Friday, April 28,2023 – Day 128
The Monte Carlo Casino.
As we sailed in, we could see the entire county!
Monaco is a sovereign city-state on the French Riviera. It is bordered by France to the north, east and west. It runs down into the Mediterranean Sea to the south.
With an area of .81 sq miles, it is the second-smallest sovereign state in the world (The smallest is Vatican City). Monaco’s land boarder is 3.4 miles and has the world’s shortest coastline of approximately 2.4 miles. In the picture above you see almost the entire country as we sail in.
A view of the Oceanographic Museum established in 1910. Jaques Cousteau was the director of the museum from 1957-1988.
Not a great picture, but the castle above is on the area called ‘The Rock’ where the Royal Family lives.
Pulling into the harbor.
Backing into a tight space.
Docked, looking across the harbor. We were the biggest ship, but not by much! Those yachts are huge!!
Ariel view of the harbor, we docked in the same place as the ship below; in the center of the picture.
Since we have been to Monoco before and walked nearly the entire country during that visit, we decided to just wander about and see what was going on in town.
We found the preparations for the Monte Carlo Grand Prix in full swing. So, we decided to walk around the marina and some of the racetrack. From our stateroom on the ship, we could see the grandstands. In the picture above the swath of blue is the grandstands.
As we walked along the marina, we wound through the press area and on further you could see another set of grandstands. These must be the higher priced tickets as there was some covered box style seating. The picture is looking at the back of the grandstands.
The front of the same section of grandstands.
The start/finish is along this stretch somewhere, but the street isn’t painted yet. It had been resurfaced recently.
Workers putting together the giant video screens for spectators to watch. There are hundreds of panels that get snapped together forming the huge grid. There were guys hanging up in the scaffolding putting all the cables together. It was fun to watch them put it together.
Proof Jeff has been ‘on the racetrack’ at Monte Carlo…OK, so he doesn’t have a car to drive, but he’s there!
On the racecourse at ‘Swimming Pool Corner’, now ‘Chiron Corner’ is the bust of Louis Chiron, a very successful Monegasque racing driver. He drove for 30 years between 1927 – 1955. He was the oldest driver to finish in Formula 1, in which he placed 6th, at 55 years old. After retiring as a driver, he became an executive with the Grand Prix organizers.
We did a little shopping while in the marina. We thought this would do nicely for our next ocean voyage… now to learn to sail!
Tomorrow is a sea day as we make our way to Spain. Only ten days left of this grand adventure.