Tochi's Hut

Nice is nice. 

If I did not say this first, Kabitzin would.  So it is better I got that out of the way.

Whenever someone mentions the Côte d'Azur, Nice is always the first city that jumps to mind.  While other cities are perhaps more famous for their specialties, like Monaco for her casinos or Saint Tropez for her beaches, Nice is where everything started.  The Brits turned Côte d'Azur into a resort area to escape the harsh UK winter and in the process made her famous.  The Promenade des Anglais in Nice became the central hub for all these rich Britons.

To recap, after almost being stranded in Marseilles, BlueOrca and I arrived triumphantly into Nice onboard the French equivalent of the Greyhound.  Our approach vector was from the west, traversing along Nice’s famed galet beaches.  At one point, we came within 5m of a GZ (geocache) while sitting on the bus! 

Our tour continued through Promenade des Anglais.  I had really high expectations for the Promenade.  From the pictures and descriptions of this place I’ve seen and heard, I pictured a wide boulevard teeming with people and life, against a backdrop of beautifully lit fountains, hotels, museums, music halls, opera houses, etc - a place filled with the pomp and flair of the British wealth. Well, when we drove by, there weren't that many people on the promenade, though the buildings lining both sides of the avenue were very beautiful.

The bus continued pass Promenade des Anglais and finally arrived at the terminal. This station was in a ghetto part of town. I was not sure if the ghettoness was due to the construction and the insufficient street lighting in that area, but this was not a particularly nice area. While making an unsuccessful sojourn down some non-descript street to grab a cache, we passed along the Musee d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain and Central Library, which had some giant sculpture of a cube supported by a person's chin and neck – apparently a famous work titled La Tête au Carré by Sacha Sonso.

Hotels Hotels Hotels

Afterwards, we navigated through some residential areas to find our hotel.  Speaking of hotels, we had a terrible time finding accommodations in Nice during trip planning – mainly due to Cannes Film Festival and Monaco Grand Prix.  The prices jumped ten times normal values for this one weekend!  No single place had any rooms available for the several days we were planning to be in Nice, so we had to select different hotels/hostels for different days.  The pickings were so slim that I had originally booked a place with only one bed (for one), just to make sure we did have to sleep on the beach.  BlueOrca somehow found this uber Hotel Verdun that offered a room for four for a reasonable price!  Unfortunately, it had no vacancy on the first day and last day, so we stayed at Hotel Baccarat for the first night and Hotel Antares on the final night.

The hostels on this trip have been quite good, considering their costs.  However, our first Nice stay at Hotel Baccarat was on a totally different level.  We were lead into the back courtyard to a room we were sharing with other hostellers.  The one key to the room was to be shared by all, which essentially meant that the door was unlocked the entire time.  Perhaps influenced by my earlier visit to the Nice’s ghettos, I had thought this place was a bit run down.  This was indeed confirmed the next morning when I woke up to find two cockroaches waiting for me in the bathroom sink.  WTF.  I have not seen cockroaches since … Hong Kong.  Two smacks and flushes took care of these unexpected visitors.

To be fair, not all the residents of Nice were that unwelcoming.  The next hotel turned out to be much better.  The front desk person was super upbeat and friendly, one of those people who brings a smile to everyone’s faces.  The Verdun room was much better than the Baccarat dump too.  Probably one of the nicest places we stayed all trip (the top prize has to be our home in Venice).

Just to wrap up my review of the hotels, we stayed in Hotel Antares on the last night.   If you remember from my Monaco post, we had gotten back from the city-state around 3am in the morning.  We stumbled to our room, only to find that our beds were already occupied by others.  WTF.  Back down to the front desk, and they were kind enough to arrange another (private!) room for us.  Slept really well that night, though BlueOrca, who took the top bunk, had to deal with the skylight.  I also got an unpleasant towel in the face. :x  The front desk person got yelled at by the manager as we checked out, after it was discovered we had occupied a new room.  Poor bloke.

