Nice is Nice (4)

My train was at 11am, and I still had a couple of things I wanted to do in Nice, so I didn't waste time in the morning.

Off to Castle Hill, as recommended by yesterday's cool tourguide. He had warned me that, in the evenings, the guards shut the gates very promptly, and without checking whether anyone is still inside, adding that the gates were very tall and difficult to climb over. So, understandably, I had not been game to try it the previous evening!

Being me, I decided to set off in a slightly different direction, to see a different area of Nice. Which meant that I ended up going past where I wanted to go, and finding myself at the port. Which was ok, because it was a pleasant area.



However, time was marching on, so I started the ascent and eventually made it to the site where a castle stood until 1706. According to the sign, it was built in the time of the Earls of Provence (from what I can find here, I'm going to guess that was 10th-11th century, but could easily be wrong). Also according to the sign, I was now at a height of about 90m above sea-level!



Much as I could have spent longer contemplating this view, I still wanted to have a look at the Russian Orthodox Cathedral which, fortunately, was near the train station. So, down the other side of the hill, past an old cemetery, through Old Nice, back to the hostel to get my bags, and on to the church.

I'm glad I went, as it was pretty impressive... from the outside.



Given that I had to pay 3E to get in, and would have only had about 20 minutes to look around (for me, when it comes to looking around churches; that's not enough. Plus, I'd have spent the whole time fretting about being on time for the train), I decided to forgo this.

Got the station area with time to spare, so headed to a nearby shop which I had seen advertising Socca, a speciality of the area. Sadly, it wasn't going to be served until 11am which, of course, was when my train left.



So, I didn't get to taste this chickpea flour and olive oil mixture which saved the Nicois from starvation when they were under siege! Instead, I got what turned out to be a very tasty filled roll, with tuna, egg, and artichoke tapenade.

By this stage, it was time to head for the train, for a journey which I really enjoyed, spending much of my time trying to snap a decent photo through the train window.

Nice Is Nice, and Next to Medievality and Monaco... (3)

I set off to make the most of my morning (before the afternoon tour to the Medieval village of Eze, and Monaco), and discovered Old Nice. I kind of cursed my choice to get the transport pass the previous day, actually, as I felt I could have happily spent a day wandering around this area. Lots of narrow streets, bordered by tall, uniform buildings, churches tucked away throughout (two of which I checked out), little shops with wares spilling out into the street...



This photo probably isn't the best choice to show it, actually. Another amazing aspect of Old Nice was the market that ran through one open area, with restaurants on either side, and just a hop, skip and a jump away from the sea.



I bought some strawberries as I couldn't resist, but it wasn't really the season, and they didn't compare to the ones I'm used to at home!
Also, some random man on a street corner greeted me with "Bonjour Mademoiselle... I love you... Ich liebe dich." Nothing like a bit of random flattery.

Found an Indian kebab for lunch, and was going to take it back to the hostel, but I actually just couldn't bear to go and sit inside when the weather was so amazing. So, I found a nice square and ate my lunch with a view of a fountain and a ferris wheel!

Not long after I got back to the hostel, my chariot (well, tourguide) arrived. Nothing beats door-to-door service. I'll say now that I fully recommend Med Tours (med-tour.com) because I had a great afternoon, and our tourguide was awesome, as were the other people on the tour.
We had me, two ladies from Argentina (tried out my Spanish just a little bit), an American lady and her two sons (one of whom claimed to be Albanian, which made me think of Albi the Racist Dragon), and a couple from Syria, who I made friends with (I hope they are ok now...).



First stop was Eze, a little Medieval village high on a hill between Nice and Monaco. Given we were only doing an afternoon tour, we had an insanely short amount of time to check it out (about 20 minutes) but we gave it a good go. Pretty amazing to see this compact little place, which still looked the part (except for sometimes when people opened the doors and you could see inside to where modern fixtures had been added). Apparently, there is a handful of people who actually live there, but there is also a hotel, and a couple of restaurants, I think. Spent our 20 minutes winding our way around various pathways and taking photos at the rate of knots in the hope of aiding our memories later on!




Just below, there was a perfume factory called Fragonard, which we got to tour. It was pretty interesting, actually, as this place is really exclusive and everything's manual. For example, we got to see the guy operating the machine that pressed the soaps into flower shapes. And they make a duck-shaped soap, and someone paints the beaks red by hand. I also learned that perfume keeps longer in an aluminium bottle than in glass, and that perfume, eau de parfum and eau de toilette/cologne all have different concentrations of perfume.
One of the young American lads said he was going to buy one product for all of his girlfriends, but later picked something else up and said that, if he had a girlfriend, he'd buy that for her. His mother pointed out that he was slipping, there.

Then, onwards to Monaco.



