﻿We are visiting a very small and very rich country. It's Monaco. It's just over half the
size of New York's Central Park, and every third person here is a millionaire, but you don't have
to be rich to visit, as we'll show you. This is a kind of urban utopia where the poverty rate is
zero and the government is wealthy enough to keep everything functioning beautifully.
The people here are very well-behaved, and so are the dogs, who always stay on their lease
when out in public. Later we will show you much more of this downtown Condamine neighborhood,
with its restaurants, and shops pedestrian lanes, little parks, a big marina – many things to
see down here. This is an up-to-date modern country with a deep history,
whose ruling family the Grimaldi's took power in the year 1297 and have been in control ever since.
Now it's a constitutional monarchy with the Prince of Monaco as head of state.
We'll be taking you into the Cathedral and showing you much more as we explore this beautiful little
country. The nearest big city is Nice, just thirteen kilometers away along the French Riviera,
and it's connected by direct train service that just takes 1/2 an hour to get here.
There are three main exits from the train station. If you walk out at Ste Devote it will bring you
pretty quickly right to the waterfront and the downtown Condamine neighborhood. It's a short
easy walk. It's quite level and attractive as you see, and right away you'll be getting into
the town itself. However, I'll suggest, and be showing you here, the upper exit that will put
you out in the direction of Monte Carlo, heading for the casino, which everybody wants to see.
As usual, it helps to know where you're going, and fortunately there are excellent signs that point
the way out. Escalators here and in other parts of Monaco are most helpful in dealing with this
hillside terrain. From that upper exit you'll have a dramatic view looking down at cliffs, tunnels
and the distant marina. From here you walk along Boulevard Princess Charlotte which has a wide
sidewalk, busy traffic, upscale apartments, and Hotel Novotel, which would be a excellent place
to stay. And there are some shops and offices mixed in along this grand boulevard, and which
is leading us in the direction of Monte Carlo and the casino, but along the way we first want
to stop off at the Tourist Information Office. So we stopped in, had a nice talk with Margie, who
showed us some brochures and a map, told us about what to do, providing very useful information.
Here's the entire country, and the particular areas that were focusing on in our visit:
Monte Carlo, the Old Town, and downtown starting from the Tourist Information Office. You can also
download the map and several brochures from the Tourist Information Office website, visit
Monaco.com, which also has a lot of information about hotels, restaurants and things to do.
From here, you walk a block and then cross the street to the Pavilions Monte Carlo.
This is a brand-new shopping complex that looks like it's dropped out of a Mars expedition,
avant-garde styling with pedestrian lanes weaving through it. They did urbanize what had been green
space, but there's a beautiful park next-door with wonderful landscaping that more than compensates.
You are now walking through a manicured, sophisticated urban jungle.
It's a French-style garden featuring little landscaped valleys, waterfalls, streams and ponds,
populated with exotic trees and colorful flowerbeds. Along with several other gardens,
Monaco has Europe's second-highest percent of urban land in greenery. The gardens are
just across the street from the main attraction of this little principality,
and that would be the world-famous Casino de Monte Carlo. The present casino was first inaugurated in
1863 and gradually grew and expanded ever since. It's an elaborate structure with principal façade
fronting the town and the south façade overlooking the sea. The building out front has a smaller,
more casual casino, and the Café de Paris and some shops. The economy will surprise you. You might
think that all of the revenues are gained from the gambling casino and related gambling ventures,
but actually gambling represents only three percent of the nation's revenue.
Of course tourists are very important to the economy, so they are very well taken care of
by some deluxe hotels such as the Metropole. Some other major components of the economy are
trade, banking, finance, real estate and healthcare. Notice the bus number 100.
It'll take you to Nice in forty-five minutes, and it's only two euro. You could catch it at
this major bus stop across the street from the gardens, in front of the Park Palace Boutiques,
a luxury shopping mall where you can spend the rest of your money while waiting for the bus.
