Sorry I'm not around so much at the moment, I'm busy with my jewellery business, especially at this ...
Sorry I'm not around so much at the moment, I'm busy with my jewellery business, especially at this time of year! Hope everyone is OK.
Member since:19.04.2004
Reviews:25
Members who trust:10
My friend Annette and I both have special birthdays this year and decided we had to do something special to celebrate. Originally we thought of a weekend in Bath but as we didn't want to drive, the train was extortionate and the bus took for ever we looked a bit further afield. Now we have Jet2 from Leeds/Bradford airport, it was simple to look at their website to see where we could go reasonably cheaply. It was down to Prague or Nice; Nice won (could it be the promise of sun and seaside?!) Plus it only cost us about £20 each more than Bath believe it or not!
TRAVEL
The flight was easy to book and went without a hitch although it meant an early start for the 7am plane. There is 1 flight a day from Leeds/Bradford in the season and there appear to be plenty of easyjet flights and various others from several UK airport. It only took us 2 hours so it was breakfast in Yorkshire and lunch in Nice!
We arrived to find a bus link with the centre just outside the Arrivals hall at Terminal 1, there is also one at Terminal 2. The buses run approx every 20 minutes and cost 3.50 euros, about £2.35 one way.Ours was a bit crowded but we managed, and the run along the 7km of sea front was a lovely introduction to the charms of the place. Buses also go to nearby towns including Cannes, Antibes and Menton
HISTORY
Nice is France's 5th largest city with about 400,000 inhabitants and is situated on the Cote d'Azur on France's south coast, about 25 miles from the Italian border. It goes back to a Greek settlement called Nikaia which was begun pre Christ, and the Romans settled there in the early centuries
AD. There are 2 museums about Nice's history, the Terra Amata about the prehistoric site ( we didn't get there but it sounded interesting) and the Musee d'Archaeologie which also houses the excavated remains of the Roman baths, really well preserved and worth a look if you like history.
Interestingly, Nice was ruled for centuries by the Dukes of Savoy and was thus Piemontese, explaining the local patois which has elements of French and Italian, the mix of both architectural styles and the cusine which is similar to both. It was only annexed to France in the 1860s!
It developed as a port but never had the success of some of its neighbours as it hadn't the depth for a natural harbour; despite dredging in the 18th century to deepen the harbour to help trade, it couldn't compete and still can only take small cruise ships; large ones have to go to Villefranche.
The height of Nice's development came when we Brits discovered its wonderful climate and it became the winter retreat for both British and Russian nobility. The Promenade des Anglais, the long sweeping prom between the city and the beach, was paid for by English visitors in 1822. Apparently it was an act of charity as the winter of 1821-22 was awful and the locals were starving, so the English paid them to build the Promenade. Originally it was just a broad path but it was extended and is now a busy road as well.
During the "Belle Epoque", late 19th century to early 20th, many luxury hotels were built including the Excelsior Regina where Queen Victoria stayed. Many are now apartments but some have retained their original use including the famous Negresco. They are said to look like wedding cakes and we could see where the description came from looking at them all.
Much of the info above came from our "Nice Grand Tour" or ride in an open top bus with commentary. This is expensive for a day pass at 17 euros (about £12) but makes much more sense if you pay an extra 2 euros and get it for 2 days. You can get on and off when and wherever you like and it runs between about 9.45 am and 8pm. We saw some areas such as the villas on the headland which we wouldn't even have known about, never mind walked to.
The bus took us to the Matisse Museum in the suburb of Cimiez, founded on a Roman city. Now I must admit that it was a bit like "The Emperor's New Clothes"; we were trying desperately to appreciate Matisse's art but really only found about 2 pictures we actually liked! Anyway it only cost 4 euros each so it wasn't too bad. We found the nearby Archaeology Museum much more interesting; it cost the same but included a walk round the Roman remains which were incredible; the swimming pool just needs tiling and you could use it, the roads are paved, the cold room in the baths is virtually complete though roofless... The finds from the site are displayed with helpful captions (in English most of the time as well as French!) and we were well impressed with the information presented in Braille for the blind, even casts of the medallions etc included so they could feel them and get an idea of what they were like. English museums, take note!
The Old Town is a must! Having been written off as a no-go area till the 70s it's now a major attraction and we loved wandering round the narrow pedestrianised street looking at shops, stalls and squares with old buildings reminiscent of Venice and umpteen street cafes.
Above the old Town is Castle Hill; although there is no castle as it was destroyed by Louis 14th it's worth the trog up to get fabulous views of the town and the coast from the top. There is a lift from the promenade but we did it the hard way!
The port is round the far side of the hill and is interesting to look round with a selection of yachts and small boats, ferries to Corsica (a couple of hours by sea cat I think) and we saw a replica sailing ship with full rigging. There are some good cafes and patiseries in this area.
