The Olympic flame is taking a tour of France, having arrived to Marseille from Olympia and Athens on Saturday, May 8. This week, the flame will travel to the beaches of Normandy, where the Allies landed during D-Day. The flame will then go to the French islands in the Caribbean, before coming ashore again in Villefranche-sur-Mer on Tuesday, June 18. from there the journey to Paris will continue.
The flame is scheduled to return to the French mainland at around 8:05, and be received in Nice on the Quai des Etats-Unis in the evening with a special ceremony. The flame is scheduled to reach Monaco before the relay concludes in Nice via Cannes, Grasse and Antibes, Monaco-Matin reports.
Initially, Monaco was not included in the route, but of course HSH Prince Albert II, as an IOC member, is making a case for the flame’s return to the principality. The Olympic flame has only visited the Principality once before, on the occasion of the Winter Olympics in Grenoble 1968.
Featured image courtesy of REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki: Greek actress Mary Mina, playing the role of High Priestess gives the torch to President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee and member of the International Olympic Committee Spyros Capralos during the Handover Ceremony at Panathenaic Stadium, Athens, Greece, April 26