But for now it's too early for us to head back to Nice, where we've been staying,
because we have a lot more to see and show you in Monaco. Now we're catching a local bus, where you
can buy your ticket right from the bus driver, currently two euros. You can also buy six-trip
card for eleven euros, so you save a little bit that way if you buy it at a shop or machine, and
there's a twenty-four hour pass available as well, 5 1/2 euro. Small kids and dogs ride for free.
Look at the professional skill and precision of these road workers. Wouldn't you like to
have them fixing your potholes? Because of them, Monaco has very smooth roads.
This bus route number two brings you on a panoramic drive along the marina, giving
a spectacular view of the yachts down below and the old town up on the hill we will visit later.
If we just stayed on this bus, it would take us up there directly, but we're going up there later.
Right now we're going to visit the town center and have some lunch. You could walk part of that way
along the ramps and waterway or just stay on the bus and it'll bring you into the center.
La Condamine is this wonderful district in the center of Monaco, with the casino district to
the east and the Old Town up on the rock with the palace to the west. La Condamine sits
in somewhat of a valley between the two. It's fairly level, as you can see, there's a slight
slope to the street but no big hills to climb or staircases necessary in this part of town. It is
pure pleasure to spend some time here, and a perfect place for a meal, as you'll see, lunch
or dinner or a snack even breakfast, what have you. There are so many food choices here ranging
from the supermarket we will get to, with simple take-out foods, or you might want to sit down
and share a pizza with some salad, as my travel companions from Hawaii thoroughly enjoyed,
with his outdoor ambience, good service, reasonable prices, delicious food and a view
of all the people passing by – perfection. Like most Monaco neighborhoods, this is
fairly small area. Rue Princesse Caroline, the main street, is just 250 meters long,
and has several attractive side-streets with more restaurants and shops. So you can easily
cover this in a couple of hours – enough time to eat and have a look around. It is such a charming
section and yet many visitors never even get here in their eagerness to see the casino,
and the shops around the casino, and the gardens, which are very beautiful. And
then they want to go up on The Rock, where we're going soon, to see the palace and the Old Town.
They kind of overlook this middle part of the country. And there's more to see right here beyond
Princesse Charlotte Street. At the north end of the pedestrian zone you'll find the main street
of downtown Monaco – it's rue Grimaldi, with a whole lot more shops that will keep some people
very busy. This is a residential neighborhood as well. Not just for the tourists, but very much
for the locals. Square Gastaud occupies just one small block, but it's so well-designed with this
landscaping, and kiosk in the middle, and flowers, and benches, and walkways, it seems much bigger.
Monaco is the world's most densely populated country, with twice the density of the Singapore.
But several cities around the world have twice the density, such as Calcutta in India, Mumbai,
Manila, and Hong Kong. While Monaco is densely populated it does not feel crowded. The way they
have planned this place is amazing, and supports a very high quality of life. Of course, it helps
to be rich, and have a strong central government that controls development. The neighborhood map
shows the little park in the middle and the couple of streets that we've just been walking along,
and where were heading next, down towards the waterfront along boulevard Albert Premiere,
who was Prince of Monaco from 1889 until 1922. Albert the Second is now Prince of Monaco, who
succeeded his father, Prince Rainier the Third and his wife, Princess Grace. Several of the streets
and places in Monaco are named after members of the royal family. The boulevard Albert the First
is a busy place, with the restaurants and shops along one side and the yacht-filled marina on the
other, and yet it's a little bit out of the way, so another place that many visitors might miss.
You know this is one of those authentic places for locals because they have a supermarket here,
and you can imagine, with the millionaires shopping, only the best possible items are on
sale here – impeccable fresh fruits, vegetables, packaged foods of all kinds, and some excellent
French wines at very reasonable prices, including some bargain sandwiches that you can take away,
and pizza from their shop-front window. Across the street. There is an Olympic size swimming pool
that's converted to an ice skating rink in the wintertime. This part of the harbor was
sectioned off for swimming as far back as 1949. What can be a more iconic image than yachts in the
foreground and multimillionaire apartments in the background? This is not your normal city,
and yet it's a place that everybody can enjoy with a surprising diversity of sights to see
in such a small area. So you can really stay busy here for at least one full day,
maybe two. We've had a good look at the casino area and this downtown, and now we're visiting
the other most important part of Monaco, the Old Town up on the hill, called The Rock.
