December 3 2017

Nice

Minal Travel Budget travel, Cote d'Azure, French Riviera, iceceram, markets, Nice

Nice an unusual mix of urban city & old town allure, casts its romantic spell on all- be it a romantic couple or a solo backpacker. An ideal place to browse through the markets in Cours Saleya during the day, and stroll across the Promenade des Anglais in the evening. The Promenade comes alive in the evening with people strolling, or taking a bike ride and skating. The walkway is lined with benches and filled with people sitting. We headed on to the pebbled beach which is accessible from the promenade to watch the sunset and looking at the splendid façade of the Hotel Negresco in all its glory when it lit up.

Beach side @ Nice

Promenade des Anglais

Hotel Negresco

We almost played the game of hopscotch at the chequered pattern ground around the Apollo fountain at Place Massena. Just across the road is the Promenade Du Paillon, a twelve-hectare public way with its erupting fountains & makes it a splendid sight as the lamp posts lit up in the evening. There is also a tourist information center here and it was one of the first places we visited to gather our information for the buses plying to various towns from Nice.

Apollo Fountain

chequered pattern @ Place Massena

Fountains!

Lively evenings in Nice

We loved wandering the streets of the Vieille Ville (Old Town) at the base of the Castle Hill with its surroundings of beautiful warm pastel-colored buildings, quirky stairways and the glimpse of the Mediterranean. There was so much of art beautifully created by the local artists; depicting Nice through their mediums of oils and watercolors. From there we trekked up the Castle Hill to get a bird’s eye view of the Old town. We loved snacking on the warm Socca; a crepe made from chickpea flour which is griddle fried with olive oil and some black pepper with a glass of wine in the open-air markets of Vieille Ville. We bought some assortments of biscuits from La Cure Gourmande, at rue St Reparate. Ending our evenings with tantalizing tastes of over 70- plus flavors of ice-creams at Fennochio for just €2.00 onwards was Icing on the cake in a literal sense. We were impressed by the yellow colored baroque buildings at the Place Garibaldi square named after the General who unified Italy.