Autumn in Monaco - 01/10/23
Words and Images by Mitcham Media
Make hay while the sun shines, or in this case take photos while the late September sun shines in Monaco while on a work trip to the Yacht Show. It’s not worth letting the journey to Heathrow at 5am and sleep deprivation get in the way of experiencing somewhere new and somewhere totally obscene.
Prior to the making my way to the sovereign state sitting tucked away in the middle of the French Riviera, the only images and video I’d seen of Monaco had been the Formula One or countless, seldom seen super cars and hyper cars. Rightly or wrongly the social media presence makes Monaco look like a billionaires playground, and to a certain extent you’d be right.
Stepping out of the train station which sits in a cave beneath the city you’re greeted by the blazing Mediterranean sun scorching everything it touches but bathing it all in a glorious warm glow. Around you all the buildings tower up skywards, the city scape scattered with enormous cranes building more and more blocks of flats Somehow here even the pavements, roads and buildings were imaculate, not a shred of litter, dirt or dilapidated brick work in sight.
The Monaco Yacht Show is considered to be the show of the year, marking the end of the yachting season in the Mediterranean it brings all the biggest and best players in the yacht building, restoring and brokering businesses to town, descending on the place for near enough a week of shmoozing, selling and drinking.
The pure grandeur and decadence was just insane, it was impossible to comprehend the people who are in the market for these things. With the cost of boats being at least seven figures with most being 10’s of millions and some even being 100’s of millions, even to charter for a week it’s hundreds of thousands.
While the spectacle was phenomenal, it was difficult to not feel saddened by the fact that there was billions of pounds floating in the harbour all as a willy waving contest while there are millions of people struggling to make ends meet and feed themselves, charities struggling for donations and underfunded healthcare systems.
Getting up away from the harbour it was time to have a wander round the streets of Monaco covering some iconic places including Casino Square and the Fairmont hairpin. The car spotting is very variable and contrasting, you’re met with lots of very mundane, french hatchbacks with the cliche dings and dent. The sound gives away the approach of something more interesting, back home it would be something like a BMW M3 or Audi RS6, but over in Monaco the least it’ll be is a DB11. Much like buses in the UK, Bugatti Chirons are the same here, having only ever seen one on a public road before seeing three in quick succession was quite something.
Overall Monaco didn’t fail to deliver the opportunity to see some of the most exotic cars on the planet, it was certainly an unforgettable experience, the unfortunate part is the whole place was tainted by motivation for owning the whole place feeling more like a posing paradise than any real passion.
