Monaco
Sunsets and Super-yachts
We travelled to Monaco. I’m not really sure why, except that it was close by.
Monaco is an independent country, just a couple of hours from Genoa, sandwiched between France and Italy. It’s famous for being a millionaire’s playground, a tax haven.
One thing of interest for this film fanatic was visiting the Monte Carlo casino, the location used in Bond films; Never Say Never Again, Goldeneye and Casino Royale.
It’s a perfect example of Belle Époque architecture in Europe, eclectic and elaborate. But that’s where any original thinking seemed to cease.
I paused to ponder. I watched the super rich people cocooned in their cars, their very own luxury goldfish bowls. Day trippers gawped and the couples, some with pampered pooches, peered out from the inside of their Maseratis and Ferraris.
In Port Hercules, the only deep-water port in Monaco, we saw several slick, super yachts. I’ve steered a yacht. So what?!
Strolling in the afternoon in search of an iced coffee, I spotted an advert, in the window of a bank.
I thought to myself, what’s so forward thinking about spending a lifetime chasing material wealth? Isn’t that exactly what people are conditioned to do? Work, buy, work more, buy more.
It was all a bit odd, really. And quite tacky too; a tourist ‘Choo-choo’ train drove by and there were diamanté souvenirs everywhere, ‘made in China’. We passed a fancy store where monogrammed and initialled suitcases were on display outside. Day trippers had formed an orderly queue, waiting to go in and purchase an over-priced piece. Why?
Monaco for me epitomised all that is wrong in many societies, that success is defined by so many by what you have, not what you do.
We love a sunset. We’ll always chase sunsets. But you can keep the super-yachts.
Monaco, you didn’t steal my heart. I doubt we’ll ever go back.
Have you ever travelled to a place that you were completed underwhelmed by?
© Maggie M / Mother City Time