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They say that in Monte Carlo you’re never ten
yards from the paparazzi. When they’re not falling
out the nearest tree, they’re easy to spot, sitting
outside cafés, chain-smoking from beneath dark
glasses, telescopic lenses at the ready…
But then Monte Carlo has always had a surreal quality
to it. For a start, it’s located in the second
smallest independent state in the world, Monaco (second
only to the Vatican City), the Lilliputian principality
on the French Riviera. Perhaps the defining moment in
Monaco’s history, and one that was to shape its
future as a playground of the rich and infamous, came
in 1869 when Prince Charles III decreed that the enclave
should become an income tax haven. Since then, ‘The
Jewel-box of the Riviera’ has been a place of
almost phantasmagorical plenitude: where the well-heeled
folk of leisure idly disport themselves, and American
heiresses mingle with British aristocrats, Italian playboys
and French movie stars. Cardsharps take note: these
people are rolling in it!
Monaco, known as ‘The Rock’, is built against
the mountains, from which Monte Carlo tumbles elegantly
down towards the sparkling Riviera coastline, with its
skyscrapers and luxury hotels, and shimmering harbor,
stippled with the yachts of the super rich. Every January,
the twists and turns of the coastline become the course
of the world-famous Monte Carlo rally, along which the
playboy racing drivers hurtle breathlessly in a breakneck
race of fame and glory.
And amid this maze of unimaginable sumptuousness rises
Monte Carlo’s most sumptuous landmark of all:
Casino Monte Carlo – because the town also happens
to be the gambling capital of Europe, and now, thanks
to PrimaPoker, is the destination of the world’s
most exclusive poker tournament’, the Monte Carlo
Millions.
The famous casino, with its neo-baroque grandeur, makes
Versailles look positively inconspicuous. This majestic
edifice, a rococo cathedral to splendor and excess,
was built in 1863 by French architect, Charles Garnier,
who also built the Paris Opera, and is as much a destination
for architecture lovers as it is for the high-rollers.
The building is urrounded by picturesque formal gardens
with colorful flowerbeds and lush green lawns.
The interior, with its frescos, statuettes and chandeliers,
is a monument to pure ostentatious opulence in marble
and gold and is a must for the visitor wishing to act
like a lord with a Vodka Martini or two. Naturally,
‘suitable attire’ must be worn, but if your
tuxedo got stranded at the airport, don’t be too
concerned - the Sun Casino just around the corner is
a far less intimidating, laid back affair with more
of a Vegas vibe.
Until PrimaPoker came on the scene, Monte Carlo wasn’t
known for its poker tables, preferring the stately casino
games such as European and American Roulette, and baccarat-
style games like Chemin de Fer (James Bond’s game
of choice) and Banque à deux tableaux. The Sun
Casino, however, has always done a nice line in Stud
games.
Curiously, if you’re going to Monte Carlo to
gamble, you won’t be rubbing shoulders with the
locals who, along with the royal family, are banned
from gambling within the Principality. Let’s hope,
however, that you’re as successful as one Joseph
Jaggers, an English engineer who, in 1873, after intensively
studying the roulette tables at the Casino Monte Carlo,
identified a minute bias in one of the wheels and managed
to take the casino for $450,000. In today’s terms,
that would be an unimaginable amount of money - millions
and millions. And yes, he was the one immortalized in
the vaudeville song: The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte
Carlo.
If you do manage to break the bank (or win the Monte
Carlo Millions), then the place to stay is the palatial
Hotel de Paris, adjoining the Casino Monte Carlo. With
rooms ranging from anything from $511 to $3200 per night,
this place may be a little pricey (as, you may have
gathered, is everything in Monte Carlo), but it’s
among the most luxurious hotels in the world. Strolling
through the lobby transports you back to what the French
call ‘La Belle Époque’, the ‘beautiful
era‘, preceding World War One, when the privileged
few dressed in the most elegant fashions and enjoyed
the finest extravagances life had to offer. In the lobby
stands a statue of Louis XIV on horseback. According
to tradition, rubbing the horse’s knees will bring
you luck at the tables and, needless to say, the generations
of superstitious gamblers’ rubbing has produced
quite a sheen.
The Hotel de Paris also houses the Louis XV restaurant,
which with culinary master Alain Ducasse as head chef,
offers the finest food in the Principality. And of course
we’d love to give you the low-down on the ‘salt
cod, squids, lobster, vongole and octopus cooked with
rocket pistou, cocos beans bouillon and Barolo vinegar’
or ‘the Breast of Squab from the Alpes de Haute-Provence
region with grilled duck foie gras, polenta and tasty
juice with offal’, but when the staff of Bluff
went out for dinner there, we clubbed all our money
together and found we could barely afford the cheeseboard.
The town swings into life after sunset when the high-living
beautiful people really come out to play. Monte Carlo
is famous for its cocktail parties, and Le Bar Hemingway
is the number one destination for the perfectly mixed
Martini, or Manhattan - in fact, the bar offers over
80 award-winning cocktails in all, along with live music
until the early hours. They also serve excellent food
at a far more palatable price than some of the restaurants
around town.
The Monte Carlo Sporting Club provides a night to remember,
combining gaming rooms with gourmet restaurants, bars
and clubs. It is also the home to the famous Jimmy’Z
nightclub. Jimmy’Z is the place to be seen in
Monte Carlo, a rendezvous for celebs, models and gold
diggers alike. Don your chicest duds and dance till
you puke. Be warned though: a round of drinks could
cost you half the price of your airfare home –
so it’s wise to turn up later in the evening with
a bellyful of duty free.
Tumble out of Jimmy’z in the wee small hours
and head down to the coast with the rest of the bleary-eyed
revelers to watch the sun come up over the Mediterranean;
rue the burnt holes in your pockets and contemplate
the infinite mystery of it all. The writer Somerset
Maugham once described Monte Carlo as ‘a sunny
place for shady people’, which might be equally
true of Vegas, and, like Vegas, it exudes that unabashed
guts and glitz. Monte Carlo manages to be beautiful
and stylish and showy and trashy all at once (like Paris…no,
not the city). It’s a dreamlike, shamelessly expensive,
fairy-tale world and there’s nowhere else like
it on earth…except maybe for Vegas
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