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Monaco, a police state?

Monaco geographic and history

Visiting Monaco-the Palace-the Cathedral and princess Grace

Next to the parking garage, at the south end of the rock, lays the pretty Saint-Martin gardens, with tropical plants and statues. Tiers of Aleppo pines and yellow agaves wind around the headland. One of the statues represent   Albert the 1st, a great sea lover, founder of the MUSEE OCEANOGRAPHIQUE with its world famous aquarium, opened in 1910. The edifice has already an impressive allure: 100.000 tons of freestone from La Turbie dominating the sea at an altitude of 85 meters.....
Jacques Cousteau, the famous deep sea researcher, movie director and commander of the scientific search ship Calypso was director of this museum from 1957 until 1988.The visit is not cheap, but it is worth the money. The Monegasques say that it is the most famous and surely the most important museum of that kind. Even if fish are not your cup of tea, you should do the visit, some fish are stupefying!

Entrance musee oceanographique

Start at the aquarium in the basement. My first visit left me breathless but last year I was a bit disappointed by the less clear indications of the aquariums and the general negligence I noticed about maintenance. I hope the management will take this into consideration. The first you see, entering the aquarium is the shoal of little sharks, the filefish, blue with orange stains. The aquarium is a surreal home to a lot of weird species: secretive crabs hide in sponges clutched in their back legs, Bernard L'Hermite fish travel with a sea anemone permanently lodged on his back, thousands of fauna and aquatic flora specimen swim around in 90 basins, directly alimented with seawater. Chequered or sickle formed fishes swim around and you will  wonder how rockfish, horrid specimens, looking like space aliens, can be so poisonous! The noble female octopus waits weeks for her eggs to hatch on their tentacles and as soon as her offspring are born, she dies, exhausted! Try to find the razor-fish, shaped as a blade but not anymore in the water trunk it was supposed to be. You will discover If you’re lucky, have patience to discover them, find the butterfly fish, the cowfish or even better, the "balance" with his punk headdress.  In another aquarium, a cross-bowman stares at you, while a blue triggerfish shows you his orange teeth! Don't miss the scorpion fish, the narwhal and the abominable pustulous rascasse.  The most astonishing maybe is the plaice. Try to find her, should be in aquarium C13…..This flat fish, almost like a chameleon, hides in the sand before jumping on his prey. One of the most startling sights is not a fish but a model of a live coral reef taken from the waters off Djibouti. The researchers of the museum succeeded to acclimate the device by creating a complete autonomic eco-system: a premiere in the history of aquariophily. I thank the “Guides du Routard” to have indicated me all these fishes, or else I would have missed most of them. It is a sobering thought that every morning the aquarium occupants devour over 4,000 kg of mussels, sardines, seafood cocktail and spinach.
I must say that during my last visit I was touched by the care with which all these fishes and also the   slowly shuffling, breathless, open-mouthed visitors are surrounded. It was heart-warming and looked a bit like the living rooms of our grand-grand parents, stuffed with green and other things

Bibliography:  

Mary Blume, "Cote d'Azur. Inventing the French Riviera" (Thames and Hudson, London 1982) Stephen Liegeard, "La Cote d'Azur (Ed.Serre, Nice 1988), Patrick Howarth, “When the Riviera was ours” (Century, London 1977), Michel de la Torre, Alpes-Maritimes 06 (ed.Nathan, later  Deslogis-Lacoste), Pemble.J., “The Mediterranean Passion” (ed.Oxford University Press 1988)”, V.Van Hulst “The Rock at the sea”, (ed.Casterman 1998),”Guides du Routard, Cote d’Azur 1999” (ed.Hachette)  

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Visiting Monaco-the Musee Oceanographique

Visiting Monte Carlo-Casino-Hotel de Paris-Jardin Exotique