Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(which runs during school holidays) - tickets (€3) for the 30-minute feel-the-fish sessions
are sold at the entrance.
Upstairs, two huge colonnaded rooms retrace the
history of oceanography
and marine
biology. Displays recount Prince Albert's explorations, and the cetacean skeletons, fossils
and other pickled specimens give an insight into the trials of these now-established fields.
Visit the rooftop terrace for sweeping views of Monaco and the Med.
Le Rocher
Monaco Ville, also called Le Rocher, thrusts skywards on a pistol-shaped rock. It's this
strategic location, overlooking the sea, that became the stronghold of the Grimaldi dyn-
asty. Built as a fortress in the 13th century, the
palace
is now the private residence of the
Grimaldis. It is protected by the Carabiniers du Prince;
changing of the guard
takes place
daily at 11.55am.
Le Rocher is the only part of Monaco to have retained small, winding medieval lanes;
they tend to be overrun with souvenir and ice-cream shops but it does give a sense of what
Monaco once was.
To access Le Rocher, walk up the 16th-century red-brick Rampe Major from place aux
Armes in the Condamine area. Alternatively, a path winds from the port up through the
shady
Jardins St-Martin
.
HISTORIC QUARTER
Palais du Prince
(
www.palais.mc
; adult/child €8/3.50; 10am-6pm Apr-Sep)
For a glimpse into royal
life, you can tour the state apartments with an 11-language audio guide. The palace is
what you would expect of any aristocratic abode: lavish furnishings and expensive 18th-
and 19th-century art.
ROYAL PALACE
Cathédrale de Monaco
(4 rue Colonel)
An adoring crowd continually shuffles past Prince Rainier's and Princess
Grace's graves, inside the cathedral choir of this 1875 Romanesque-Byzantine cathedral.
The Monaco's boys' choir,
Les Petits Chanteurs de Monaco
, sings Sunday Mass at
10.30am between September and June.
CATHEDRAL
