaco just steps from the famous Casino de Paris.  This is the casino featured in two James Bond films as well as Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief starring the soon-to-be Princess Grace.

We could have taken a train for the 12 mile trip but it traveled inland rather than along the scenic coastline.  Nice is on the lower left and Monaco the upper right.  Cap Ferrat is the large teardrop shaped isthmus.

In a town that officially has just 32,000 inhabitants it sure is swanky.  I bet there are a fair percentage of those 32,000 that are billionaires.  It's the second smallest country after the Vatican but number one in density.  We were in the oldest part of town, where the buildings are ornate and folks zip around in their Ferraris or Alfa Romeos.

We had no particular agenda, we walked around a bit lost, hoping to bump into something.  It was a warm and sunny day.

We had a fancy lunch inside the Metropole Hotel, below.  It was a dud, which I wrote up here.

Further west, away from the casino there's a newer section of the city-state with surprisingly ugly buildings.  I'm guessing that a lot of it was built in the 70's from the architecture.  Tall brown slabs sprout up like weeds.

I only spent 4-5 hours in Monaco but I got the sense that there is not much of a community here.  Just a place for the rich to stash their offshore money or park their yacht.  It is fancy and swanky and ultimately, empty.  I don't think I could stay here for more than a few days before becoming bored out of my mind.

However, it was an interesting experience - glad we made the trip.