Our first stop in France was Nice; a popular seaside resort fronting the Ligurian Sea. Alas, no white sand or anything that might be confused for surf but pleasant none-the-less.
Our transit from Turin was uneventful. On the train, Chris was watching a series downloaded from Netflix on her iPad; “After Life” starring Ricky Gervais (who also wrote and directed the videos). I was binging on the short and punchy “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” series.
Dragging our bags from the train station we found our accommodation just a hundred metres from the white / grey rocks that present a poor excuse for a beach.
Having settled in, we set forth to investigate our surroundings. Old castle battlements at the eastern end of the beach provide stunning views back over the beach and the city.
On the other side of the old castle (facing east) is Nice’s main port with the ubiquitous marina containing millions of dollars worth of boats.
We walked the old city before proceeding up steep and winding roads past old Roman archaeological ruins heading towards a Benedictine monastery and associated church and museum. The monastery gardens are open to the public and provide wonderful views of the city and port. Along the way Chris discovered her next new car – it’s so cute you could pick it up and cuddle it.
We visited the Marc Chagall National Museum which was built in the 1970’s. While Chagall worked in many mediums; paint, sculpture and ceramics, he is best known for his beautiful stained glass windows. On a previous visit to Zurich, we have been fortunate to view the series of five window panels installed in the Fraumünster church.
The museum in Nice comprises mainly paintings pertaining to themes from the old testament.
Cannes
We took the train to Cannes to tread the red carpet along the promenade with the rich and famous – but we were the only ones who showed up.
The beachfront is quite narrow compared to Nice and to make it even less attractive, a significant length of the shoreline is being actively developed. Heavy machines have been at work pushing back the rocks to create a barrier to the water and provide a level surface.
All this feverish activity appears to be for the creation of beach front restaurants. This work was under way for many hundreds of metres of the beach front. While this detracts from the feel of the beach it sort of makes sense given you wouldn’t want to swim in the water, lie on the rocks to sun bake and building sandcastles is just not possible without a bulldozer and a back-hoe.
We walked away from the Canute like structures on the beach, through the marina and then up a steep climb to the hill overlooking the western edge of the city towards the Church of Our Lady of Esperance.
Sections of ancient Roman walls still standing in this area provide a wonderful panorama of the waterfront.
Monaco (Monte Carlo)
Chris wanted to break the bank at Monte Carlo and I wanted to pretend to be a British secret agent licensed to kill – so we took the train to Monaco for an afternoon of fiscal fun and dastardly deeds.
We walked across the promenade, around the marina containing way too many boats. Why would you buy a boat and then park it for extended periods in such a fashionable location? Aren’t these things supposed to be out in the ocean?
Walking through the marina proved to be quite tiresome and I cannot image how it could be accomplished in heels.
When we reached the external side of the marina (where the bigger boats are parked) our attention was drawn to one that was just too big to be real.
Called Dilbar; this boat was massive and can only be viewed in total using a panoramic photo. With a length of 156 m and a beam of 24 m, it is the largest “yacht” in the world (by displacement). It’s owned by Russian billionaire, Alisher Usmanov and reportedly cost more than USD $600 million to build. A full time crew of more than 80 is on hand to look after the needs to the passengers (limited to 40). The helicopter buried inside was customised for the project – and there are two helipads for it to use.
Continuing up the hill overlooking the Monaco waterfront, a manicured park and gardens provide stunning views in all directions. We departed Monaco by train with a secure bank balance and all of Q’s gadgets intact.
Our final day in Nice was spent at a zoo called Phoenix Parc located on the western side of the city near the airport.
The continuous passage of aircraft arriving and leaving didn’t seem to worry the inhabitants – we even found some kangaroos and wallabies who have undertaken the French lifestyle and were lazing about on the grass smoking gauloises and drinking strong coffee from small cups.
Nice was an attractive city and proved to be the rose between Cannes and Monaco.
Our next stop in France will be Lyon. Au revoir Nice.