Aquarium- included in the trip
The Office du Tourisme at Gardanne is offering a day-trip to Monaco on Saturday 19th May. It’s an early start, 7:15, but then it’s quite a drive. Once there, there’s an organised trip round the Musée Océanographique and also the Palais Princier, followed by free time. 86 euros.
We went to Monaco a couple of weeks ago and it took a good 2 1/2 hours from Aix…so this trip looks like a much more restful way of doing it.
If you are an F1 fan, it’s a good time to visit as the preparations for the Grand Prix are coming on a pace – pit-lane in place along with grandstands and media positions. 
It is such an unusual place in that it is 2.020km squared with a population of 38,000; but its coastline is 3.83km and it’s here that the developments are taking place. Work is ongoing on an 8-hectare district being built out into the sea, the Anse de Portier, massive platforms for which are currently being constructed in Marseille.
We had a walk around Fontvieille, the previous district and marina reclaimed from the sea, and marvelled at the cleanliness of the place: everywhere beautifully planted with blossom trees and lilies and tulips; gleaming escalators taking us up the different levels; and not a scrap of litter. Monte Carlo was predictably busy with tourists, queueing for the Casino and the Café de Paris as well as photographing the Belle Epoque buildings.
Monaco has a cathedral, a zoo, gardens, a market, sporting clubs, new art galleries, convention centre, hotels, housing, shops, restaurants, all in the world’s 2nd smallest and most densely populated state in the world. How do they squish so much into such a tiny space?
I would have liked to try tennis player’s Novak Djokovic’s new vegan restaurant Eqvita, but we didn’t get there: instead we stocked up with goodies from La Condamine market and had a picnic. Le petit-fils Aixcentric had a wonderful time counting the many Ferraris whizzing past, and we were astonished at the numbers of policemen!
A good and interesting day out. Well done to Gardanne for organising a trip. http://www.tourisme-gardanne.fr/fr/sortie-%C3%A0-monaco.
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aixcentric 
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