You could walk up to the top along this big ramp, but it's much easier to ride the city bus,
enjoying some nice vistas along the way, and then later we're going to walk down the hill.
If you come to Monaco from the city of Nice by bus, then you can get a free transfer from the
intercity bus to the local bus that will take you right on up the hill. So in that case you might
want to start your visit to Monaco by visiting the hill first, unlike the schedule we're presenting
because we arrived by train, and in that case you can take your pick. We like to go to the casino
first and end up on The Rock. The Old Town is just as attractive in its walls and buildings
as any of the other rock villages of the Riviera. There are three main pedestrian streets that run
in parallel out from the Place du Palais, and they are crisscrossed by some narrow alleys that
tie it all together, all around the Cathedral. These pedestrian lanes are only 200 meters long,
so it's quite easy to wander back and forth and cover this little central pedestrian zone.
If you're hungry there are a snack bars and restaurants here, and some of the best souvenir
shops. Maybe you'd like a T-shirt or a hat that says Monaco, or purchase a little apartment for
€7 million. Within five or ten minutes you could easily walk from the bus stop
to the Place du Palais, and there you are going to find some of the best views you've ever seen of a
city and harbor and a marina filled with yachts, with the big cruise ship off in the distance.
We'll come back and see another angle on this view when we get over to the Cathedral.
The Cathedral of St. Nicholas is a grand Romanesque Byzantine-style edifice that was
designed and completed in 1897. The Cathedral is on the same location as the first parish church
that was built in Monaco in the year 1252. That's a long time ago, but this area has been occupied
way into the remote antiquity, dating back 400,000 years. Later settlements were established here by
Phoceans, Ligurians and the Romans. Walk through the little park in front of the Cathedral to
get another one of the spectacular views looking down at the harbor and the settlement around it.
Then follow along on the well-paved coastal path that provides more views
as you approach the Royal palace. This Fontvielle section is one of the newest parts of Monaco.
It was created with landfill, starting back in 1966, reclaimed from the Mediterranean Sea.
Notice the rooftop gardens on the apartment buildings. It's a diverse community with
shops, and offices, hotels, and a stadium – an amazing engineering accomplishment.
And the terrace providing that view is quite fascinating, with the old cannons and the
stacks of cannonballs. People want to try and pick one up, but they're all welded together.
We have arrived at the Royal Palace just in time for the Changing Of The Guards. The palace
is the official royal residence of Monaco, and it's protected by these palace guards.
The palace was once a Genoese castle that was built in the thirteenth century, and then later
it was enlarged by the Grimaldi Royal family. The statue represents the Grimaldi Grand Duke who
entered the fortress in 1297 dressed as a monk, and captured it, establishing a family control
that continues to this day. Behind the statue is the exit to the ramp that will lead you
back down into the modern town, with more of those nice views along the way. It's a most convenient
route because you'll find that the incline of this ramp is very gentle, very easy to walk downhill.
And it's kind of extra enjoyable to be gliding downhill, passing some of those people who are
struggling to walk uphill to get up to The Rock. Within five or ten minutes this gentle stroll
will deliver you back down to la Condamine section of town, maybe for a final quick look around,
and then hop on your bus or train and depart, if that's the end of your visit. Or perhaps you
are so fortunate to be staying at a hotel for the night so that you can see more of Monaco
the next day. Like many visitors to Monaco, we've been staying in the city of Nice as our home base.
It's a great place to see the rest of the Côte d'Azur as well, and you can get to Monaco by
bus or train, as we described earlier, very easy. Admiring some little, tiny electric cars as we
walk along. We are heading to the train station – hop on board the train and zip back to Nice.
We are done with this visit, but we do have two other excellent programs about Monaco, with
further information not shown in today's program, so be sure to look for those in our collection.
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