The Principality of Monaco is the size of a Texas cotton patch, but it makes up for its size in location. On the stunning south coast of France, it’s sustained by a robust tourism industry and the most famous gambling casino in the world, the Monte-Carlo Casino. More than a century ago Monaco abolished all taxation, making it a haven for people who have amassed considerable wealth and intend to keep it.

This is a country perpetually standing on its ear as it clings to the steep slopes along the Mediterranean shore. Monaco’s Stone Age inhabitants, and subsequently the Grimaldi family, chose this site for its security. In the old days it was so difficult to get to Monaco that the first line of defense probably consisted of pulling down all the road signs.

Even after the casino was built in 1863, patrons had to be transported in along a mule trail. What finally opened Monaco up to visitors was the completion of a rail connection to Nice, about 11 miles (17.6 km) away in France, in the late 19th century.

Its famous casino is a money pump for Monaco. Expect James Bond to always win at Bacarrat here.

My brother and I hail from Tolar, Texas — with a population of 200 on about nine-tenths of a square mile (1.45 km 2) staked out on the prairie. I long had a hankering to see an entire country that was smaller than Tolar, and Monaco seemed a likely candidate.

A quick geographical fact check confirms that Monaco covers just 0.76 square miles (1.2 km 2) — smaller even than Tolar. But perhaps the biggest draw for us was our fascination with the Monaco Grand Prix, which takes place every May.

The Monaco Grand Prix is held on the most challenging course of the championship circuit. Cars capable of topping 230 miles per hour (370 km/hr.) average barely 88 miles per hour (142 km/hr.) around the two-mile (3.2 km) circuit. Fast reflexes are important; besides a top-gear bend through a seaside tunnel, drivers have to negotiate a grueling series of switchback turns that wind down to the waterfront.

Buildings, stone retaining walls and other manifestations of civilization line the way. A minor mechanical failure or a momentary lapse of concentration anywhere, and a driver can find himself parked against something solid.

In 1966, director John Frankenheimer followed the Formula I championship racing season to film the movie Grand Prix. He took his production crew to the races and filmed the action on some of the world’s top courses.

The movie cranks up with the starting of engines for the Grand Prix, and the first scene follows the cars in a breathtaking chase through the streets. The aerial shots, background set pieces and views from on-car cameras in the first few minutes of the film give the viewer a virtual Monaco grand tour.

When my brother and I visited the city with our wives, I was able to drive, from memory, the route that screen stars James Garner and Ives Montand took in the film’s opening race. We began where the race and the movie start, on spectacular Boulevard Albert 1, with the principality stacked up along the steep terrain on one side and the sparkling waters of the harbor on the other.