Among the peaks of the Riviera, the Mont des Mules enjoys a special place. Not because of its height: at 291 metres, it is little more than a pimple on the landscape.
Its long and varied history reaches back into pre-Roman times and includes the episode when, in 1909, the municipality of Beausoleil (to which the Mont des Mules belongs) planned to cut off and level the summit for a residential building project.
Surely, not many mountains have had to rely on a municipal parliament vote to escape the ultimate humiliation of being cruelly neutered.
Also, in the present day, you can view Monaco from the Mont des Mules, the only place on the Riviera from where you can take an intimate peek directly into its most iconic residence, the Odeon Tower Penthouse, famous – as everything in Monaco, cynics might add – not for its beauty but its price.
On the building’s completion in 2014, the five-floor residence was listed at – are you ready for this? – USD 387 million. That is a lot of cash, even in Monegasque terms.
We start our ascent of the Mont des Mules at the Monte Carlo Casino. For one, because this is trailhead which is easy to find and easy to get to, but also because there is – since February 2020 – something new to look at in Casino Square.
This new thing is the recently completed “One Monte Carlo” retail-cum-office-cum-luxury-flats complex, possibly the most expensive commercial development on Earth. If, for any building project in history, financial restraints did not impose any limits on the scope of human imagination, this surely was the one.
So here we go, One Monte Carlo: show us what human beings can create when money is virtually no object. Astonish us!
Hmmm… I think I will leave this to your own judgment.
From the Casino Gardens, turn left into Avenue Saint Michel and follow the sequence of ensuing stairways into the neighbouring French municipality of Beausoleil.
Don’t worry: there is no need to have your passport ready. The French-Monegasque frontier is hardly the most heavily guarded in the world. In fact, it is generally not easy to tell on which side of the zigzagging border you are at any given moment, not even from any sudden drop in the number of 20-storey-high-rise buildings, luxury shops or portraits of Princess Grace.
This works better along the coast, while in the Monegasque “hinterlands” towards the north, the buildings do not look much different from those in other Riviera towns.
You can entertain yourself by spotting the tell-tale differences such as the distinct colour codes of mail offices and letter boxes – or the shapes and the fonts of street signs.
The Rue des Geraniums in foreground of the photo underneath, for example, still belongs to Monaco, whereas the Avenue du Marechal Foch on the upper deck reveals its nationality in the classically French white-on-blue lettering.
In fact, it does not matter greatly which route uphill you follow – feel free to explore Beausoleil a little, if you wish.
At some stage, however, check the map on your mobile phone and make sure you get to the Avenue de Villaine.
Take the stairway next to the Le Lord apartment building, cross the next street up and continue into the Escalier de l’Usine Electrique until you reach the underpass that allows you to cross the Moyenne Corniche.
Take the stairway on the right to emerge into the Chemin de la Cremaillere. After approx. 200 metres, you will find this gated industrial building where you must take the stairway on your right.
This path will lead you through a picturesque patch of suburban wilderness and past views of the Tête de Chien (the rock with the observatory on top), the other one of Monaco’s “twin peaks”.
The town of La Turbie lies slightly to the right, so remain on the look-out for a view of the Roman-built La Trophée des Alpes which will eventually become visible.
At the end of the stairway, you will reach a country road, the Avenue des Combattants en Afrique du Nord. Cross and turn right. After another 200 metres or so, you will reach the entrance to the Mont des Mules nature reserve. (You can’t miss it.)
2000 years ago, this was the site of a so-called oppidum, the word the Romans used for existing non-Roman settlements in the lands they had occupied. This particular oppidum had been established probably around 250 BC but was eventually used for the Romans’ own purposes when it became a supply station on the Via Julia Augusta.
Only the stone ramparts of the ancient fortifications remain.
The most attractive features of the Mont are its spectacular views over Monaco …
… and the entire coast all the way to Italy in the East.
At the very top of the mountain, you will find a viewing platform with a circular map …
… and, a little further down, several benches for a brief rest with a panoramic view.
It will take you about an hour or, more realistically (if you take it easy – and why shouldn’t you?), 90 minutes to complete the circular footpath around the summit and to arrive back at the Avenue des Combattants.
Today’s hike is the perfect way of killing half a day when you are in Monaco and fancy doing something else than going to the casino or laughing at overpriced tat in an over-the-top luxury shop.
You get to see Beausoleil and the back streets of Monaco and will be able to enjoy some truly spectacular views of the coast.
But above all, you will dip your toes in another world, a mere 30- minute-walk from Monaco. The Mont des Mules, in many ways, provides the perfect counterpoint to everything that the principality at its foot stands for.
To be able to view Monaco from the Mont des Mules is one reward you will certainly relish on this hike!
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