DON'T LOSE YOUR SHIRT AT THE CASINO
Breakin' the Bank in Monte Carlo
Ever
since I was a romantic lovesick lad I’ve had a crush on Princess
Caroline of Monaco. Yes, impossible you say. Too much older, too much
richer, too far away. But a couple of marriages and a few family tragedies
later, hope remains eternal. And impossible love never dies. The train
from Italy to France’s Cote d’Azur passes in short time
(about an hour) from the industrial port of Genoa with cargo cranes
and grimy ships, along the coast of the Italian Riviera, passing below
the clinging cliffside villas
of San Remo and sinks underground, pulling to a stop
at Monaco. Images dance in the mind of James Bond staring across the
green felt of the Baccarat table into the eyes of Blofeld as he coolly
turns his Carte and passes the Banco.
The
little Principality of Monaco is a tiny cluster of mansions and modern
high-rise condos that cling to the mountains like glimmering agates
perched to roll down into the yachts, gleaming white, packed gunwale
to bowsprit crowding the harbor. It has survived as an entity over
the centuries precisely because it was hard to get to, surrounded by
its own personal mountain range, separating it from the rest of Europe
at large. Now, it’s just a train stop away. Any tourist visit
warrants a stop inside the most famous Casino in the world. In the
daytime, a stop by a table in tourist drag to lay a 100 Euro bet on
the spinning black of the roulette wheel is an irresistable temptation.
Red! Damn…
During
the afternoon you can get into the grand Casino Monte Carlo in your
tourist jeans, but in the evening
as the sun sinks in golden hues on the town where gazillionaires pay
no
income
tax,
when the Maybachs and Zondas arrive and deposit the glittery golden
crowd, the Casino dress code of evening jacket, tie and all the accoutrements
is enforced after about 5 pm.
You can probably get away with just a dinner jacket, but the atmosphere is quite
rich.
Should
you have neglected to pack your cummerbund and Rolex, go ahead and
lose
your
money at
the
modern
tourist
casino
across the street
behind the Cafe de La Paris where
they
have (repent - the end is nie!) slot machines "le Jeux Americains"
and Black Jack tables and after you've blown a wad, stroll the streets
where the Formula 1 Grand Prix race
cars
scream
with 19,000
RPM’s
every May (see Monaco
Grand Prix Race).
If you don’t have the forty diamonds handy to experience the glitter and glamour of Europe’s ode to class excess from a corner room window at the Hotel de Paris the during Monaco Grand Prix Week - after your red carpet walk with George Clooney at the Cannes Festival - take a rental car and wind around the twisty narrow streets yourself. For what else to do the Monte-Carlo (see Monaco Grimadi Palace Secrets). © Bargain Travel Europe
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SEE ALSO:
FAMILY
ENTERTAINMENT ON THE COTE d'AZURE
Kids on the Riveria - Dolphins and Dauphins
WARM
NIGHTS ON THE BAY OF THE SUN
Laigueglia - Romantic Hideway on the Italian Riviera
THREE
CHOICE HOTEL BARGAINS IN NICE
For a budget trip to the French Riviera
PLAY GOLF IN EUROPE ON A BUDGET?
A bargain is in the eye of the beholder
