Review of Columbus Monaco, by Vitali Vitaliev

Columbus Hotel is different. And not just because it is the only fully non-smoking hotel in Monaco...

One reviewer metaphorically called Columbus “a sleek greyhound among the coiffed poodles of Monaco”. Well, I am not so sure about poodles, but from my junior suite overlooking the bay and the thoroughly landscaped Princess Grace Memorial Rose Garden I could clearly hear some invisible, yet clearly spoilt, Monaco dogs barking good-heartedly.I could also hear the muffled sounds of babies crying, cutlery clinking, people laughing over a family meal – the lovely domestic noises which a traveller misses so much while away from home.

I could also sniff faint aromas of cheese, fried fish and onion soup – all “normal” domestic scents mixing with the slightly salty smell of sea breeze…

The reason for those sensations is simple: the 181-room hotel is an extension of the adjoining residential block. Two nine-story buildings grow into each other like conjoint Siamese twins, and the residents of the apartments are allowed (and encouraged) to share some of the hotel’s facilities – like, say, an open-air swimming pool in the courtyard.

Such neighbourhood is unique for Monaco where an average well-heeled visitor would only mix with the locals inside the Casino in which the Monegasque are allowed to serve but not to gamble. Having experienced many other hotels in Monte Carlo (the reviewed property is located in the old residential area called Fontvieille), I enjoyed the strong “domestic” feeling of Columbus, for it is the familiar smells and sounds that make you feel truly at home!

And not just they: it is also the smiling stuff whose attitude is sincere and dignified – not over-the-top and in-your-face obsequious hospitality which I have encountered in some other Monaco hotels. It is a “normal” “domestic” TV set, with just 20 channels – not your now ubiquitous digital and flat electronics wonder, with hugely superfluous several hundred ones. It is the invisible housekeeping lady lighting up candles in your room in your absence. What else? Bamboo flowers in the bathroom. The truly “handy” leather handles of chest-of-drawers. Soothing brown-and-black wall panels, striped curtains and floor carpets (interior design by Amanda Rosa). These are all small, yet hugely important, touches of hospitality. Even of domesticity, if you wish…

Unlike L’Hermitage or L’Hotel De Paris, Columbus is not chic. And Cameroon soccer fans (who stayed there in their hundreds on my first night when Italy-Cameroon friendly was played at the near-by football arena) looked - and, I am sure, felt - much more “at home” there than in any of the above. But also – very much unlike – the “coiffed poodle” hotels of Monaco, Columbus is seriously cool.

As is the restaurant of course, or rather the Brasserie – the domain of Chef Laurent Sturdois, one of Monaco’s best, where the prices were not at all forbidding – at least, by very high Monaco standards, they weren’t… The chef’s signature dish is “Terrine de Foie Gras Au Coulis de Granny Smith” (no wonder the restaurant is sometimes referred to as “Brasserie Anglaise”), but I also loved Daube de Boef Confite au Vin, Puree de Pommes de Terre (“Wine Stewed Beef with Traditional Mashed Potatoes”), with succulent pieces of beef literally melting in your mouth, as well as huge super-fresh oysters, the Risotto Bar and the selection of cheeses by Robert Bedot.

Leaving the hotel, I thought I understood why many famous Formula One drivers preferred staying at Columbus to much more luxurious Monaco establishments which they could easily afford. Not just out of solidarity with David Coulthard, but also because while doing their extremely hard and dangerous job at the races, they clearly enjoyed feeling at home in-between them…