We woke up this morning at anchor off Villefranche-sur-Mer (literally French town on the sea) on the French Cote d’ Azur (blue coast).
This coastline was once Ground Zero for piracy - and among the most infamous pirates were the Grimaldi family. Seems reasonable that they’re now a major shipping company as well as the ruling family of nearby Monaco.
We were supposed to be in the port of Monaco today, but that got changed - we figured out why and more about that later.
We had to take “tender” boats to the dock.
The town of Villefranche-sur-Mer dates back to the Middle Ages and is home to some beautiful mansions. There is a nearby area that’s been called Millionaire Cape for around a century - now it’s more like Billionaire Cape. This town is the antithesis of Naples or Civitavecchia.
We took a bus to Monaco, a country that’s only two square kilometers in size (which is just a little more than 3/4 of a square mile - .77 to be exact.). A population of 40,000 people live there, 10,000 of whom are citizens, and the rest are “residents” who can live there tax-free if they’re there for at least 180 days per year. That is you can live there tax-free UNLESS you’re French or American. That’s because the Monaco government was set up in the early’60’s with the assistance of Charles DeGaulle and John F. Kennedy, and they didn’t want to lose any revenue!
Many current residents are from the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Pretty much everyone lives in high rise condos. Many of the condos include an access to yacht mooring as well as parking.
All moorings are owned by the government, though, and boat owners are charged annually by the size of the boat. Larger yachts - and there are lots of them - can cost more than a million dollars per year in moorage fees. That and the 20% value added tax on everything (including €5 million condos) are the reasons there are no income taxes here.
There’s very little green space in Monaco - nearly every square inch is covered with high rises. One exception is a garden created for Princess Grace (Grace Kelly). Her statue is here, as well as many others.
Prince Albert I was very interested in oceanography (more so than running the country), and he established this oceanography center, both a museum and research institute.
Jacque Cousteau was the director for many years.
We drove down the street where the Monaco Grand Prix will begin the first weekend in June.
We figured out that the reason our ship wasn’t able to stay in Monaco - the Pope will be here this weekend, and everything is focused on preparations for his visit.
It’s pretty easy to tell the difference between tourists and locals.
We stopped at a sidewalk cafe where we spent €14 (€15 when you include the tip) for a couple of Coke Zero’s, a comfortable chair to people watch, and access to nice restrooms.
We didn’t get to the famous casino at Monte Carlo - but it’s the building with the double green domes.
Our guide mentioned that one of the nice places to stay in Monaco is the jail. Large single rooms, all with ocean views, good food, the only things lacking are Internet and a key to the room. There are only a dozen or fewer inmates at any given time, and virtually all of them are there for embezzlement. Banking is very important in Monaco.
We saw the jail as we were leaving town.
When we returned to Villefranche-sur-Mer, we decided to walk around the town before returning to the ship. One of the interesting places is a “covered street” dating back to the Middle Ages.
John was interested in the water meters cut into the wall - we didn’t think these were here in the Middle Ages.
A street above the “Rue Obscure” was interesting, too.
We headed back to the ship in time for a late lunch.
There were two Viking cruise ships in port today, which is unusual. This probably wasn’t planned but was the result of Mistral winds hitting the Marseilles area, preventing cruise ships from docking there. Thus, the other ship was likely a day ahead of its schedule.
We had been notified that we wouldn’t be going to Marseilles because of the weather, and we got more information this evening. We would be experiencing very high winds and rough seas overnight and until early afternoon tomorrow. We were also told that all outside decks would be closed to passengers. That seemed like overkill - we’ll see.
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