After realizing how much complaining I've been doing about the hot and sticky weather we've been having, I had to stop and wonder what I'm doing differently nowadays that's making Summer less exciting and wonderful than it was when I was a kid...well this lead me to thinking about adventures, and well, one thought led to another and somehow I wound up reminiscing about our trip to Europe and then it wandered particularly to our stay in Nice.
I don't claim, by any stretch of the imagination, to have seen enough of the world to qualify as a world traveller, but it was almost a year ago now that Mike and I were galavanting about Europe together letting our feeling of worldliness go to our heads a little!
I promised an occasional travel post and I have every intention of delivering on that promise, right now, today!
Nice, FR
Nice is a dirty little town with rows and rows of sketchy hotels and even sketchier locals! The beach is made of rocks, not sand and we were warned repeatedly to watch for pick pockets at every turn! That being said, it's beautiful! It's old, and lovely and oh-so European and just a quintessential French Riviera stop to make!
The water looks like clear blue paint, the rocks (though they aren't sand) are smooth and slimy when they're wet, the leather skinned locals make for excellent people watching and the nightlife is tacky in the best possible way (think big casino themed hotels with crooners - or strange mexican restaurants with 3$ mojitos!)...
On weekends there is the strangest little outdoor antique market which is ridiculously overpriced, but probably one of the most interesting places I've ever seen! Old French men who collect old French military paraphernalia line the street along side little old ladies with hat collections that would make any girl swoon!
The seafood is amazing, if you like seafood and the whole city smells like saltwater in a good way! You can climb up on rocky ledges and read Hemmingway till the sun goes down, and nobody will bother you!
And the pretty squares and cobblestone streets date back to the days when royalty were lead in by horse and carriage for winter getaways!
Nice is unfortunately one of the cities we collected the least amount of business cards from, and so names of restaurants and shops are missing from this post. If I can find the scrapbook I made for Mike when we got back, I will edit as many of the names and addresses as I can remember into this post later on.
In the meantime, if you're planning any trips to the South of France, walk along La Promenade des Anglais, make a stop at Place Massena and go up to Rue de la France and Boulevard de la Buffa for amazing local food - don't miss out on the Salade Nicoise!
And probably the best part is, you're only a train ride away from Paris, Barcelona and the rest of the French Riviera! Oh and Monaco is a 20 minute, 1$ bus ride away! But that will have to be for another post! I hope I did this little part of the world justice!
Bonne Soiree Tout le Monde!
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