The long-awaited shuttle boat service between Nice and Cap d’Ail will begin this summer, transporting cross-border workers wishing to avoid heavy traffic jams and crowded trains during their daily commute.
The National Council on Tuesday welcomed a move by the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis, in conjunction with Monaco, to offer the shuttle boat service between Nice Port and Cap d’Ail, starting in August.
With thousands of French inhabitants travelling to Monaco every day to work, the new transport service will provide vital relief to a saturated train network and heavily congested roads. It will also help reduce CO2 emissions in the region.
The shuttle will run every half hour during peak hours, making 34 rotations each day between the Port of Nice and Cap d’Ail, about 15 kilometres apart.
The boats will be powered by hybrid engines, making them both practical and environmentally friendly.
Once in Cap d’Ail, passengers will be able to make the short trip in to the Principality using the CAM bus service.
While welcoming the new service, the National Council repeated its call for the government to boost sustainable public transport services in Monaco, saying: “The National Council wants the government to diversify its offer of alternative transport, making it sufficiently attractive for motorists. This is why elected officials reiterate their request to increase the frequency and to introduce free busses in the Principality in order to eventually make it the mode of preferred travel for residents.”
The shuttle boat service between Nice and Cap d’Ail will be trialled for two years.
Photo of Nice Port via Pixabay
Excitement set to return to Monaco with Historic GP
Monaco is revving up to host its first major public event since the onset of the Covid pandemic, the Historic Grand Prix. Tickets are selling out fast for the late April race amid uncertain health guidelines and ongoing travel restrictions in France.
After it was forced to cancel the 12th Historic Grand Prix of Monaco in 2020, the Automobile Club of Monaco (ACM) is in full swing for this year’s event, with 170 competitors primed to compete and stands throughout the Principality ready to welcome fans.
It marks a major milestone for both the ACM and Monaco, with thousands of spectators set to fill the Principality, injecting some much needed energy into a country that thrives on hosting events.
But with less than 10 days to go, the government is yet to provide any specific health guidelines for spectators.
Meanwhile, France’s “light lockdown”, which includes a 10-kilometre travel restriction, is not due to be lifted until the first week of May. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether Monegasque authorities will actually prohibit French citizens from entering the Principality for the event.
It hasn’t stopped tickets from going on sale though and, according to the ACM ticketing website, there are on average only 10% of seats still up for grabs. Stands at Quai Albert 1er and Piscine Plongeur are close to sold out.
While it remains uncertain what health documentation spectators will be asked to provide, the ACM, when contacted by Monaco Life, suggested that negative PCR tests would likely be required, particularly for foreign visitors.
The Historic Grand Prix of Monaco will serve as a precursor to the Principality’s most famous and highly-anticipated event, the Monaco Grand Prix, which is set to take place less than a month later.
The 2020 edition of the Historic Grand Prix of Monaco was meant to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the creation of the World Formula 1 Championship. This year, the club will still pay homage and commemorate the first win for Ferrari in Formula 1.
For two and a half days, competitors will share their passion for competition at the highest level of motorsport, in real races, surrounded by the sounds and smells that characterise their cars.
Fans can expect a fight between “voiturettes” in the A Series; four iconic Maserati 250F models facing a diverse range of single-seaters with front engines in the B Series; a rich C Series with sports cars; and F1s from the 1960s in the D Series.
One third of the E Series will consist of cars powered by 12-cylinder engines, Ferrari, Matra and BRM, in addition to the F Series with three former Grand Prix drivers and a multiple winner of Le Mans 24 Hours.
Last but not least, the G Series will host more recent F1s in a large variety of colours.
There will be seven races in total on a street circuit that is 80% the same as it was in 1929.
The 12th Historic Grand Prix of Monaco will take place from 23rd to 25th April. Tickets can be purchased online here.
Organisers of the hugely popular local event Top Marques have made the decision to cancel this year’s show and return in June 2022 for what it hopes will be favourable post-Covid conditions.
In the third rejiggering of dates this year, the organisers of the Top Marques Monaco announced on Tuesday that the show will be pushed from September 2021 to 8th to 12th June 2022.
“It has obviously been a difficult decision to make, but as it stands, conditions are not in place today for the event to be held with total peace of mind,” Salim Zeghdar, CEO of Top Marques said in a statement. “The lack of visibility and international restrictions still in effect have forced us to reluctantly postpone the 17th edition of Top Marques Monaco until next year.”
