Monaco, between skyscrapers and engines

A day devoted to the Principality of Monaco, where we arrive around 11 to watch the noon changing of the guard. The coach parking is problematic (and very expensive). Everything is already ready for the next Formula 1 Grand Prix; this weekend a historic car race is taking place, the roar of engines all day long. We climb on foot towards the rock, with stairways, escalators, lifts, it's another world, all grown upwards, with 35,000 people living in 2 square kilometres. 35,000 lucky people who pay no taxes (...

though that's not entirely true: French residents in Monaco go on paying them to France, but from what they say they don't seem happy about it!!) Here architectural engineering has done its utmost to create skyscrapers climbing up the hill or resting on land stolen from the sea; the football stadium of the Monaco team hides among the buildings, and only from above, coming from the Corniche, do you notice it. We watch the long-awaited changing of the guard, and shortly afterwards we almost catch sight of Prince Albert, what a shame...

A tour of the principality, with stops at the viewpoints; we look at the Oceanographic Museum (it would have been interesting to visit, but time is a tyrant!), the garden around it, we visit the Cathedral (the Monegasques have a veneration for Grace and Rainier, and their flower-covered tombs prove it) and then the Prince's Palace, with its very well-kept halls and marvellous furnishings (if you're in a group the entrance is €5, audio guide included). Beside the Cathedral is the Palace of Justice, and the guide points out the Grimaldi motto, "Deo juvante", "With God's help". Then lunch at the Italian restaurant "L'Aurore", and then down from Monaco to reach the coach, with various stops to photograph the grand prix of roaring cars taking place below us. Paradoxically, the shops in Monaco are less expensive than those on the French Riviera.