If you arrive in Monaco at Jardin Exotique, the road takes you down to the Casino where there is a traffic light; you either turn right to go down to the port, left to Roquebrune Cap Martin, or across and down a small road through the Casino gardens to the Place du Casino. One of the drivers of the Bus de Soirée, whose job can be pretty lonely in winter time when there is no late night open air cinema and few tourists (he works at night so that he can go fishing in the daytime or tend his vegetable garden in the hills behind Menton) told me that on every tour he looks forward to stopping at the light and admiring the only really elegant view in Monaco, over the Boulingrins gardens and fountains to the floodlit Casino. It is just as magical in daytime; the sun shimmers through the leaves of the trees and the dancing fountains, the gardens are ablaze with brightly coloured flowers and the tourists flock to take photographs.

Catch the magic

The French word Boulingrins, which dates back to the 17th century, refers to a decorative parterre of flowerbeds and fountains, as seen above at the gardens around the Casino in Monte-Carlo. Photo © Monte-Carlo S.B.M. Although there are wonderful views over the Principality from Jardin Exotique, the ramparts of the Palace, Oceanographic Museum and the Casino terraces, the view over these elegant gardens in the heart of Monte Carlo is special ... but it is soon to be lost. Take your camera now and capture the magic. The fountains are to be taken away as... “Société des Bains de Mer has a new project to accommodate the shops from the Sporting d’Hiver and the Avenue des Beaux-Arts in ...while it carries out renovation work at the Sporting d’Hiver and the Hôtel de Paris. Curved buildings will be erected around a winding, tree-lined alleyway in the middle of the Boulingrins Gardens ... These amazing, innovative structures will have a unique shape, echoing the curves of the garden ... and will make this new shopping area in the heart of Monte Carlo more attractive. They will be set up in the first half of 2014 for a period of four years.”