FYI, Monaco is an independent country, a member of the U. N., with its own royal family led since 2005 by H.R.H. Prince Albert II. And Monte Carlo is a neighborhood within the city of Monaco which happens to be the area on the hill overlooking the harbor that houses the Casino and the luxury hotels.
We had stayed in one of those hotels many years ago, Hotel Hermitage, a Belle Epoque masterpiece with a glass dome designed by Gustave Eiffel...yup, the same guy who did the Tower...one of the swankiest hotels in the world...we were on an expense account back in those days. As we said, it was in the days before they built all those high rise buildings in and around all the cliffs that surround the principality, which we thought spoiled the magnificent open view of the mountains and the amazing port with all the grand yachts, most of them ocean-going.
Well! Let us tell you that Monaco is still as exciting and impressive an area as ever, especially at this very moment in April when they are preparing for the Grand Prix, the Mamma of F1 auto racing, which takes place in late May each year.
The place is like a huge maze, with old and new buildings, and construction still going on everywhere, not to mention huge grandstands being erected now everywhere along the race route, which actually goes through the streets...it's hard to imagine what must go on for this event.
And there are tunnels, underground roundabouts and underground parking everywhere. And you always hear the vroom vroom of the Ferraris, Maseratis, Porches, and many other race cars prancing and parading around the town, along with the quiet Bentleys and Rolls Royces taking up the whole street as they strut commandingly by...it's amazing and sometimes almost comical the way they all cruise around, all oozing with machismo!
Going to Monaco by car for the first time in years, or any time for that matter, is quite an experience. We decided to park in the first lot we saw (they're all subterranean because there's no land at street level for such mundane uses as parking)...we had no sense of where we were or where we were going. As Marty said, it's all dead reckoning. When you get out of the garage there are crazy street patterns, and levels of walkways, and escalators to you-don't-know-where, and plazas that swoop in and around huge buildings...we're not sure how to explain it to give you the full feeling of being totally lost and discombobulated there...and everything here is high energy!
But with the help of a little map of the congested center area, and some sort of memory of the lay of the land from years ago, we wound our way through walkways and bridges and overpasses and underpasses toward the harbor and the huge yachts. It's really indescribable how many and how big they are. By any magnitude of comparison, Montauk and Sag Harbor ports together don't even come close! We ogled at all the yachts, and made our way to a lovely restaurant we saw that looked nice overlooking the port and away from all the noise and dust of the construction for the car race.
After lunch we kept heading east to get to Monte Carlo to see Le Hermitage and Le Casino again, as well as the famous Cafe de Paris opposite the Casino. Everything is to the MAX! Beautiful, stunning, and big! We tried to go into Le Hermitage, but right after we entered the lobby they said that if we're not guests we can't stay (security issues). We did get a good glimpse of the grandeur of it all, although it had been renovated and updated since we had stayed there.
We're not gamblers, but the Casino was calling us and we just had to go in to see the scene for old times sake. You can't just walk in now like you used to, but have to show your passport or picture ID. Not only do they want a record of you, but also if you are Monagasque, you can't go in at all...they don't want to take money from their own citizens...just from everyone else...isn't that thoughtful!
The Casino is out of a movie...the magnificence, the glitz, the glamour, the aura and the magnetism of chance, not to mention the Big T (Testosterone). We watched a Black Jack table for a while, kibitzed with a few other spectators, and Marty donated some euros to a slot machine, although it's all automated now...not so much fun. The facial expressions are of confidence, fear, confusion, and just plain fun. The croupiers do speak, but very quietly and succinctly, in a lot of different languages, with a lot of subtle hand signals controlling the playing of the cards. And you'd better be good and fast in addition and subtraction! We then wandered around and watched the wheel spinning at the Craps table for a while, which seemed totally inane, but people were lovin' it, and then we left to mosey outside and see the other scene.
And what a scene it is! Talk about prancing and Big T and glitz and glamour, not to mention practiced nonchalance...that's hard to do, because some of the get-ups and physiques, female and male, are hard not to ogle at. It was a glorious sun-shiny day, and we got a great table outside at the famous Cafe de Paris to sip our outrageously expensive gazeuse (bubbly water) and cafe noisette! The place is huge, and even with that we ended up actually sharing a table with another cute young couple speaking some funny language that we didn't recognize, otherwise we'd still be waiting for a table. The magnets and magnates (some real and some just acting) are everywhere, pulling you into the scene. I took so many photos of people and the cars cruising by that my camera got hot!
