Welcome to the sovereign city-state of Monaco! It’s the world’s second smallest nation, after Vatican City. It isn’t even an entire square mile, but has a population of 39 thousand people–and 32% of those folks are millionaires.
Every day the city’s headcount nearly doubles during work hours as people from France and Spain commute in for various jobs. In the height of tourist season, the limited square footage brims with humans (as does water the water with an astounding number of yachts).
After driving through Southern France (as you’ve seen in my earlier posts about Gordes, Ménerbes, Oppède, Nice, Cannes, and Èze), we made a quick stop in this itty-bitty-city. I’m not a gambler, so I just poked my head inside one of the historic casinos. Turns out I hate all casinos, no matter the country.
Otherwise, it was rainy, but it was still so lovely. I can see why all the billionaires want to be there (tax incentives aside).
Fact$ about Monaco:
- Like I mentioned above, a whole lotta rich people live here. There’s one billionaire for every 12,600 residents, and it’s home to over 12,000 millionaires.
- Monaco is income tax free and doesn’t collect corporation taxes from businesses.
- The country gets its revenue from casinos and tourism.
- Over 1.5 million people visit each year.
- Their flag looks almost identical to the Indonesian flag.
People originally from the tiny country are Monégasque, but if you are a foreign-born resident you’re referred to as Monacoian.
Monaco has four casinos, however the monarchy won’t allow its citizens inside because of the the ill effects of gambling. The Casino de Monte-Carlo, pictured here, dates back to 1863.
In the mid 1800s, Princess Caroline came up with the idea of building a casino as a way to save herself (and the rest of the royal family) from bankruptcy.
It seems fitting to end this series on a photo of the only Nike store in the entire country.
any guesses on what country I’ll visit next?
for the love of nike 