Nice Attractions

We had a full day dedicated to exploring Nice.  Unfortunately, the morning was drizzling rain.  We quickly swept through Place Masséna to head into the Old Nice.  Place Masséna, at the intersection of the Avenue Jean Médecin and Avenue des Phocéens, is the central square of Nice and the heart of British influence.  The area sports several fancy fountains, optical-illusion-like chequered floor patterns and coolest of all, glowing statues sitting on top of a high rod. 

At this time, BlueOrca revealed her secret weapon, the musical umbrella.  I was quite shocked when I first saw this umbrella.  It’d definitely be stylish in Vienna, but …we’re in Nice!  I guess if BlueOrca wore a Victorian dress, the umbrella could suit the neo-classic architecture/atmosphere of Nice too. ._.;

Vieille Ville of Nice consists of a triangular chunk of land filled with orange-topped 5-6 story buildings.  It is bounded by the Promenade and beach to the south, Avenue des Phocéens to the north and Colline du Château to the East. 

Our first stop was Eglise Saint François de Paule - a 17th church.  The following picture shows all that there is to see.

We cut across the street and passed by one of the nicest buildings in Vieille Ville – the City Opera House (Théâtre municipal de l'Opéra).  It would have been pretty neat to see an opera here. 

One of the biggest attractions in Nice is her famous pebbles beaches. I missed my chance in Cannes a day earlier, so I'd come prepared to take a swim in the Mediterranean. However, with the rainy weather, I wasn't sure whether the sun would come out to dry my body afterwards. Walking around Nice in wet clothes would not do my cold any good, so I skipped. :(  We strolled along the beach and took in the carefree breeze from the sea.  BlueOrca took the chance to collect some nice looking pebbles for keepsakes.  I personally do not collect rocks or stones from places – I was brought up with the belief that I should not disturb the 土地神.  Not much of a reason, but it’s pretty amazing how well these beliefs stick. 

I love the pebbles.

We were quite hungry so we stopped by a crêperie for some lunch.  The sun had come out full blast, so we got a nice outdoor table to take in the vitamin D.  I had some coconut, chocolate crêpes that was flambéed with Grand Marnier.   It was so bright that neither the owner nor I could see the flame!  After a few more clicks with his lighter, he declared the flaming completed.  I totally missed it!  Anyway, I remember from B. Lang that flambéing was first invented for crêpes, so I had great anticipation of the transformation in flavour.  The crêpes was super good, though not having a with-vs-without comparison, it’s hard to tell how much the flaming improved the taste. :x

We were right by the Marché aux Fleurs (Flower Market), so it couldn’t hurt to check it out.  Pretty much your typical market, cheese, flowers, crafts, lavender stuff and MEATS.  We picked up some strawberries for the road - unfortunately, they were not as sweet as I was hoping.

Tour Belanda is a this giant tower leading up to Colline du Château, a giant park onto of a hill just to the east of Nice proper.  From the top, you get some very spectacular views of Nice and her beaches.   That first picture in this post was taken from this location.  Unfortunately, as we found out later, the area is closed off during night time.  No night shots of Nice.

The park has a bit of everything, and we took the time to explore.  There were some old ruins of the various dwellings, warehouses and workshops – this was urban settlement from the Chateau de Nice until it was destroyed by the Seige of Cueno in 1691.

In the park, there was a rope pyramid built for little kids (and me).  I was tempted to climb on but there were half a dozen kids playing already.  BlueOrca gave the push and I scampered my way to the top.  The kids all looked at me like “What the heck are you doing?!?” - with stares only the French can do.  One of the most triumphant moments of my life!