The postponement is a disappointment to visitors and a blow to the Principality, as the event is a big drawcard, bringing with it large international crowds, good press and a lot of money. But organisers are looking at the setback as a positive, allowing things to settle down on the health front to allow a more “normal” post-Covid environment.
“This new date will allow us to welcome our exhibitors and our visitors, many of whom come from abroad, in the best possible conditions,” Zeghdar said.
“My team and I are already working on the organisation of what we hope will be an exceptional edition. We are looking forward to promoting the luxury transport industry and its innovations throughout the Principality and beyond. We are preparing a number of surprises, as well as working on several novelties for the event, it’s going to be an amazing celebration of the automobile.”
Top Marques has been a Monaco staple since its first edition back in 2004. Called “the most exclusive automobile show in the world” by the New York Times, it is an annual luxury and supercar event attended by many of the car industry’s heaviest hitters.
The event features not just one-of-a-kind gems, but is also a showcase for innovative vehicles that may just turn into the cars of tomorrow.
Ticket holders can seek reimbursement from the same channels that tickets were purchased through, namely FNAC Spectacles or direct from the Grimaldi Forum.
Photo by Alexander Migl, via Wikimedia Commons
Monaco to host world’s first international streaming film festival
The Principality will roll out the red carpet for the pioneering new Monaco Streaming Film Festival this summer, drawing industry heavyweights for a dynamic “festival-meets-summit” experience and an awards ceremony to celebrate the best in the streaming industry.
It was announced on Monday that the inaugural edition of the Monaco Streaming Film Festival (MCSFF) will take place from 3rd to 6th July at the Grimaldi Forum, just ahead of the Cannes Film Festival, allowing organisers to capitalise on the world’s most famous film festival while drawing attention to the future of the industry.
The event was co-founded by Netflix Founding VP Mitch Lowe and, with over 200 streaming platforms available to viewers globally, it will play an important role in bringing together content creators and talent, media and technology innovators in an industry that has hit overdrive with the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We believe the industry has blossomed during the pandemic and offers the public access to exciting international content at a time when they need the world of entertainment and choice to come to them through their streaming platforms,” Tony Davis, CEO and Founder of MCSFF, told Monaco Life. “We aim to create an accessible and inclusive event that will support all content creators wishing to produce and showcase their work.”
The four-day hybrid festival includes premiers, an awards night, VIP receptions, a marketplace and a conference featuring talks by key personalities including Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak.
Organisers will leverage streaming technology to power the event, opening it to a global audience with a significant portion of virtual-only content and remote panels. The Grimaldi Forum’s new LED TV “wall” and broadcast studio will play a key part in helping to deliver the technology-driven festival.
The MCSFF is being organised in conjunction with major Hollywood streaming studios, the Princess Grace Foundation USA and the Global Environment Movement Association (GEMA) Foundation.
“It is important to show and bring to light the elements of our environment which are of great concern as well as all the solutions and efforts around solving them,” GEMA Co-Founder and Managing Partner Christian Moore told Monaco Life. “The MCSFF will play an important role in highlighting film makers and documentarians who bring these subjects to light.”
The festival will also present the first ever Princess Grace Award of Monaco, celebrating Princess Grace’s legacy in the film industry.
Nico Rosberg’s team has won the first ever Extreme E electric off-road racing series in Saudi Arabia, with Johan Kristoffersson and Molly Taylor at the wheel.
Rosberg X Racing (RXR) took out the win in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, ahead of Andretti United with drivers Timmy Hansen and Catie Munnings, and Lewis Hamilton’s team X44 with Sébastien Loeb and Cristina Gutiérrez behind the wheel.
“What an amazing start to the season. It feels a bit surreal, with so much anticipation and preparation leading into the weekend and we all came here not really knowing what to expect,” said Taylor after the win. “It was definitely extreme. It was the first time we had experienced terrain like that, and on every lap, the course was changing – there were so many different variables to deal with. We just wanted to make the most of the little time we had in the car – every single kilometre.”
Dubbed ‘Star Wars pod racing meets Dakar Rally’, the five-round championship is racing in five locations impacted by climate change during its 2021 inaugural season.
“It’s pretty cool to be part of this journey at the start of something that I think has an amazing future,” added the record-breaking Australian Rally Championship winner. “This series is really throwing the traditional rulebook out of the window and starting afresh, and I think everyone will agree it was spectacular to watch.”
