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The Royal Palace of Monaco Town.
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Zipping along the Upper Corniche toward Menton one morning, we saw the exit for Monaco, and although it was a rare cloudy day, we decided to spend a few hours in this tiny, ultra-rich principality and tax haven.
This is a place where language can be confusing. Monaco is the name not only of the entire principality, but also of the original mediaeval town on a hilltop at the west side. "Monaco-Town" contains, among other things, Prince Rainier's palace, the cathedral and the Oceanographic Museum. In contrast, to the east of the hill is the modern city of Monte Carlo, famous for the casino, the baroque opera house, and scads of financial institutions. Around the waterfront are Condamine, with the yacht club and marina filled with luxury yachts; and Fontvielle, home to small hi-tech companies and the stadium. In addition to French, signs are in Monégasque, a dialect of Provençal.
The entire country is only a couple of square miles in size, with a population of about 30,000 and the world's highest proportion of car owners. Driving through Monte Carlo we saw Rolls Royces and Mercedes everywhere – not to mention my own dream machine: an Aston Martin Lagonda!
There are less than 5,000 citizens in Monaco. They pay no income tax, and are among the world's wealthiest people. The other 25,000 or so are residents without Monégasque citizenship, living there because taxes are lower than they would be in their own countries. I was told that a family must live there for generations before they will even be considered for citizenship.
The weather was wet and foggy that day, so after visiting the royal palace we headed off to Menton.
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Dolphins sculpted out of fruit – who says you can't play with your food?
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Menton
Located right at the Italian border, Menton boasts 300 sunny days per year and the warmest climate in France. Like most places in that area, it was controlled by various masters over the centuries, although its history has been most closely tied to the fortunes of the Monaco's ruling Grimaldi family. It even declared itself an independent republic at one time, but for the past 140 years it has belonged to France. It became a favorite vacation spot of Queen Victoria, Edward VII and their retinues; and British "snowbirds" still flock there. In fact, most of the patrons in the restaurant where we had lunch were British.
Menton today is best-known for its famous sweet lemons and other fruit. We went there to take in the annual Citrus Festival.
For about a week at the end of February, the huge park in the centre of town is transformed into a display ground like none other anywhere. A theme is chosen, and cities from all over Europe plan their works of art based on that theme. Giant three-dimensional plywood models are built, then every square inch of them is covered with lemons, oranges, limes and grapefruit, each one individually held on by double-sided tape. Hundreds of tons of citrus fruit are used, some local, some from other Mediterranean locations, and some from as far away as Arizona. The year we went the theme was "The Sea" – and there were lighthouses, fishing boats, an enormous octopus, Venetian gondolas, a voluptuous Lorelei from Germany, dolphins leaping through hoops, and many more that I can't remember.
We wondered how anyone could justify wasting so much good fruit at a time when there are lots of people without enough to eat, so we asked about this at the administration office. They assured us that the festival doesn't last long enough for the fruit to go bad. At the end, the fruit would be removed from the displays and made into juice and marmalade, which would be distributed free to orphanages and shelters throughout France. That sounded like a very sensible thing to do.
I hope you have enjoyed these articles, and that you too may some day enjoy all the warmth, history, luxury and other good things the French Riviera has to offer.
Questions?
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