Monaco Palace

One year we had planned to drive up the hill to visit the Monaco Palace, but at each street we tried to use, the police would stop us and indicate we are not allowed. We saw other trucks going up, but we had to find a parking place, then walk up the hill. When we got near the palace, we found they were setting up barricades for a ceremony of some kind. The Monte Carlo police didn’t understand we were just going to drive through, and not park for the day, nor did they probably care. A couple of other years we did drive to the palace.

Monaco is on the side of a mountain, right on the coast. Most of the streets zigzag back and forth parallel to the Mediterranean Sea, while there are blocks of stair steps going up and down the Monte Carlo hillside. During our visits on a couple of years, the yacht basin had a few visitors, nothing too big and fancy, while on other years there were luxurious yachts galore.

We drove down one of several steep switchback roads. Some years later Princess Grace had a fatal automobile accident while driving this, or a similar street.