The moment Molly Taylor took the first ever X Prix victory! 🙌🏆
The pioneering electric off-road series sees teams of legendary male and female drivers pair up to compete in two-lap races across the rugged terrain.
The dramatic desert dust-up in Saudi was divided into a qualifying day that set the order of race day, then on Sunday the drivers went wheel to wheel in an action-packed race that has drawn plenty of praise from racing fans the world over.
“If I had written a script for the perfect weekend, I could not have come up with anything better than what we have witnessed these past two days — I’ve never seen such extreme racing in my life,” said Alejandro Agag, founder and CEO of Extreme E. “This first race weekend will have a huge influence on how Extreme E evolves, and one of the reasons I feel so proud is that we have built this platform where female drivers can shine like they deserve. What we have seen from them here is extraordinary — some incredible talent and courage — and overall, I think it’s fair to say we have really made our mark. I’m over the moon.” Molly Taylor (AUS), Johan Kristoffersson (SWE), and Nico Rosberg celebrate the win
RXR’s Kristoffersson and Taylor stormed to victory despite a 60-second penalty and less than favourable grid slots in both the semi-final and final. It was an incredible display of skill and car control on a surface with natural obstacles that included sand pits, sand dunes, grass, bushes, and blind crests, making overtaking a much more difficult tactic to manoeuvre.
“This is insane. I’m so thankful to the whole team for the effort put in this weekend, which has been intense and really on-the-edge,” said Nico Rosberg, Rosberg X Racing founder and CEO. “Molly and Johan produced some phenomenal driving. Neither of them put a foot wrong in really tough conditions, and they both showed unbelievable speed out there — their performance was really inspiring and I felt really proud watching them.”
Extreme E selected AlUla to highlight the importance of deserts as biologically important ecosystems while the misuse of natural resources is the main cause of desertification and loss of biological diversity.
Up next in the schedule is the Ocean XPrix at Lac Rose in Dakar, Senegal on 29th and 30th May. That is followed by the Arctic XPrix in Greenland, the Amazon XPrix in Brazil, and the Glacier EPrix in Argentina.
The Champions for Peace on Friday digitally launched the 2021 #WhiteCard campaign under the motto ‘Behind each #WhiteCard, there is a story’.
People are invited to join the campaign by sharing #WhiteCard pictures and testimonies on the platform www.april6.org and social media.
A video message explaining what the WhiteCard means to them has been created by Champions for Peace Didier Drogba – winner of the UEFA Champions League and African football legend, Tony Estanguet – three-time canoe Olympic Champion and President of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Laurence Fischer – three-time karate World Champion and Ambassador for Sport at the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Marlène Harnois – taekwondo Olympic medalist, Siya Kolisi – captain of the World Champion South African rugby team, Jean-Baptiste Alaize – four-time athletics World Champion, Pascal Gentil – double taekwondo Olympic medalist, Paula Radcliffe – World Champion and former marathon World Record holder, and Sarah Ourahmoune – boxing Olympic medalist.
“Behind each WhiteCard, there is a story. A story where sport fosters reconciliation and coexistence within and between communities,” say the athletes in the video. “A story where sport contributes to building more inclusive societies and combats all forms of discrimination. A story where sport contributes to fighting against gender stereotypes and gender-based violence. A story where sport breaks traditional barriers and encourages intercultural and interreligious understanding. A story where sport connects, inspires, and empowers girls and boys. A story where sport, as a universal language, prevents interpersonal violence and achieves peace goals. As Champions for Peace, we believe that sport has the power to change lives and to shape peaceful societies.”
Each year, to celebrate the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, Peace and Sport invites the entire world to support to the peace-through-sport movement through the white card symbol. This year, with the theme ‘Behind every #WhiteCard, there is a story’, Peace and Sport wants to highlight the testimonies of people who have personally or collectively measured the positive impact of a peace-through-sport project.
“Today more than ever, sport can inspire, give courage and hope as it is a powerful tool to reinforce fraternity and cooperation,” said Joël Bouzou, Peace and Sport President and Founder. “In the present crisis, the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, celebrated on 6th April, is a propitious day to send a strong message of global solidarity and reinforce our bonds with each other in an indissoluble way through sport.”
Watch the video message here.
All the headlines and highlights from Monaco, direct to you every morning
