What does a backpacker do when she visits a country which has the highest GDP per capita? What does one do in a country known only for its gambling business boasting the casino for which to enter one has to dress like James Bond or his girls?
Easy. One stays in France, sleeps in French bed and takes an 1-euro-fare bus to Monaco for a day trip. If you read this blog, chance are you you did or will do all the above and below. You have no yatch. You think of getting one but you probably won’t. You don’t have the kind of income that needs to be wired off to hide in Monaco’s treasury. You might gamble in the Grand Casino but you might not stay in the hotel offered by them. Just because you entertained the idea of entering Monaco’s famous casino doesn’t mean you will actually do it. Instead to save the entrance fee and the effort of dressing up, you decide that the second-class American next door will do justice.
You will join a growing list of tourists who packed their own food and now having lunch in the garden across from the casino. You prepare your lunch ham baguet bought from stores back in France’s territory and will join a growing list of tourists who pack their own food and now having lunch in the garden across from the casino. You won’t miss out on your quest to sample local cuisine. The truth is that Monaco is diplomatically Monaco but culturally France. There is no point to blow up your meager budget on Monegasque food when you can eat the exact same thing across the border in the French Riviera.
To control the impulse on spending the night in Monaco, you can tell yourself that “I can always come back tomorrow; the bus costs only 1 euro.”
Think French while in Monaco. For once the French and I have something in common. That’s all I have to say. If you follow this backpacker’s guide to Monaco, the country can’t be any cheaper.
Photos from Monaco
My 39th European country.
Fun facts about Monaco
- Monaco needs more space than only what needed for the Pope. It is the second smallest country and most densely populated in the world.
- It is a city-state country where people live in one municipality.
- Monaco sits on the French Riviera, geographically part of France and defended by French army.
- It collects no income tax and has the world’s highest GDP per capita.
- Out of 33000 people living in Monaco, 80% of Monaco’s residents are foreigners who flock here for the obvious tax-haven reason.
- Famous for Monte Carlo and its casino industry, yet it is illegal for Monaco’s residents to gamble in their own casinos. Why? Perhaps to make sure that only foreigners are in it for their ruin.
- To get into the Grand Casino, you must observe the strictly enforced formal dress code: no t-shirt, blue jeans, flip-flop or tennis shoes. Consolation prize: if you fail the dress code here, you can only hop to the casual American casino right near by.
- Prince Albert is half-American. His mother is the late American actress, Grace Kelly.
- The Grimaldi family has ruled Monaco for more than 700 years, the longest continuously ruling family in Europe and probably the 2nd longest in the world after Japan’s imperial family.
- Prince Albert’s bride isn’t only a looker, she is a former Olympian from South Africa.
