The French Riviera has many wonderful places to visit, but you cannot visit the French Riviera without taking a trip to the second smallest country in the world, Monaco.
Nestled in amongst the hills and sea, this minute country is quite an amazing place with the yachts and wealth clearly on show.
Officially termed the Principality of Monaco, it is a sovereign city-state with borders to France on three sides and the Mediterranean Sea providing access to the South.
It is also quite close to Italy. Just a few miles along the coastline is the Italian region of Liguria and the whole area has a very distinct feeling of both countries inter-twining. It just feels exotic and exclusive, which I suppose it is.
Around 38,000 people live in Monaco and due to its very welcoming tax laws, (there is no income tax), it has become a haven for high-net-worth individuals from around the world.
Of course, all this wealth lends itself perfectly to the "who has the biggest" game and some of the boats in the marina were absolutely incredulous, but not all were the super-yachts, there were still plenty of standard watercraft moored up.
It is very built up, with apartment blocks and offices stretching all the way up from the water to the highest points on the hills around it.
Of course, the most famous district of Monaco is Monte Carlo with its casino and harbour and the streets of Monte Carlo are of course home to perhaps the most famous of all motor racing events, the Monaco Grand Prix.
The track is world famous, but you would only recognize parts of it when not set up to race, we spent a couple of hours walking around with a guide and it was incredibly interesting and quite mind-blowing how they race around there at those speeds.
Below is the road around the Marina and this stretch is the approach to the "Swimming Pool" which forms part of the track on race day - cars flying along there at over 150mph in quite mental!
Along that same stretch, is an amazing piece of sculpture, Le Plongeur (The Diver) and I loved it, how it was positioned, and how open and welcoming it seemed as it faced all that history.
It was very hot when we visited in August (30 degrees and more) and it was also very busy, but I doubt there is a time when it doesn't feel busy, given how small and congested everything is.
If you get a chance to visit, then I would encourage you to do so.