Scroll down to watch a video diary of Chris's visit. Standing at the edge of the curb, I briefly wonder if I am staring at the most hallowed curve of road on the planet. Even with a bus lumbering around it, struggling with the acuity of the angle, it is instantly familiar.
It could not - you might almost say - be anything else. This, after all, is the Grand Hotel Hairpin, the most famous corner in motor racing, the degree switchback where the roaring engines of Formula One are forced to cool their speed and enthusiasm to just 30mph or risk oblivion. Rock star: Monaco-Ville, better known simply as 'The Rock', is the perfect place to begin a tour of the principality. But more than that, this is the spot where Avenue Princess Grace โ the boulevard that sweeps grandly from Monte-Carlo to the French border via an arc of Mediterranean seafront โ begins its journey.
(mh=r5ysCeZU6yd9lMd1)13.jpg "SEX ESCORT Monaco")
In Monaco, it seems, even the highways are landmarks โ pinpricks on the European map as recognisable as the Brandenburg Gate, the Arc de Triomphe or the venerable walls of Dubrovnik. Waiting to cross, I almost expect a crowd of city-breakers to arrive en masse, cameras clicking.
And yet Monaco is rarely considered a city-break destination. It is viewed as other things โ a playground of the rich, a tax haven, a whirlpool of extravagance never one for frivolity, Queen Victoria repeatedly shunned the principality on her visits to the French Riviera in the s, deeming it far too decadent for her straight-laced tastes โ but rarely as a venue for weekend sightseeing.
What, really, is not to like? Certainly โ and this becomes clear during my two days in town โ you can see all of Monaco in a weekend, mainly because there is so little of it. A mere 0. Stand by the port, look to the mountaintop โ and you have already let your gaze rise too far. The skyline belongs to France. Monaco does not even fill the bay it occupies so chicly. Despite this, Monaco still manages to divide itself into four distinct quarters.