All along the front the pebble beach is accessible. There are public parts where you can just go and enjoy it if you can pick enough pebbles out from under you, and for a small fee showers, toilets and changing rooms are provided. If you want to relax a bit more you can pay from 12 to 18 euros to sit on a sunbed belonging to one of the many beach bars and uise their facilities at no extra charge. This was nice to do one afternoon- the Lido Plage bar is only 9 euros after 2pm so we went there- as you can enjoy a cold drink and a useful parasol and even have a snooze which is tricky on the pebbles!
The sea is not boiling hot but once you get over the first chilly shock it's fine and you can stay in for ages. In fact you are tempted to do so because of the sheer effort of getting in and out! The pebbles seem to form a ridge at the water's edge, so you have to walk up over it and down into the water, sinking up to your ankles in wet pebbles with quite a strong current tugging at you. Some kind of water shoes would be a good idea, I ended up with cut feet not having any and had to slide down the slope on hands and feet to get in! I was not the only one having problems, an elderly lady found it really hard and needed two people's support to get in.
There are loads of hotels and we found a really nice one for £27 each per night on the totalstay website. Eating out is not cheap and we were a bit annoyed to find the wine almost as dear as in English restaurants, but there is a wide choice from beach bars (open lunchtimes but not all at night) to sandwich bars, pasta cafes and expensive but gorgeous fish restaurants. The Old Town is a good place to find somewhere and the Cours Saleya which is a flower market by day is a bustling, atmospheric place to eat in the evening with a plethora of restaurants to choose from and on the nights we went there was a wonderful craft market too with different souvenirs. On the Saturday this became a food market with a bewildering selection of local produce, all wonderfully fresh and colourful. That day we bought foccacia bread, tomatoes and olives for lunch and ate them sat in the square... wonderful!! There are also plenty of places to eat in the port area and around the Rue Massena in the town itself.
I must also mention the Fenocchio's ice cream shop in the Old Town. The guide book billed this as the best ice cream on the Riviera and they were not kidding! We found it and gawped in amazement at the vast array of flavours, from kids' smartie and bubble gum to rose, lavender, ginger, peach.... I thought 'shall I have coffee?" but couldn't choose from coffee, cappucino, Irish coffee, cafe au lait........... I ended up with violet and melon which were both wonderful! It's in the Place Rossini by the old Cathedral of Ste Reparate and you can sit at a table and enjoy up to 14 "boules"; we found 2 each at 3.50 euros (about £2.35) was more than enough!
SHOPPING
Being a city, Nice has many modern High Street type shops. We spotted C and A and Zara which we recognised, also Galeries Lafayette, but there were plenty more. Chemists were open late and although some shops, particularly in the old town, seemed to close from 12 noon till 2 or 3 for the "siesta", plenty stayed open till late into the evening. The Old Town shops were a bit cheaper for souvenirs, typical Provencale gifts including herbs, lavender products, fabric, pottery and olive oil. The latter was extortionate, 11 euros for half a litre in some places, so I didn't indulge! There are also some interesting clothes shops and ethnic gift shops. It's worth spending half a day or so just browsing that area.
GENERAL IMPRESSION
We loved the place! The people seemed very friendly: I've only been to Paris and Nice in France and found them much warmer that the Parisians in general. They would appreciate our efforts to speak the language and would chat when you were in the shops. The hotel people were very helpful too, and the atmosphere was more like a seaside resort than a large city. We felt safe as 2 women walking round in the evening and noticed that everywhere was clean and tidy, with plenty of greenery and open space. I want to take my family to the area now, perhaps to somewhere with a sandy beach, but I would gladly go back to Nice as well.
Sounds like somewhere me and Hubby would like. Sue
torr 13.03.2005 17:52
Another excellent review. The French are warmer anywhere outside Paris. I like Nice too, but my favourite place in that part of the world is Menton, just along the coast almost on the Italian border. Do visit it if you're ever down that way again. Duncan x
Lucie_S1984 06.01.2005 12:38
I can see why you got the diamond on this one - congratulations and here's another E for you! Lucie xxx
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Advantages: Nice, a big town, on the sea side, close to mountains, good life. Disadvantages: So often fully booked even on low period due to congresspeople.
europe68 18.04.2001 (28.03.2003)
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Review of Nice (France)
Advantages: Relaxing, great weather, fantastic views, lots of interesting markets Disadvantages: Beach isn't great, probably over-crowded in the summer
gennymutant 10.05.2001 (13.06.2001)
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Review of Nice (France)
Advantages: Nice, a big town, on the sea side, close to mountains, good life. Disadvantages: So often fully booked even on low period due to congresspeople.
europe68 18.04.2001 (28.03.2003)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Nice (France)
![Vista Point Nice France [DVD] [NTSC]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/102808582.jpg "Vista Point Nice France [DVD] [NTSC]")
Jul 4th, 2004
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