Monaco Things to Do

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This is the place where the Grace Kelly married, and is now buried, alongwith her husband. Her grave is the only grave permanently honoured with fresh flowers. What a sweet tribute :)

On Sep 15, 1982 she passed away following a tragic car crash when she was driving along a coastal road in the Cote d'Azur. Her youngest daughter, Princess Stephanie was travelling with her, but luckily young Stephanie survived.

Prince Rainier III passed away in 2005.

The church setting is perfect, with a lovely sloping garden right behind, offering great views of the marina & sea. The garden contains some very romantic & cute statues :)

Driving a ferrari is everyone's dream, isn't it ?

Well, I did a ferrari trip with Liven Up ferrari Tours and hopefully I got a French Riviera Privilege Club Card and got 10% off !!! Wahoo I was so happy :)

Driving a ferrari was for me a great and thrilling experience on panoramic roads !
You can drive it or if you are afraid you can be a passenger.

As it's one of rare places in the world where you can do so, experience it in Monaco the home of rich and famous and feel like a star !

Make sure and go up to the top of the hill and see the Church and the Exotic Gardens---mostly cacti and other succulents but very pretty and well displayed---the photo is of the port below, from the top.

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The following photos demonstrate the well-appointed plot chosen for the church.

Leaving the church, you will directly face the graduated gardens, with the sea clearly visible behind it.

The photo stand opposite commemorates the Royal wedding on 19 April 1956.

Do walk through the gardens. The landscaping is lovely, as are some of the sculptures there. There is even a tap for drinking water :)

The gardens slope downwards, and at the other end (left in the photo) you arrive at the museums: Oceanographic & 'Monte Carlo Story - The story of a dynasty'!

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This tour takes about 35 minutes, and inside it's warm & damp, though the warmth is relative: if you're there in summer you might see it as a bit of a cooling down (at 18.5C!)

Before you enter the cave, you'll see some displays (animal skeletons) in cabinets, and maps of the inside. The cave entrance itself is chained off as you have to wait for a guide to take you in, once the group inside comes out.

There is plenty of seating, in a shade, near the entrance.

The board in photo 2 reads:
"The Observatory Cave is a natural cavity, created by the flow of rainwater which has dissloved the rock and enlarged the cracks over millennia. These vast caverns show off their draperies, columns and pillars, stalactites and stalagmites, cave pearls and meanders or calcite (calcium carbonate) concretions.

This cave is a major prehistoric site where excavations carried out between 1916 and 1930 discovered significant and very old archaeological remains from three successive humanities. The Pre-Neanderthals (around 250,000 years ago) left us flints (tools in hewn stone), the Neanderthals (around 60,000 years ago) scrapers from fragments of flint, and Cro-Magnon man (from around 35,000 years ago) beautiful blades in flint and bone spear heads. All these peoples occupied the entrance to the cave, the inside of which was used as a larder.

Animal bones which have been discovered have enabled us to learn about the fauna and thus the different climates of the Quaternary period. Red deer, Asian dogs, wolves and rhinoceros lived during temperate to hot periods while reindeer, polar foxes and marmots related to cold or glacial periods.

You will discover all the items from these Excavations by continuing your visit at the Monaco Museum of Prehistoric Anthropology."

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Here I've attached some photos of the lovely shaded ponds around this hanging garden. They are well stocked with plants, fish, and naturally birds (looking for prey!).

There's one pond that is located such that it could be viewed from different elevations: from above, by your side, or after descending some stairs, from below!

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Surely you want to see the plants here right?

The lovely arrangements, multi-tiered platforms, wooden bridges, giant cactii...

"Un peu d'histoire... (A bit of history...)

The exotic garden was created at the beginning of the 20th century by the "Prince Savant" Albert 1st of Monaco, also founder of the Oceanographic Museum.

Designed by Louis Notari, then Head Engineer of public works, the Garden has remained practically unchanged since it opened in 1933 after twenty years of work. This genuine hanging garden overlooks the Principality and offers an exceptional view all the way to Italy.

A large number of plants come from a collection which was started at the beginning of the 19th century in Monaco. These plants which are over a hundred years old grow to the same large sizes as they do in their countries of origin.

The Exotic Garden is a service provided by the monaco Town Hall and to date has welcomed over 21 million visitors."

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Kids would love this place. There is a lovely little 'girl' with flowers to welcome all at the entrance, just behind the gates. A cute little touch!

Further up you have a massive 'sweet' wrapped up in silver.. available to any kid who can get the wrapper off. This one is a real challenge ;)

Then you have some cool animals hiding in the shade, waiting to be discovered by the kids. There are donkeys (a blue one, and another multi-coloured black one), a 'rare' stripey black & white rhino, some leggy creatures beside the red giant sweet. Can you spot these?

However, the views of Monaco are really stunning, both of the marina & the houses, buildings & streets below.

You'll find many areas to sit down & admire the surrounding beauty, including enjoying the many relaxing ponds full of colourful fish.

(Another tip follows with photos of the views & plants).