"Veddy, Veddy Nice!" a Monaco Travel Page by James63

At 1.95 square miles, the Principality of Monaco is the second smallest country on the planet. (Only Vatican City is smaller.) In that little area, you'll find lots of money, overbuilt but nonetheless gorgeous elegance, and a bizzarely large number of pizza parlors. The temptation, therefore, is to write off Monaco as an overrated tourist haunt for the very well to do, but that would be a mistake.

The dirty little secret about little Monaco is that it actually has a fair amount of culture and a bit of Old World charm. Monaco is divided into four unequal sized administrative quarters. Monte Carlo, the largest and most famous, is the site of the Hotel de' Paris and the casino, as well as the o.k. beach, and a rather nice Catholic church. Fontveille is an industrial area with the heliport, train station, and otherwise not much to see other than perhaps touring the Monaco beer brewery. La Condamine is residential, but contains some of the ritziest shopping you'll ever want to do, mixed up with an oddly large number of pizza parlors. It is Monacoville, however, which is the capital and second largest quarter of the country, that is worth spending a little extra time in.

Among Monacoville's sites are the Prince's Palace, the National Cathedral (Roman Catholic), the Supreme Court, the Parliament, the Cousteau Marine Museum, the Prince's Gardens, and a delightful array of narrow winding streets with shops that, unfortunately, tend to the touristy, but also some rather better bars and restaurants.

The Prince's palace is quite impressive and the Changing of the Guard ceremony is worth waiting for. Tours of the Palace are available at certain times of the year, but a museum dedicated to the reigning Grimaldi dynasty is open year round and is worth a visit for history buffs.

The Cathedral is beautiful, and significantly includes the tombs of deceased Monagasque monarchs, as well as most famously, Princess Grace. It is worth visiting, as are the adjacent Prince's Gardens overlooking the Mediterranean. Just down the road is the Cousteau Marine Museum - also worth a day long visit.

Most fun of all though, is Monacoville's narrow medieval winding streets. These are fun to explore and while most of the stores won't impress, the bars and restaurants are pretty good - especially given Monaco's surprisingly weak culinary offerings.