Beaulieu-sur-Mer - the Wash Down

This guy is standing almost on top of the boat he is cleaning.  So, instead of seeing the sea and surrounding yachts, we see some of Beaulieu's  beautiful villas on the hillside. Note the reflection.

Beaulieu-sur-Mer - Agapanthus

A pretty little garden with blue agapanthus near to the Mairie of Beaulieu.

Beaulieu-sur-Mer - Contre-Jour

Shooting into the sun at Beaulieu-sur-Mer.

Beaulieu-sur-Mer - Painted Ladies

On sale at Saturday's market in Beaulieu-sur-Mer.

And what or who are these ladies?

How about the handle of a nail file!

Beaulieu-sur-Mer - Street Smart

Street fashion in Beaulieu-sur-Mer.

Beaulieu-sur-Mer - the Gran Caffé

The Gran Caffé, opposite the market in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, is a good place for a chat before crossing the road to buy the day's fruit and veggies.

Beaulieu-sur-Mer - the Fish Man

Beaulieu has a really good Saturday market.  Meet the fish man - serving one of his customers with one half of a large fish.

Beaulieu-sur-Mer - Perfection

This is one of the many public gardens in Beaulieu-sur-Mer - an area is in front of the port.  Beautiful pots, perfect flowers, automatic watering.  Beaulieu always seems to me to be what the 'perfect' Riviera town would be if we had to imagine it - Belle Epoque villas, yachts in the bay, classy, (don't you hate that word) pristine, a 'dream' of the Côte d'Azur made real. 

Note: the cyclists - not long now and it will be that time of year again - the Tour de France.  You regularly see the Tour de France cyclists practicing on our roads and hills.

Beaulieu-sur-Mer - the Beach

We're in the beautiful town of Beaulieu-sur-Mer today - it's just along the coast from Monaco towards Nice.  Monaco - Cap d'Ail - Eze - and then Beaulieu.  So let's spend a few days here - and why not start on the beach.  If you look carefully you can see the terrace of the Villa Kerylos, on the left.  Click the link to see photos taken in 2009 when we explored this stunning Grecian villa.

Blake's Phantom - Wax

Many of you know that from time to time I have the immense pleasure of taking photographs in the Monaco studio of Blake, the well-known Canadian sculptor.

Here he is holding his latest 'Phantom.' She has been painstakingly created out of wax and is kept in a large container of water before she goes to the foundry to be cast in bronze. The wax is kept in water to keep it cool in the heat and so that it doesn't deform. This is a very delicate sculpture and it's held together with small rods, all welded together.

Over-dressed

This is a scene you often see on Larvotto Beach.  Nearly everyone in beach gear and suddenly you spot a man in a suit or in a shirt a trousers - doubtless an escapee from one of the many conferences held during the year at the nearby Grimaldi Forum.

Hot Pink

A server at a bar on Larvotto Beach. 

Love the hot pink but it so clashes with the orange parasols ...

Thos lazy, hazy days of summer ...

'Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Dust off the sun and moon and sing a song of cheer ...'

Confusion

If you look at the mirrored pillars inside the Park Palace shopping centre, you can get rather confused - especially when there is  a Rolls Royce and a Triumph sports car on display ...

The Giant and the Passers-By

Here's another 'Giant' sculpture, this time inside the Metropole Centre. I like the delicate summer fabric of the girls' clothes, as they float by, compared to the solidity and weight of the sculpture - and neither aware of the other ...

Tattoos in the Casino Gardens

Not a Monte Carlo lady today but a visiting English couple showing off their tattoos.

Tatoos always fascinate me - body art - and I often wonder what I'd have done if I were brave enough to stand the pain.  But I'm not ...

Monte Carlo Ladies and their Dogs

A Monte Carlo lady walking her dog on the end of that long lead - as you can see in the smaller photo.

The Cruise Liners

The cruise liners get bigger and bigger and on the days they are in Port Hercule, Monaco gets more crowded!  This one, Carnival Legend, takes 2124 passengers, has 930 crew members and is 963 feet long.

This photo was taken from Larvotto Beach.

Six Hands, Two People

Here's half of yesterday's photo but blown up larger.  Count the hands ...

(see small photo below if you missed it)

The Giant and the T-Shirt

There I was photographing this 'Giant' outside the Metropole Centre, when the doors opened and this beautiful couple walked through. Don't you just adore the three hands on the young man's t-shirt?

I assume the sculptor is called Alviati (written in small letters after the title of the piece) but can find no reference to him on the internet.

Is this finally summer?

Oh... let's have a beach scene. The sun is shining, yachts out at sea, pretty clouds hover over the horizon - perhaps summer is finally here. We've keep thinking this and then the wind comes up, it rains, it's cold. But so far, so good...

This was the far end of Larvotto Beach yesterday - La Rose des Vents, which is a private beach and restaurant.

Market - the Queue

In Monaco's market, you'll find individual sellers with their fresh veggies and fruit -  and always a queue of customers.