Interesting facts about Monaco: there is about 1 Police officer for every 40 people, plus there are security cameras everywhere. The entire country is 3.18 km (1.98 mi) long and 1.1 km wide (thanks Encyclopadia of the Nations!). Ie you can stand on one side of the country and see the border on the other side. Many of the rich, rich people who live there just come for several months each year, so they have concierges to look after their houses for the rest of the time. My Syrian friend and one of the American boys quickly decided that was the life for them, and claimed they were going to stay in Monaco and make it big that way, or opening car doors for people at the casino (literally cash in hand).

Ours was a whirlwind visit, but we managed to fit quite a few sights in: the Oceanographic Museum, the Princess' houses, the palace,



the great view over Monte Carlo (from Monaco), pole position on the Monte Carlo race track



the old bombs outside the Monte Carlo casino (the young man next to me was pretty much drooling over these). We did see one smart car arrive, though. Our cool guide joked that it probably meant they could give less of a tip to the door-openers!



We drove around the Monaco Grand Prix Track before leaving... of course, I had to document this for little bro.

And that was that: Eze and Monaco in four hours!

I decided to do an evening wander, as this would be my last night in Nice. And it looks pretty good in the evening.



Strolled the streets of Old Nice again, then headed down the Promenade des Anglais, before retiring to my hotel (but not before randomly running into my Syrian friends again!).

Nice is Nice (2)

Today was get-a-day-pass-and-go-on-lots-of-public-transport day, aka I am too cheap to do the hop-on-hop-off bus tour, so I'll just get on random public transport and see what I can see. Except that I did this with no plans whatsoever.

So I went on a bus route which took me along the Promenade des Anglais. Got off and wandered around for a bit, appreciated all the flowers (it's been a long time since Spring, for me).



Also, went down to the beach and watched and listened to the waves for a bit. Oh, the sea... I didn't appreciate it like I should have when I was right beside it in NZ!



Then I went on the tram... because I could. Stopped for lunch in a Chinese resto.

Got back on the tram and took it right to the end, and saw there was a hill nearby. I'm always keen to go somewhere I can get a good view over a city, so the next logical step was to get a bus up the hill. At the bus-stop, I met several nice people who could see from the way I was studying the map that I didn't know where I was going, and offered to help me. One lady was especially nice, and told me about how there was a Matisse museum on one of the bus routes, and it was free entry. Sold.

How Mediterranean-looking is this museum?



And, all that facade is a trompe l'oeil (ie it's painted on). Spent quite some time in the museum. It was interesting to have a museum dedicated to one artist, as it allowed all the works to really be organised to show how he had progressed throughout time. And there were some really awesome photos that were not taken by Matisse, but by a photographer who knew and had taken pictures of him.

Next to the museum was a nice park, which also backed onto these ruins for which I, unfortunately, have no historical info. Except for what Wikipedia can tell me: that one can find 'an arena, amphitheatre, thermal baths, and paleochristian basilica,' and that the Nice Jazz Festival is held in the ruins each July.



There was also some kind of archaeological museum next door, but I was museumed out by this stage, and decided to go to the Cimiez monastery instead. Destination 360 informs me that this monastery was founded by Franciscan monks in the 9th century, the garden was planted in the 1500s, but revamped in the 1920s!



I'm going to admit it now: I absolutely cannot remember what it was like inside. Too many religious buildings in a short time and I generally don't take photos inside. I remember that some of the staff were moving scaffolding and the like around, and making quite a lot of noise (for a religious building, anyway).
In fact, I spent more time in the gardens next to the monastery than in the building itself. Also had a look through the old cemetery beside it.

By this stage, it was time to wander back down the hill, get back into town, and have some food.

After dinner and a rest, I felt like I could still make better use of my transport pass. So I caught the tram in the other direction, and then got a bus back into town. Then I caught another bus going who-knows-where, with a young driver who seemed to have aspirations of racing in Monaco... Pity it was getting dark by this stage as, I think, this route would have had spectactular views over the city if I'd done it a bit earlier!

Nice is Nice (1)

Even the train station in Nice managed to look tropical. Good times!
Didn't take me too long to find my hostel, which was in a pretty sweet, central location, drop off my bags, and head out the door again.



As it turned out, I had unwittingly arrived on the last day of Carnaval festivities and narrowly missed one of the parades (possibly the Battle of the Flowers, but not quite sure). Anyway, let me just show you the kind of mess that this leaves in the streets...



Fortunately, the Carnaval King was still around town.



I pretty much spent the afternoon wandering the streets of Nice. Well, not so much the streets as following the Promenade des Anglais, which ran alongside the beach. Apparently, I have missed being by the sea, without really realising it. But, who wouldn't want to be on this beach?



Different atmosphere when night falls, but still the place to be, I think.



After dinner, I decided to get an early night so that I could make the most of the next day.