Sweeping up Botero's Ash

Fernando Botero created his wonderfully voluptuous 'Woman Smoking a Cigarette' in 1987. She endlessly smokes her cigarette in the Parc Paysager de Fontvieille.

Do you suppose the man in the smaller photo is sweeping up her ash?

Wrapped up for Winter

Many of the trees and shrubs, despite blue skies and sunshine, are wrapped up for winter but then it's still chilly at night. These are in the Parc Paysager de Fontvieille, near the Circus tent.

Winter Haircut

The olive trees in Monaco have had a winter haircut. This tree grows outside the church of Saint Nicolas in Fontvieille.

Bronze Water

We're back in Monaco today and this fountain in Fontvieille has always been a favourite of mine.

It's fascinating to watch the continually falling water. You can see a couple of photos I took three and a half years ago, including a longer shot which shows the complete sculpture - HERE.

The Trophy of the Alpes - the Restoration

A moody view of the Trophy des Alpes taken from La Turbie. You can see how it dominates the landscape.

In his Naturalis Historia, Pliny the Elder (23 - 79 A.D.) refers to the existence of the monument. However, from the end of Antiquity onwards, the Trophy of the Alpes receded from memory as its stones were used to build the village and fortifications. The ruined monument attracted travellers and Romantic artists enamoured of picturesque sites and scholars wondered whether the ruins at La Turbie could be clearly identified as the Trophy of the Alpes. After a great deal of research, it was.

During the Middle Ages, the site was converted into a fortress. Then, in 1705, Louis IV ordered the Trophy blown up but the 17-century-old construction largely withstood his efforts. The durable stone was pillaged to build the Saint-Michel church (see smaller photo) as well as other constructions.

Just before the Conté de Nice and Savoy were reattached to Fance in 1860, the Savoy royal family ordered restoration to begin. They didn't achieve much but at least what they did prevented further deterioration. Casimir, a local archeologist began excavations in 1900. The archeologist Formigé became interested and, in the 1920's, the wealthy American Dr Edward Tuck employed architects to restore the Trophy, including replacing stones where they deduced they belonged. The restoration was completed in 1934.

The Trophy of the Alpes - the Emperor Augustus

In 13 BC the Emperor Augustus planned a new coast road into Gaul (Provence). This road became the Via Julia Augustus (or Via Julia, later to merge into the Aurelian Way that was built 150 years later.) Augustus used this route to conquer the Ligurians and bring the Pax Romana to Provence. La Turbie was a strategic site as it was the highest point on the long Roman road into Gaul and marked the gateway between Italy and the Roman conquests of Gaul.

The map (click to enlarge) shows the peoples of the Alpes vanquished by Augustus during the second half of the first century BC and indicates the main Roman roads.

Interestingly, you can now visit 9 sites in a Roman itinerary (via Julia Augusta) starting here, at the Trophy in La Turbie - of which the caves of Balzi Rossi and the Hanbury Botanical gardens in Italy (just across the border) are visited - and finishing in Ventimiglia.

This model of the Emperor Augustus stands in the small museum adjoining the Trophy - a copy of the one in the Vatican in Rome.

The Trophy of the Alpes - the Goats

The Trophy of the Alpes celebrates the Emperor Augustus' conquest of the Gaulish Tribes between 25 and 14 B.C. From the Col de la Turbie, the highest point of the Julia Way (via Julia Augustus) the monument overlooks the sea from San Remo to Esterel and asserts the power and protection of Rome.

The walk throught the ground surrounding the Trophy affords some fabulous views over Monaco, amid box trees, rockroses, lavenders, bilberries and cypresses.

There are even a couple of friendly goats...

The Trophy of the Alpes - How it was Built

The museum, alongside the Trophy, is excellent and you'll find this model of the monument as it was when it was built in the first century B.C.

It is made of interlocking substructures, which make the structure very solid. A solid internal cylinder with foundations composed of a ring of radiating pillars supports an upper collanade which was very tall. Around this the quadrilateral base walls were structured by large enveloping stonework walls and other internal walls made of small stonework which formed cavities filled with packing material. This was filled with blockwork and mortar, the layers of which are still visible, showing how work progressed on the site.