Monaco Grand Prix - Ferrari reflection

It's a bit of a grey day in Monaco, so here is some Ferrari red to cheer us up.  This guy is one of many Ferrari workers, cleaning-up after the Monaco Grand Prix.

Stylish

Stylish - walking past the Casino Gardens.

Vernissage/Opening Photography Exhibition THIS EVENING!

Blatant self promotion today!

This evening! Vernissage of photography in the Tour Lascaris at Gorbio, near Menton. Two photographers. Khaled Youssef will be exhibiting his new series of beautiful bubble photos and Jilly Bennett will be showing new black and white photos of life and love in Menton and Gorbio.

Do come along.  Everyone welcome. 18h. Friday, 7th June in the Chateau at the top of the village. Come an have an aperitif and a enjoy the show. Afterwards? Gil, the pizza chef at the Restaurant les Terrassess/Chez Paulo, makes great pizzas.

And if you've not visited the medieval village of Gorbio before, you are in for a treat.

Matched

Market, Place d'Armes

In Monaco, even the plastic flower pots match the flowers!

Monaco's Market

Scene/seen inside Monaco's market.  Note the sign for pizza is written first in Italian, then French, then English. In the past, I've heard people say that Monaco would collapse in a heap if the Italians left.  Nowadays, they'd be more likely to say the Russians.

Pomodoro

Market, Place d'Armes

Is there anything more evocative of a Mediterranean summer than succulent, thinly sliced, fresh tomatoes, served with buffalo mozzarella,  generously drizzled with the best olive oil and scattered with fresh basil?

Add a baguette, a glass of rosé - heaven!

'Get Closer and come to the M.Zone'

These signs saying 'Get Closer and come to the M.Zone' are all over the market area at Place d'Armes in Monaco. Included in the sign is a barcode and also the usual warning about smoking.

The M.Zone appears to indicate a WiFi zone but why the warning about cigarettes?

Anyone know? I clicked on the link but don't understand ...

PS. I now understand this is an advert for Marlboro Cigarettes so who knew?  What happened to Marlboro Man!

Red Bull

One side of the Red Bull hospitality area and heavy cloud on the mountains ... where is summer?

Monaco Grand Prix reflections

If you going to show up in a reflection, best choose Ferrari red hospitality to frame you.  As you see, it's in the process of being dismantled following the Monaco Grand Prix last weekend.

Monte Carlo Daily Photo is back ... with Ferrari Red

Well... it looks like Monte Carlo Daily Photo is back!  For how long, I don't know, but I missed it! And work on my book continues regardless.  Time management would appear to be the answer ...

Last Tuesday, I had to go to Monaco and as I'm incapable of going anywhere without a camera, here goes ...
 
The Monaco  Grand Prix is over and the clean up is underway. So, come with me and see what happens.  This as you can see is part of the Ferrari hospitality area on the port - in the area known on race day as the Paddock.  You don't get in here unless you pay a lotta money.   Don't you love that everything, including these guys, are in Ferrari red ...

See you tomorrow ...

Monte Carlo Daily Photo is taking a temporary break ...

The Oceanographic Museum at sunset and a temporary au revoir ...

Monte Carlo Daily Photo is taking a break after publishing daily for over 6 years. Menton Daily Photo will continue, so do please visit me there where I may well publish the odd Monaco photo taken when I visit friends in Monte Carlo.

The reason is that I'm putting all my creative energies into a book of photography and words. All will be revealed eventually...

I want to thank everyone so very much for being so faithful to this blog - for your encouragement and comments. Currently there are 10,000 people a month who look at Monte Carlo Daily Photo, of which 5,000 are what Google refer to as 'unique visitors' so I'm aware that I'm saying a temporary goodbye to a lot of people. But I will be back one day.

I simply need to concentrate my creative energies on my book. 

lots of love and thanks - Jilly xxx

Passing Strangers ...

La Reine Mariana and a passing stranger.  She was sculpted in 2004 by Manolo Valdés, the well-known Spanish artist who lives in New York.

Palms

Morning light near the Grimaldi Forum.

Crew

Deep in thought ...

Reflections in Port Hercule

And black and white kind of day.

Grand Prix de Monaco - the Back of the Stand

If you get bored looking at the pit lane, you can turn around and look at the boats ... not that any Formula One fan would, of course ...

Grand Prix de Monaco - the Pit Lane Stand

Monaco is wearing her usual mantle of steel as she prepares for the Monaco Grand Prix which takes place on the 26th May.  Here you see the stand that faces the pit lane.  Behind this stand is Port Hercule.  We'll see a photo of the other side tomorrow.

'Royal Clipper'

Isn't she stunning!  I was at Larvotto Beach and saw she was in the harbour, so had to get in the car and drive to the port to photograph her. 

She's called Royal Clipper and is a five-masted fully rigged tall ship used as a cruise liner.  She flies the Maltese flag. She is listed in Guinness World Records as the largest square-rigged ship in service, with 5202 square metres of sail. Her sails can be handled with a crew as small as twenty using powered controls.