Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: Fuerstentum Monaco

With little more than 2km² Monaco is the second-smallest independent state worldwide. Only the Vatican is smaller. Sometimes it is claimed, that the "Palazzo Malta" and the "Villa Malta", the headquarters of "Sovereign Military Order of Malta" in Rome, are the smallest state. Though the order has an own currency and issued stamps, these two buildings are not an "independent state" but a "sovereign entity".

Even in December the sky is blue, the climate is mild and the flats have balconies for the summertime. At least the better flats. A good part of the population of 36.000, attracted by the climate and the tax-laws, live in high-rise blocks of flats in La Condamine, the area around the harbour. A high packing density. It reminded me on battery cages for egg-laying chickens. But that is unfair. The millionairs living in these blocks can drive their Porsches out of the air-conditioned, subterranian car parks - leave Monaco via a motorway and take a walk somewhere on the beaches or up in the mountains.