Nice Nice French Riviera
Pronounced – Nice (as that’s a nice dress) and Nice (a city on the french riviera), get it? Well, where do I start? the French Riviera is very well known for (a) Its beaches and scenic coastline (b) The Rich and Famous (c) Its History. It’s scattered with surrounding well-known towns such as Antibes, Cannes, Menton, Saint Tropez, Grasse and of course Monte Carlo in the principality of Monaco.
The format of this post will hopefully give you an idea of where to go and what to see if you are planning to visit. There are some that just want to drink alcohol, sit on the beach, swim, get tanned and do nothing. Well not us we want to see everything and go everywhere.
What was very pleasing to see was this wedding party as we walked on of the car park (recommended Interparking Sulzer, google it) to start our tour. There was a crowd of people coming out of the Hotel de Ville (Town council offices) must be where the wedding register offices were. So we mingled with them a while before moving on towards the local markets.
The Cours Saleya market runs from Tuesday to Sunday and at noon a cannon goes off, at which time the stallholders really push to sell as much as possible of the remaining stock before the market closed at 1 pm. Bargain time. On Mondays, it becomes an Antique Market so something happening here every day. Great story behind the cannon.
The Noon Cannon  There was a guy called Thomas Coventry from Scotland, a resident of Nice in 1861 and at that time he was complaining that his wife never had lunch on the table at noon, she was very distracted. So he went to the local Mayors office and asked if they could give the cannon a blast at noon each day. He also said that he would cover any costs. Well, it was such a success that when he left Nice to return to Scotland the local’s asked if it could be retained, which it was. And yes Thomas got his lunch on time every day.
Nice, The Old Town
The story of Old Nice began when people drifted down from the Colline du Chateau (Castle Hill, originally a fortress) to settle around the Franciscan monastery in the late 13th century. The eastern part of Old Nice closest to Castle Hill was settled first about 900 years ago.
The area of Nice was founded by the Greeks and later a retreat for the nineteenth-century European elite. The beach at Baie des Anges is not your conventional sandy beach but a pebble beach with, small smooth stones. It can be painful to walk on but it is possible to buy protective rubber footwear at the markets. I used them while visiting and found them great to wear both on the beach and in the water swimming.
The tenement streets of old Nice have the street name in french and also the local dialect called Nissart (nicart). I found all the locals so friendly whether it be the shop owners, restaurant or market stall proprietors. But then people are always happy to see you when you are spending money right.
We just loved walking through these old streets but if you like the old monuments then you could visit:
- St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral
- Notre-Dame de l’Assomption Basilica
- Église Saint-Pierre-d’Arène de Nice
- Notre-Dame du Port
All beautiful churches. We didn’t like entering as our visit was just after covid 19 and we didn’t want to get to close and personnel.
While walking through these beautiful narrow streets what popped up in front of us, which made the boss lady very happy. Fabian just loves truffles and here we were right outside a truffle factory shop. Out popped this very peasant Italian sales guy with free samples, boss lady was very happy. So we spent the next half hour sampling the various types of truffle samples. I must admit it was tasty. OK, so we made our choice and very happily left the shop, yum-ho. We ate the lot over the next couple of days, mainly with pasta, yum yum.
After filling ourselves with infused parmesan truffle cream spread we started feeling peckish so look out lunch here we come. This wasn’t an issue as every narrow street is full of restaurants. Boss lady has a thing for pizza and when pizza is mentioned there is no convincing her of anything else. Luckily I do love pasta so Italian it was. As Nice is only an hours drive from the Italian border, yes you got it, Plenty of Italian restaurants in old Nice. This is another place we noticed how the restauranteurs have staff endeavouring to entice you in with smiles and conversation. Amazingly our waitress was from the USA and spoke fluent French and Italian, a smart lady.
Nice Port
From the old town, we headed towards the old Nice Port area. Did you know that Nice was not part of France until 1860? There was this guy called Emmanuel the third, king of Sardinia that ordered the port built-in 1749. It took 150 years to complete and by that time Nice became part of France. Today it stands an impressive beautiful port. As you can see from the photographs it looks great. Who wants to live overlooking this harbour? You can see why Nice is loved by the big yacht people.
Castle Hill (Colline du Château)
The next must-see is the view from Castle Hill and get ready for the climb. There was originally a Castle, Fort at the top of the hill and history tells us it was pretty formidable. So this guy called Louis the 14th attacked the castle around 1706. One of these cannons blasted a shot that went straight over the wall and into the forts munitions store. Well, that was a blast and a half. It blew a huge hole in the wall for Louis army to just walk in and conquer. For whatever reason Louis decided he didn’t want anyone ever to attack this fort again. So what did he do, well he had the bloody thing dismantled brick by brick. The saying goes that a lot of those bricks ended up paving the famous English Promenade (Prom Des Anglais).
Takes about 20 minutes to walk to the top of castle hill slow time. The waterfall is a very refreshing sight as you approach the top. The spray hits all the hot spots just like a cold beer hits the side of the throat. We would recommend the walk back down on the pathway towards the Bellanda Tower a defensive structure built around 1825. From here you get the most amazing views of the Nice waterfront.
The Waterfront
Did you know why the promenade in Nice is called after the English? Well, the locals call it the Prom but its real name is the Promenade des Anglais (Walkway of the English). Its name comes from the English aristocrats that came here during the 18th century for health benefits of the local climate, hot, hot, hot.
The prom is also home to some of the best hotels which give the occupant great views along the waterfront. Hotels such as the famous Le Negresco which is renowned for visiting royalty and the famous such as The Beatles, Grace Kelly of course and Elizabeth Taylor. It was built 100 years ago and is regularly refurbed. Cost around 700-800 US dollars a night and goes up from there. Other reputable hotels would be the West End and the Intercontinental (with Casino).
Yes, the hotels are something else but we are Professional Campers, much more relaxing wouldn’t you say? Don’t have to dress up every time you hit the lobby so it’s bathers and tee shirts 24/7. For this visit, we set up base camp at Camping Hippodrome in Villeneuve Loubet about 10 km south of Nice. Check out some of our campsites on our Camping sites menu
From the waterfront, we cut up alongside the Negresco to hit the new more slick side of Nice.
New Nice
Jean-Médecin is the more upmarket side of Nice where you will find all the designer shops, international restaurants and nightlife. While we walked into the main square there was a demonstration taking place with police presence. All very peaceful. This part of nice is very pleasant and with lots of parkland and wide-open spaces. There is another neo-gothic cathedral in this area called the Notre-Dame de l’Assomption Basilica. Too tired by this time and almost wine o’clock so time to head back to boot camp.
Thanks for joining us for this little tour and we will be posting a blog on the campsite soon.
Some interesting local tourist links.
