Antibes and Monaco.

Our stunning villa was located in Antibes,  a quiet, Mediterranean resort in the Alpes-Maritimes department of southeastern France, on the Côte d’Azur between Cannes and Nice. This was just a short drive away from Nice, Cannes and Monaco, so was perfectly located. It also had everything you needed: shops, restaurants and a beach were all close by.

Early Saturday afternoon we set off for Monaco to do the ‘touristy’ stuff and for me to finally drive my car on the F1 race track.

The Monaco F1 is one of the longest-running F1 Grands Prix in history and it has been on the FIA Formula 1 Calendar since 1955 and is the holy grail of street circuits as most enthusiasts would agree. And  because it is a genuine street  circuit, it means that for every other day of the year it is simply a busy town center that anyone can drive around. Indeed you can drive on parts of the circuit during the Grand Prix weekend (after the F1 sessions of course). How cool is that? You can also walk on the race track as soon as the officials and gendarmes allow it.

We arrived in Monaco during the qualifying session and parked in the car park of the most famous building in Monaco,the monte Carlo Casino which is literally under the F1 track.  We emerged from the underground car park into the bright sunshine and the unique Monaco F1 atmosphere. We could hear Lewis, Sebastian and company screaming around the principality in the battle for ‘Pole’. We had arrived.

We then headed to the La Note Bleue beach for a leisurely breakfast at a beach restaurant of the same name. Ahhh! This is the life.

Brunch and selfie\picture session over, we made our way back towards the F1 track via the Champions Promenade to wait for the track to be re-opened to pedestrians and cars. Walking the track and harbour area was a real highlight of the entire trip. I’ve watched cars race through this tunnel  for decades and seen the typical Monaco harbour scene on TV countless times. When you see rows of Rolls Royces parked next to million dollar yatches waiting to whisk away the owners and guests of said yatches you realise that you may inhabit the same planet as they do, but you live in different worlds. Very, very different worlds.

Gawping done, we then headed to the street party at the famous La Rascasse bar and club located at the the famous ‘La Rascasse’ corner (turn 17 on the F1 track) to get a few drinks while watching both the Champions League final and the many well-dressed revellers. For some, the mixture of Monaco, drinks, music, F1 and football was their very idea of heaven.

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