Monte Carlo, Monaco & Avignon, France

We left our hotel bright and early as usual, and headed for Monte Carlo: The main city of Monaco. Monaco is one of the smallest countries in the world, only covering about 2 square kilometers. It has approximately 36,000 citizens – and an unemployment rate of 0%! There is also no income tax, which is why many of the world’s wealthiest people chose this small country as their primary residence.

Upon arrival in Monte Carlo the students had three options: To go on their own and explore as they liked, to go on a tour to see Princess Grace’s tomb and the aquarium or to take a “car-themed” tour around the city, which yours truly was in charge of. 

Mercedes-Benz 300 SL

 Ferrari Daytona racing car

The car-tour started out with a visit to “His Serene Highness: Prince Albert of Monaco’s personal collection of exotic and historical cars Museum” (that’s the actual title of the museum). Here we saw many rare vintage cars, and the students really enjoyed it. After that we went on a walk around the 3.5 km long Monaco Grand Prix circuit, which took us past Casino Square with the famous Casino Monte Carlo, Hotel de Paris and Café de Paris. (For the car-enthusiasts out there we saw, amongst other exotic rarities, a Ferrari Enzo, a Ferrari SA Aparta (wow) and the brand new McLaren P1 hyper car).

A rarety! The Ferrari Enzo super car (one of 400)

Mercedes SLS AMG convertible and the Ferrari SA Aparta (one of 80)

 The brand new McLaren P1 hyper car

After this we went down to the famous hairpin at the Fairmont Hotel, and continued onwards to the coastline where the Grimaldi Forum was located. We went on into the tunnel which makes up the main “straight” of the circuit and leads down to Port Hercule – probably one of the world’s most exquisite and expensive harbors where million-dollar barges are being replaced by hundred-million-dollar ferries. We learned that many of these mega yachts are registered in the Cayman Islands (no surprise there) and are then relocated to Monte Carlo; the largest of the ones we looked at being The Wedge 2, clocking in at more than 100 million USD… Damn…

After having felt extremely poor for a while we went back on the bus, where a 4-5 hour drive laid ahead of us. Next stop: Avignon, France!

We’re staying at a youth hostel called the YMCA which is located a little outside Avignon.  The evening was spent playing cards and walking around the area.