It’s Nice and so is Monaco

Around 350 BC the Greeks of Massilia (Marseille) won a victory over neighboring Ligurians and founded a new settlement there on the Mediterranean called Nikaia, named after Nike, the goddess of victory. Today that city is Nice, France’s leading tourist draw on the French Riviera and the 2nd most visited destination in the country after Paris.

Compared to neighboring its gray and gritty port neighbor of Marseille to the west, Nice is lively, colorful and relaxing. Fun and holiday compared to fishing and port industry.

But it’s Nice’s famous neighbor just a few minutes to the east that’s the most interesting of all.

In 1297, a Genoan by the name of Francesco Grimaldi and a friend came up to the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco dressed as a Franciscan monks and asked for shelter. When the guards opened the gate to let them in, they drew swords hidden in their tunics, slew the guards and gave access to their men to overtake the fortress. The kingdom of Monaco remains under the rule of the Grimaldi family to this day, with two sword-wielding monks on the official coat of arms.

How a country that’s 0.75 square miles in total surface area, which you can walk across in 56 minutes, is entirely surrounded by France (and the Mediterranean), with a population of just some 30,000 and no army has managed to survive for over 700 years in volatile Europe is one of the wonders of European history. Sure, it’s been invaded, first by the French, then by the Italians, and as late as WWII by the Germans. But Monaco suffered relatively little during these occupations and has always immediately bounced back quickly and peacefully to independence, always under the leadership of the Grimaldi royal family.

A major tourist destination for the rich and famous, Monaco’s economy thrives on tourism and with no income tax as a tax haven of sorts for the wealthy elite of Europe seeking to escape the confiscatory socialistic tax policies of their respective home countries. As such, even of Monaco’s small population of 30,000, only 16% are native Monegasques, with the rest comprised of 125 other nationalities (the vast majority being French and Italian). And with a GDP per capita of over $70,000, twice that of the United States.

Part of the United Nations but not of the European Union, Monaco nevertheless uses the Euro as its currency. It is a constitutional monarchy ruled since 2005 by Prince Albert II. His father, Prince Rainier, ruled from 1949 to 2005 and was married to his mother the late Princess Grace, better known to 50s film buffs as the beautiful all-American blonde actress Grace Kelley (ranked as the 13th greatest female stars of all time, with notable films including High Noon, Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, and To Catch a Thief).

The first images are from Nice; after the coat of arms are a few from Monaco.