But wait...we're not done yet with Monaco! At around six the scene was thinning out and people walking by were more dressed up like they were ready for a night out at the Casino. So we decided it was time to figure out what to do for dinner. We checked our Michelin Bible and there were a few 2-knivesandforks that we thought we'd check out, but didn't want to venture further away from where we thought we had parked the car.
We wended our way thought the maze of streets and garden paths until we found St. Benoit, a good, well known fish restaurant overlooking the port. We went in and it looked good and professional, but it was still early and the place didn't have that certain something that we look for. As we were peeking out the window to see the view because it was up high and you could see the port, we noticed, down a few levels beneath St. Benoit, another restaurant set out on a lovely large terrace with huge white market umbrellas completely protecting the tables and little white lights flickering here and there. We decided to check that one out before we made our decision.
So we found Le Maree which is on the top floor of a lovely hotel down at the port, but is not actually part of the hotel. The hotel graciously told us how to get up there and we went. Wow! What a place! It's big and everything's white, and extremely classy, with a huge display of fresh fish and seafood, and little aquarium tanks for lobsters and langoustines which doubled as decorations. We looked at the fancy and extensive menu and saw that fish was priced by the weight, e.g.15 euros per 100 grams. Again if you're not good in math, weight and money and mileage conversions, it's not the place for you! You had to quickly figure out how many grams of a particular type of fish you would need to make a nice portion, and then multiply that by the price per 100 grams...are you with me?..and do it quickly enough to decide if you could afford this restaurant.
Of course the scene alone indicated without a doubt that this was a classy and expensive restaurant. The Maitre'd who showed us the fish was a big guy dressed in a shiny gray silk suit with a burnt orange silk scarf in his breast pocket, not too shabby, and by his accent we knew he was Russian. We heard some of the other staff speaking Russian as well. Just as an aside, there is a huge Russian contingent moving more and more into Le Côte d'Azur, buying up all the expensive villas with their billions, so now this market is being catered to more and more.
We decided to let caution to the wind, literally and figuratively, and dine here, regardless of the math. We selected our fish dinners carefully and, as the sky darkened into night, the rooftop restaurant transformed into one of the most beautiful, elegant and classy restaurants we have ever been to. From our table we could see the entire vista of Monaco lit up like a thousand candles, including all the yachts and cruise ships in the port, and the ancient Royal Palais comme fortress up at thehighest point on the rock, as it's called.
Since the restaurant has only been open for a week, the service was spotty in parts, but we ingratiated ourselves with the manger, a fortyish woman from Lithuania, who gave us the scoop on the restaurant. It is Russian owned (therefore the large Russian dining contingent) and they have four restaurants in Moscow and St. Petersburg. This place will be a winner. The accoutrements are so accommodating that when you sit down at a very ample table they put a little ornate what looks loke a foot stool next to each person for your handbag, or in Marty's case his elegant back pack. They also serve up a little wash bowl and hand towel elegantly presented to freshen up. Well, did you ever!?!
We ate a fabulous spaghetti alle vongole with botarga, one of our favorites, followed by salmon and lotte (monkfish), ending with a Poire Belle Helene (baked pear with vanilla creme inside and hot chocolate sauce drizzled on top). We stretched our dinner out over several hours, not wanting to leave, and people were still coming in after 11pm.
We ate a fabulous spaghetti alle vongole with botarga, one of our favorites, followed by salmon and lotte (monkfish), ending with a Poire Belle Helene (baked pear with vanilla creme inside and hot chocolate sauce drizzled on top). We stretched our dinner out over several hours, not wanting to leave, and people were still coming in after 11pm.
As we walked the long way back to the car we passed quite a few discos and bars spilling out into the port area with loud music and hundreds of happy people still enjoying the warm evening...Just another fabulous scene! no matter where you wander, something fun is happening!
This was truly a magical day. We located our car, found the exit, paid for our parking and, with directions from the police, found our way back to the Basse Corniche and home, probably in less than 20 minutes...Beaulieu is so well situated on Le Côte.
WOW! What a day. Wish we could attach some of the pictures we took.
Bonne nuit tout Le monde.
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