Europe

#4 Monaco, the wonderland

Stuck between steep rocky mountains and sea, Monaco is still growing with new building’s construction on going. This microstate is ranked as the most expensive city in the world, before London and Hong Kong. Price in the most demanded area can reach 100K euros /m2 with an average of 50K euros / m2.
The effects of congestion and the need for continual balance of supply and demand, increase the scope for market dominance.

We spent two days in Monaco and booked a AirBnB in the highest side of the city. View is really impressive, it is remembering me somehow Hong Kong with constructions everywhere between mountains and sea. Obviously Hong Kong is so far different, but the geographic proximity with the mountains and sea and in another side its opposition with the nature where the least surface is covered by a road or a construction are both similar. Yes, we still find tiny park in both city, but their surface is unbalanced compare to the buildings.

Monaco abounds of ostentatious subtly coloured facades which looks all super clean with some details remembering the rococo style. Among those old coquettish houses, contemporary towers emerging from the ground: the old and new live together.

Every day at 11.55 am, a changing of the guard ceremony takes place on the Palace Square, a solemn military ritual performed with perfect coordination.

Since their creation on 8 December 1817, the Palace Guards have ensured the security of the Palace, His Serene Highness the Sovereign Prince and the Princely Family, as well as His properties and residences and their immediate surroundings. The Guards’ other duties include providing the Prince with a guard of honour, enforcing laws and maintaining public order.

The motto of the Palace Guards is “Honour, Loyalty and Devotion”. The Guard is currently composed of 124 soldiers: three officers, twenty-five non-commissioned officers and ninety-six ordinary soldiers.

Monaco’s Old Town is in the district of Monaco-Ville, one of four districts in the principality. It is built on a rocky promontory extending into the Mediterranean, known as the Rock of Monaco, or simply Le Rocher (the Rock), where the Prince’s Palace, the ramparts, the gardens, The Cathedral and the Oceanographic Museum are located. The easiest way to get there on foot is to take the steep climb up the Rampe de la Major, which starts right next to the roundabout adjacent to the Place d’Armes, where a flower market is set up every day.

Moncaco is built on rocky mountains and it is super steep, you can find elevators in the street, if not, you’ll definitely can skeep your legs day and cardio at the gym ! Streets are super clean, there is no bad smell or damaged facades and you feel safe even late in the night. Begging and over scruffy outfit are forbidden here. There is one policeman per 100 habitants and the whole territory is monitored by cameras. Jewellery exists to be shown and not to be hidden in a secret truck, Monaco is the best place in the world to wear them in the street in a total safety. Streets are full of high end cars and you’ll see luxury cars perking away out there.

Dropped from the steep and stark rocky mountains above the city, you feel in a wonderland here. It’s like a dream where everything is perfect: wherever you look at, everything looks super clean, pleasant, beautiful, without any danger. The most disturbing thing are tourists you cross in the streets, they reflect the reality and looks very common.

2 months after replaced the shutter curtain of my Sony by a profesionnal (independant), it get broken again in the middle of the trip… So all followings pics are shoot with my cellphone. I do apologies for that. 

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Aesthete between China and France.

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