They sure knew how to build...those Romans.

The Trophy of the Alpes

Anyone visiting Monaco and this part of the French Riviera can't have missed seeing the 'Trophy of the Alpes' at La Turbie, which overhangs the Principality of Monaco.

It was a 50 metres high monument, built in the 1st century BC to the power of Rome and the glory of the Emperor Augustus. It's now 35 metres high and you can visit the Trophy, indeed climb many steps - and we will.

Do come back tomorrow...




(the photos were taken last September)

Billowing Curtains

This photo (taken last year) shows the use for the poles seen yesterday. They support these white curtains that, in this photo, billow crazily in the wind. This is La Note Bleue restaurant on Larvotto Beach - and very good it is too.

Poles on Larvotto Beach

Larvotto Beach on a windy day. In fact I took this a year ago but looking through pics the other day I quite like the pattern of the poles so I hope you do too. Happy Sunday...

La Rose des Vents - Oil and Vinegar

A small table - good olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a pepper mill - enough to get the taste buds working...

We are at La Rose des Vents on Larvotto Beach. As you can see in the photo below, the restaurant spreads out onto the beach in summer and in winter (small photo) you'll find tables on the other side.

Lines

Lines everywhere outside the Grimaldi Forum, even on the runner's leg.

One Step at a Time ...

'No matter how long it takes,
If you keep moving,
One step at a time,
You will reach the finish line...'

~ Unknown

Grace Maman

This edition of Paris Match, showing a photograph of HSH Princess Grace, was amongst a pile of old magazines on sale at a recent BrocTroc in Menton. The date is February 1957 so the baby is HSH Princess Caroline who was born on 23 January of that year.

There's something so poignant in this, isn't there? Memories flood back...

The Cathedral and La Tête de Chien

This is a view of the cathedral I'd not seen before.

The promontory called La Tête de Chien (The Dog's Head) is at an altitude of 550 metres and overhangs Monaco.

The photo was taken from the open door at the far end of the Whale Room in the Oceanographic Museum (see smaller photo).

Oceanographic Museum - Lamp Light

Apart from the science and the ocean creatures, you could enjoy the Oceanographic Museum for its art and decoration alone.

This lamp hangs over a stairwell. Note the beautiful window.

Oceanographic Museum - Aliens and a very old Eel

Have the aliens finally landed in Monaco!

The Moon jellyfish is recognised by its fringed umbrella and reproductive organs in the shape of a four-leafed clover. It stings, but only slightly, and can grow to 40 centimetres. It's found on the Riviera coastline along with the more common Pelagia jellyfish.

If you click on the link, you can see a photo I took of thousands of these jellyfish, dead and washed up on the rocks at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin last June. The stink was awful.

The smaller photo - not as sharp as I'd have liked - but I want to show you the museum's oldest inhabitant, a brown moray eel who was caught off Antibes in 1968 when he was already adult size. Its precise age is unknown but he's at least 44 years old. Incredible, don't you think?

Oceanographic Museum - Silvery Lookdown

Just a day or so more at the Oceanographic Museum and we'll go somewhere else - but we'll be back. I photographed almost none of the art within the museum and wasn't happy with many of the fish photos - so another visit will be on the cards sometime in the future.

The top photo shows a Silvery Lookdown - they slide through the water like blades to catch their pray - and have such funny faces. This one reminds me of someone I know ...!

Look at the way the prawn - or is it a type of lobster - fits his little burrow.

And the last photo shows one of the nursery tanks. These are one of seven clownfish species in the aquarium, along with some black and white cardinal fish.

Some facts:

There are 90 tanks on exhibition. The capacity of the largest is 450,000 litres. The smallest holds 100 litres.

The temperature in the tropical area is 25 degrees and in the Mediterranean area, 15 - 22 degrees according to the season.

Duration of daily light: Tropical - 14 hours. Mediterranean - 12 hours.

Tomorrow, we meet the oldest inhabitant of the aquarium.

Oceanographic Museum - Harpoon

We've left the aquarium to walk up to the roof of the Oceanographic Museum - great views from here. This old harpoon looks ready for an unsuspecting whale ...

More fish tomorrow.