Back In the High Life Again: Monaco

Nowhere on earth conjures up lifestyles of the rich and famous like Monte Carlo, Monaco, so imagine how indulgent it would feel to have a delicious breakfast overlooking the panoramic harbor.

We enjoyed it so much, we opted to return to this fabulous restaurant for lunch after strolling over to explore the Royal Palace.  A vehicle beckoned so en route, we snaked through the course of the famed Monaco Grand Prix.  Upon arrival, we roamed the postcard city streets and watched the pomp and circumstance of the Changing of the Guard.

We even caught a glimpse of the Crown Prince in his Rolls Royce.

After lunch, we gathered up towels that our cabin steward had brought for us and walked a couple hundred yards down the dock used exclusively by our ship to a semi-private beach to bask in the sun and take occasional dips in emerald green water.  Were the other dozen people on the beach members of the royal family, jet-setting blue bloods or simply people like us who happened upon the spot?  It was impossible to know, since we all wore bathing suits.  I can say that no butlers poured iced champagne or served caviar off silver platters.

At a little over three-quarters of a square mile, the Principality of Monaco is geographically little more than a city on the French Riviera, but it somehow has managed to operate almost continually as an independent city-state since 1419.

For most of that time, it has been ruled by one family, the House of Grimaldi, who initially laid claim on the Rock of Monaco in 1297 but struggled for control for over a century.

How did they possibly come through all those wars to stand today as a very rich municipality?

For the most part, the fate of France was their fate as well, and France was a powerful player on the world stage for centuries.  Monaco sent many heroes to the battlefield to fight along with France, and as a reward were allowed their independence.

When the French Revolution came with a vengeance in 1793, the Grimaldi Family was forced from power when their royal French benefactors were arrested and sometimes beheaded.

Napoleon didn't restore them to power as they hoped, but in 1814 the Grimaldis returned to rule.

It wasn't until 1863 that the famed Casino de Monte-Carlo and the Hotel de Paris were built, and the taxes yielded from those international hot spots fueled massive infrastructure construction that made Monaco what it is today.

How did this tiny country possibly survive when Europe fell into chaos all around them in the twentieth century?

Apparently, even the most evil dictators appreciate a beautiful place to unwind, and to its shame, in World War II Monaco leaned in favor of its Axis neighbors, which probably was the most convenient way to survive relatively in tact.

If not exactly noble, it can at least be rationalized as practical for what is really just a city with little military force of its own to stand against major world powers.  Monaco officially declared neutrality but sided with the Nazi-controlled Vichy French government, which went along with its history of being something of a vassal for France.

The Grimaldi Family subsequently were forced to surrender rule to Mussolini, and when Italy was defeated by the Allies, the German Nazis installed a puppet government.  As with the rest of Europe, Allied forces eventually liberated Monaco, with deliverance arriving when two American soldiers rolled into town in a Jeep  and declared Monaco free before proceeding to order drinks.  The Nazis had previously withdrawn to address more pressing fronts.

It has been the American tradition, however, to return autonomy and allow life to go back to what had been normal before the war rather than taking possession of even the richest  liberated nations as the spoils of war.  Monaco has rewarded American faith by standing as a stable, neutral country.

The guided audio tour of the palace inevitably paints Monaco and the Grimaldi Family in a favorable light, including a heavy dollop of Princess Grace Kelly, our American-born movie star who married Crown Prince Ranier III and become European royalty in a modern-day fairy tale.

By the way, if you didn't guess before, that wonderful restaurant with the gorgeous view I wrote about earlier was aboard Oceania Riviera, on which we had arrived in the morning following our visit to Aix-En-Provence.

The ride that included a stint on the Grand Prix course was actually aboard a funny little train with narration that cost ten Euro, but the semi-private beach was indeed easily accessible and uncrowded.

Just before attending the Changing of the Guard, I wandered off to snap some photos of our ship in the harbor, only to find that I couldn't make my way back through streets barricaded in preparation for the event without winding through a considerable number of small streets crowded with tourists.  Luckily, I made it back in time.

While the palace area was crowded, we enjoyed some surprisingly tranquil spots, partly because of where our ship docked.  The path between our ship and the palace went not only past the secluded beach to which we later returned but also a lovely garden.

We also took advantage of lounging by the pool aboard what I suppose you could describe as the largest of the mega-yachts in
Monte Carlo's beautiful port.

And from our prestigious dock, we didn't
even require a tender boat.

It was a wonderful, spontaneous day in Monaco, one of the most scenic ports in the world.