Cote d'Azur: New Money and Old Money

I feel that seeing Montecarlo once in your life is quite enough. The city is spectacular and ostentatious, and it gives you everything that you’ve expected to find there. Glamour, riches, celebrity spotting, chic shops, manic urbanism and wannabe models posing on the beach in their sequined dresses in the middle of the day. All in a day's work. Experiencing Montecarlo is an unmissable rite of passage, though, its omnipresent images of winding roads that overlook the harbour, the port with glitzy yachts galore, and exclusive character of its lifestyle are a part of our collective memory. And then, of course, there is Casino Square.

Casino square is a parade venue of countless luxury cars and their owners, and the centre of all the hustle for glitzy tourists who want to be seen. The architecture is rather stunning and deserves a moment, with the marble and gold, over the top, more is more, Casino building, joined by the ornate Hotel de Paris and Art Nouveau restaurant Café de Paris.

Monaco is equated with money, tax benefits and Formula 1 racing, but it came as a shock to me how dangerous the actual curves seem, and how narrow the city roads are. Even though I must concede that observing the race from an anchored boat does appeal to me. ? As long as I am not the one driving, I am up for anything!

Everything in Montecarlo is named after Princess Grace of Monaco, every square, gallery, street, garden or fountain… It makes you think that the local government must have had a huge problem with self-designation before her arrival. She is the ambassador of the city and an ethereal, somewhat tragic symbol of beauty, style and elegance, whose grave is somewhere there, in some unreachable church or the other. A noble fairy godmother that watches over her principality. What would she, always impeccably dressed and even more impeccably mannered, say about the city’s current, new money image?

On the other hand, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat is a more discreet village that has retained the old-style Riviera glamour and remained a remarkably unspoilt, attractive spot along the French coast. It offers coastal paths, a lovely promenade dotted with expensive restaurants and charming boulangeries and a fair number of boats as well. However, the reason for remembering this place, despite its unpronounceable name, is the architectural gem set high on a hill, known as Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild. If some cruel, whimsical circumstances of life condemn you to choose one and only one thing on Cote d’Azur to see, this must be it.

The beautiful palazzo in Belle Epoque style, filled with superb art works would be enough on its own, but the view of the glistening waters of the Mediterranean sea from above is beyond spectacular. Gilding the lily you might think, but both things work together so wonderfully that you cannot complain.

The villa is home to the priceless collections of Sevres porcelain, Flemish tapestries, exquisite furniture and 18th-century paintings which caught the eye of the former owner, the Baroness de Rothschild. She was a French socialite and an art collector, born into a limitless wealth of her famous banking family. The Baroness transferred all the woes of her life and turbulent marriage into capturing and accumulating beauty.  The interior is stunning, with countless colourful details, tasteful rooms and hidden parlours.

The star of the visit is definitely the exterior of the villa, which is actually a string of different lots, named according to their botanical themes: Rose garden, Exotic garden, Japanese, Spanish, Florentine gardens… The magnificent secluded gazebos invite contemplation and poetry reading, only to be interrupted by the regular musical shows that accompany the dancing of the water jets in the large, central fountain. The experience is absolutely heavenly, dizzying sensory overload which fills you with the joy of being alive and of being able to enjoy the beauty of the world.

The light was giving us its best, while the golden hour was coming upon the estate. Every turn around the corner or descent down the stairs opened up new pleasures. You could almost go back in time and hear the laughter mixed with the delicate clinking of wine glasses. The tiny dogs that even had their own embroidered armchairs would shuffle around the feet of the artists, philosophers and art patrons. Baroness is entertaining in her salon, and lucky guests are chatting with the brightest minds of their epoch during the day, while later, a renowned prima ballerina dances in the moonlit gardens for them. While a budding socialist in me despises any kind of exaggerated, greedy affluence, a part of me has grudgingly comprehended the true meaning of the noblesse oblige idea. If by some stroke of good/bad luck, you happen to be rich beyond any limit, well, this is the way to cope with it. Repent by investing in art, immortal beauty, good taste, the talent of other people’s genius and in the beauty of living. Life can be an art form and it is embodied right here, in a pink villa on Cote d’Azur.