To Italy and Back - Nice

Nice is the fifth largest city in France located on the Mediterranean on the French Riviera at the foot of the Alps. The Greeks founded Nikaia (named after Nike, the goddess of victory) about 350 BC. It has changed hand many times and was part of Savoy for centuries, then French, then Italian until finally annexed by France in 1860. The British upper classes “invaded” in the 18th century, thus the Promenade des Anglais, and many artists also called Nice home.

Nice has always had a large proportion of immigrants; many from Italy, Spain and Portugal, North and West Africa and Vietnam which

adds to the energy of the place. The local dialect is Nicard which our hotel manager pronounced as “nish-wah”. He said most locals speak this as well as French and Italian.

After showering in and out of the 40x40 cm shower cubical we walked down the 8 flights for petit dejuner in the courtyard of our hotel. Convinced we would never be able to find our way back to our car again we walked the 20 minutes to the Place Massena to join a Free Walking Tour. We were a bit worried that the company was called Riviera Bar Crawl but the group seemed to be sensible and not up for a big bar crawl at 11 am. The square is large and surrounded by 18th century Italian styled buildings and lined with palm trees.

We walked through the old city and heard stories about local characters and events. Highlights included the Opera House, the

flower markets and a stop to taste a local dish called “socca” which is a pancake made from chickpea flour (yummy). We walked past the Aboriginal Art Gallery (it felt like home) to climb Castle Hill. We had to stop many times to catch our breath. At the top you see that iconic view of Nice – stunning. The hill climb was very challenging and we were all devastated to find out there was an elevator we could had taken.

Tour over; we stopped for a leisurely lunch watching the ocean and the passing traffic. We meandered down the Promenade des Anglais and saw some private beaches – good to see we could afford to sunbathe if we wished this time. They were way out of our budget when we back-packed in the 1980’s . Beside the Promenade there are lots of beautiful Art Deco buildings including the Hotel Negresco. We were surprised we couldn’t see any memorial to the victims of

the terrorist attack from Bastille Day 2016.

Arriving back to our hotel and up the 8 flights of stairs we decided Nice is also on the “must see again” list. There is so much to see and we only scratched the surface.

Favourite Nicois Culinary Expression: "Fish are born in the sea and die in oil" (for Clinton).

Next: To Italy and Back – Nice to Arles