A Nice weekend (and Monaco morning)

This past weekend, Liz (a fellow assistant and Michigander that lives in Avignon) and I had a weekend getaway to the Cote d’Azur. We visited Nice, a place that has been on my ‘to see’ list for a long time, and I was anxious for a weekend by the beautiful blue water of the Mediterranean. Meeting at Avignon TGV at 11am on Friday, we jumped on the 3 hour train to Nice. This train ride boasts stunning views of the coast, going from the suburbs of Marseille through Cannes and Antibes before reaching the terminus of Nice. I had taken this train before, when we visited Cannes for Amy’s birthday. This time it was quite gloomy, with dark clouds threatening rain the entire way.

Once we arrived in the city and dropped off our things at our hostel, it was off to exploring the city. As Liz had been to Nice twice in the past, she toured me around the city but also left room to wander through the narrow streets and massive places that closely resemble the piazzas that I experienced in Rome and other cities in Italy. With Nice being so close to the border of Italy and quite a bit of its history being tied to the Romans and the Savoy house, I noticed many similarities between Nice and the country to the East, in architecture, colors, and food. In Place Rosetti, we stopped and grabbed a gelato at a highly recommended shop: Fenocchio Glacier. And with good reason – we were amazed by the amount and range of flavors they offered from 8 different types of chocolate to fruit flavors as rare as passion fruit and lychee. There was even a savory selections, including avocado, tomato basil and  black olive. Needless to say, I went with two scoops of the sweeter options: bounty bar and rocher. Sitting and enjoying this gelato in this petite square of Vieux Nice (Old Town) made me feel like I was in Italy again, and I have to say it was a great feeling!

After this rest, we continued on, though the dark clouds continued to spit droplets down at us. We explored most of Nice on this day, but taking pictures was not really ideal with the weather so we planned to return the next day to each of the big sights. As we walked back from the port as the sun was setting and all the lights in the city were beginning to turn on, I remember thinking “okay Nice, I guess you’re pretty nice!” It is a beautiful city during the day, but arguably even more beautiful at night. While walking back down the Promenade des Anglais, gaping at the lit up palm trees lined up next to me, I couldn’t help but feel content to be in such an exquisite place.

Saturday morning, we woke up early and got ready for a full day exploring the town. Today, the weather was in our favor and the sun shined on us brightly all day long. We went back to all the major sights again, including Promenade des Anglais, the Negresco Hotel, Place Massena, Promenade du Paillon, a wander through Vieux Nice and Place Rosetti. We did wander to a few fairly unknown places though – one of my favorites was the little garden in the courtyard of the Musée Massena. It was a wonderful time to visit Nice, as spring has just started to blossom and all the foliage is starting to burst forth all its magnificent colors. With a little shopping and a little sandwich lunch in Place Massena, the first half of the day was well spent. Oh, and with another stop at Fenocchio Glacier. I just couldn’t get enough!

The Negresco and the Promenade des Anglais

Garden in front of Musée Massena

Getting a little wet at the Promenade du Paillon (sidenote: was not posed, the water jetted up right when the picture was taken!)

Place Massena

Just can't get enough! This time, I went for fruit flavors: mango and blackberry. YUM

In the afternoon, we continued on to a part of town I had not seen yet – Cours Saleya. With tourist shops and busy restaurants on either side, this was a bustling quarter of the city. Also, they hold the marché des fleurs here, and on Saturdays another market full of Provençal goods were lined up in the stalls. We wandered through this and then continued on to the chateau on the hill, the major panoramic viewpoint over Nice. After many steps, with some heavy breathing maybe mixed in, we reached the top and gazed at the magnificent view of the Mediterranean Sea and the city of Nice. It was absolutely breathtaking, and not just from the climb up the stairs!

Flower market

Baie des Anges

After we had taken in the view, we descended the steps and walked along the Promenade des Anglais down to the pebble beach on the Baie des Anges. It was my first time on a pebble beach and I have got to say, it is pretty uncomfortable! As I had left my bathing suit at the hostel, we just laid in the sun in our dresses and soaked in the rays and the calming sound of the waves. It was a relaxing way to spend the end of the afternoon – I will never tire of staring at that blue water.

Pebbles... which felt more like stones

That night, we went out to dinner with the two other people that were in our hostel room: Ryan from New Zealand and Veronica from Germany. We met up with Veronica’s friend Utah (which might have lead to an embarrassing moment when he introduced himself… I didn’t know whether to say my state or name…) and went to eat a nice seafood three course meal in Cours Saleya. Since this was the only real meal we had during the weekend, we enjoyed course after course with wine and champagne. I chose the mussels as a starter, a skewer of fish, scallops and jumbo shrimp with vegetables and rice as an entrée and dark chocolate mousse as a dessert. Needless to say, we spent a nice three hours eating and sharing our experiences traveling and working with each other. That is one wonderful thing about staying in hostels – you get to meet wonderful people from all over the world.

Sunday morning, we woke up extremely early. Before going to bed, we consulted bus times that go to Monaco, the chic principality of France that is extremely close to Nice. Many people in the hostel had been there before and it is always been on my travel bucket list to see this city. After seeing that the bus ride was just 30 minutes, we decided quite spontaneously to spend Sunday morning in Monaco before our afternoon train back to Provence. And what a wonderful idea that was! The bus ride itself was exceptional, passing through seaside village after seaside village, through Villefranche-sur-la-Mer to Èze. After taking in more stunning views of the coast, we arrived in Monaco, got off the bus with all of our bags and sat down in a garden to eat breakfast. It was another beautiful day, and although we only had a short hour and a half to explore, it was amazing to say that we had seen some of the sights. We saw the Casino Monte Carlo, the big pier with all the decadent, huge yachts, and even saw many Ferraris from people staying in the swanky hotels. We even managed to have a conversation with a local, an old man from a nearby village who told us lots of information about France and Monaco. He explained to us that Monaco is incredibly safe; women our age can walk around town at 2am after grabbing a drink and will have no problems like getting hassled by men. Though our time in Monaco was short, as we were taking the bus back to Nice, I was smiling from ear to ear, knowing we set out and saw something new.*

Casino Monte Carlo

Monaco

After a quick walk to the train station, we were back on our way to Provence after a lovely weekend on the French Riviera. I have to admit, I was a sad to see the beautiful blue water fade away in the distance. While sitting in the sun at Avignon TGV, waiting for the bus to Apt to arrive, I closed my eyes and imagined I was sitting in front of the Mediterranean’s clear water. It’s official: that city was just too Nice to me – I know I will be back!

*PS: I really want to go back here, guys! I have got to explore it a little more :)