On the east side, we also got a good view of the Nice harbour, known as Bassin du Commerce/Bassin Lympia.  This is where all the yachts and cruises would dock.  I had been wondering with the massive beach front, where ships were actually coming into Nice.  It’s nice they have this bay tucked away behind the hill, shielded away from ruining the pristine beach environment on the other side.  The square harbour actually reminded me of Marseille, though, of course, not quite as beautiful. :)

We made our way down the hill, on the way, passing by an interesting selection of passage ways and waterfalls.  BlueOrca mentioned that there was a cemetery around here.  As you guys can probably guess, I wasn’t too thrilled with the idea.  We found the place, but unfortunately, we couldn’t get in.  Cannot say I was too disappointed. :x

Descended into Old Nice via the Ménica Rondelly Stairs.  Things were a lot livelier in the afternoon; much more people walking about enjoying their weekend day.  Many of the boutique and food shops were bustling with traffic.  It definitely feels a lot nicer walking around town filled with people, unlike the much quieter streets that greeted us this morning.  In one particular square, there were people dancing to music and kids lining up to swing at some piñatas.  So awesome!  I should mention that there was a flatiron near that square too!

The best shop was this ice-cream store where you can buy a 15 scopes for 17.5 euros.  I was taking a picture of the awesome ice-cream pricing sign when some guy DEMANDED that I show him the last picture I took.  WTF.  He apparently thought I was taking a picture of his male friend.  I thought “Dude.. why would I even bother taking a picture of your guy?!?”   And you are in a public place; there were probably a bunch of other tourists and surveillance cameras taking photos of you anyway.  Of course, he was bigger than me, so I just feebly complied. :x

The one main attraction in the area we visited was Palais Lascaris, the former residence of the Lascaris-Vintimille family, now turned into free museum.  We had quite a bit of trouble finding this museum, as we only knew the general vicinity. Finally located its non-descript entrance and discovered that the interior of the beautifully decorated residence had been restored to its splendour of the 18th century. 

On the ground floor was a 18th century pharmacy that totally reminded me of the traditional Chinese herbal stores – it was lined with urns that resembled 百子櫃!!!

The upper floors Palais Lascaris showcased a lot of very unique musical instruments.   It was a marvel seeing how varied and different the instruments of old were and getting a snapshot of the evolution of some of the more familiar tools we see today.  It was also a pity that these instruments are now pretty much extinct and live in a museum.  I’d love to be able to hear how some of these instruments sound.

As expected from a mansion built from this era, Palais Lascaris was inordinately decorated - from fancy ceiling and wall frescoes down to the carvings on the mouldings and trims. You would have never suspected such a luxurious mansion laid within from the outside. I guess this area must have been a particularly affluent part of Nice back in the days, and the Lascaris family was super rich!!

Afterwards, we made a pit stop back at the hotel.  For some reason, we really wanted ice-cream.  I realized today that whenever it’s hot outside, BlueOrca must eat something cold.  We asked around for a supermarket, and somehow stumbled onto a frozen goods store.  There was quite a selection of ice creams – after careful consideration of price and value (mainly price – we were broke), we picked up a pack of ice-cream bars.

We had to pick up Segamatic at the Nice airport later that evening.  Nice transit system has a day pass for four Euros which allows you unlimited travel on its routes; the pass also makes a great souvenir card.  We got confused by the two terminals and the multiple levels at Nice International, but in the end, Segamatic spotted us fairly quickly.   We had awful luck introducing Segamatic to geocaching.  3 DNF’s in a row!!!  (We made up for it in Monaco.)

We toyed with the idea of seeing Indiana Jones that night, but the show times didn’t work out.  Good thing too, as we found out later that the showing would have been in French – it might have been as cryptic as the alien language for me.  We had dinner back by the flower market area.  The strip totally transformed at night and was bustling with fancy restaurants and many diners.  Got to try out ratatouille, Niçoise sampler and rabbit.  Back country game is one of the specialities of Provencal cuisine. :)

All-in-all, I have to say my Nice experience was nice, but not super.  I came away with the distinct feeling that part of the Nice’s splendour that I’ve heard so much was more of a facade.  If the weather cooperated and if the entire town were not in Monaco or Cannes during this time, then I'd probably enjoy Nice a lot more. 3.5 / 5.

Almost one year anniversary of the trip.  Time flies. :(