There are actually 3 different roads: La Basse Corniche, La Moyenne Corniche, and La Grande Corniche. Nothing less than the high one would do for my dad. However, we drove from La Turbie to Monaco and didn't go all the way past Menton. That short cut was one of the scariest parts though.
It was terrifying. And my dad, of course, made it even more so. He kept saying he was having trouble staying on the road, things like that. We were in our convertible and I was scared I was going to fall out! He got such a thrill from our screaming.
Many years later, I had similar experiences when Trey (husband #3) was driving through the Rockies in Colorado, namely over Wolf Creek Pass. And I admit that I would scare myself driving up to Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. I also scared my mother once on the way to Aspen.
The Grande Corniche is where Hitchcock filmed Grace Kelly driving her roadster in To Catch a Thief. Built 1,600ft above sea level by Napoleon over the ancient Via Julia Augusta, its landmark is the monumental Trophée des Alpes (14 BC) at La Turbie, commemorating Caesar’s conquest of the Gauls.
 |
| Scene from "To Catch a Thief" overlooking Monte Carlo. Did she know that soon she would be the Princess? This is when she met Prince Rainier. They were married in 1956. |
The Corniche Inférieure
Firstly, the Corniche Inférieure or Basse Corniche (Lower Corniche) starts in Nice, leading to Menton following the coast. The Corniche Inférieure was laid out in the 18th century by the Prince of Monaco.
The Moyenne Corniche
Built between 1910 and 1928 when aristocratic tourism on the French Riviera was booming on the Corniche Inférieure, the Moyenne Corniche (Middle Corniche) is another scenic driveway of 31km long from Nice to Menton . It follows the border with the Principauty of Monaco at Beausoleil before descending to the Cap Martin peninsula. It is a very frequented road and was the preferred route from Nice to Italy before the construction of the A8 motorway.
The Grande Corniche
The Grande Corniche (Upper Corniche) was constructed by Napoleon I and follows the ancient Roman route known as Via Julia Augusta-the old Route Aurélienne.
Running 500 meters above the sea, it offers spectacular views over the Mediterranean coast. The Grande Corniche, 31 kilometers long, passes through the Col des Quatre Chemins,La Turbie before descending to Roquebrune and rises as high as 450 meters above the Principality of Monaco.
The Death of a Princess
The death of Princess Grace in 1982 hit me hard, but not as hard as it hit my mother. It seemed like yesterday that we had driven on that road, just 2 years after she had married the Prince.
Death of a Princess
 |
| Down by the water is La Basse Corniche About half way up is La Moyenne Corniche The picture is taken from La Grande Corniche |
 |
| The walls are low and so are the guardrails. In some places, there are neither. |
The Death of a Princess
The death of Princess Grace in 1982 hit me hard, but not as hard as it hit my mother. It seemed like yesterday that we had driven on that road, just 2 years after she had married the Prince.
 |
| The curve where Princess Grace's car went off the road |
 |
| A rose left at the site of the accident. |
On the morning of September 13, 1982, Princess Grace and her daughter Stephanie were to head back to Monaco from their vacation residence, Roc Agel. They loaded the Rover P6 with luggage and prepared for the 35-minute drive back to town. The car was so packed full of belongings, Princess Grace suggested to the chauffeur that she would drive them by herself
At 9:30 in the morning, with Stephanie in the passenger seat and Princess Grace behind the wheel, the car would set out down a narrow, treacherous and windy road, CD37 (Route de La Tourbie). Contrary to popular belief, this was not the same road on which she drove in her 1955 movie, To Catch A Thief. Ten minutes into the drive things would go horribly awry.
A motorist driving behind the Princess’s vehicle would report seeing the Rover swerving erratically back and forth. The concerned observer would honk several times to get the attention of what he assumed to be a drunk or sleepy driver. As Princess Grace’s car approached a hairpin curve in the road known as "Devil’s Curse,” it suddenly accelerated to well over 50 m.p.h. The car crashed through the stone barrier before careening down the 120-foot hillside, clipping the tops of the trees as it lurched its way down the slope. A local gardener heard the accident and upon reaching the scene, noticed the wrecked vehicle had struck a tree near the bottom of the hill and rested near a pile of rocks. The good Samaritan observed that Stephanie had extricated herself from the car and was yelling to help get her mother out of the vehicle. “Help, my mother! My mother is in there! Get her out!” The unconscious Grace was removed by smashing the vehicle’s rear window.
Princess Grace and Stephanie were taken to a local hospital in Monaco for treatment for their injuries. Reports say that Monaco Hospital (later renamed Centre Hospitalier Princesse Grace - Princess Grace Hospital Center), where the injured survivors were taken, was not well equipped for these types of injuries. Surgery was performed on Grace’s lungs to stop the internal bleeding. Her other injuries included multiple fractures of the collar bone, thigh, and ribs. A CAT scan revealed that shortly before the accident, Grace had suffered a stroke which rendered her unable to control the vehicle. Fearing that the princess may survive as a helpless invalid, the royal palace attempted a cover up of the extent of her injuries. But at 10:30 p.m. on September 14, 1982, Princess Grace was taken off her life-support equipment and she passed on. She was 52 years old.