Street Photography: the majestic Prince´s Palace of Monaco at night (and by daylight)

Hi there my Steemit friends and followers!

Through my entry for today´s #streetphotography contest hosted by @juliank, I would like to show you a very interesting place that I visited during my trip to the French Riviera a couple of years ago - the monumental Prince´s Palace of Monaco.

It is no secret that I still take photos just with my cell phone and while most images taken in good light look pretty decent, my night shots usually suck. Therefore, I have published few night photos on Steemit so far but I am going to make a little exception today as the shots of the palace shrouded in darkness turned out unusually well (at least by my standards :D).

So what is this interesting building? Built as early as in 1191, originally as an ancient Genoese fortress, the Prince´s Palace of Monaco is the official residence of the Prince or Princess of Monaco.

The palace is known for its unusual location - it was built into a rocky promontory, right above the natural harbor of Monaco. Considering its remarkably long and turbulent history, it comes as no surprise that the palace was attacked and besieged by many different forces throughout the centuries.

Yet (after numerous reconstructions of course), this magnificent piece of architecture has survived to become of one of the most iconic landmarks and tourist attractions of the tiny city-state of Monaco.

For a better perspective and sense of scale, I am also adding one shot of the palace that I took in a broad daylight later that day (the first two images were taken very early in the morning). As far as I remember, I took this photo shortly after the changing of the guards, a ceremony that always attracts huge crowds of tourists to the palace.

The first photo was also my entry for yesterday´s European Thursday Photo Contest held by @czechglobalhosts. To find out more about his photo contests, visit his blog.

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