Videos: Cote d'Azur

 

Au Revoir à la Côte d'Azur!

In the past week we have done a few fun things around town and made sure to hit the last remaining restaurants on our dining list. Cocodile is a cafe not far from our apartment with spectacular views of the Promenade des Anglais and the Mediterranean Sea.

In the background of that last photo, you can see what appears to be a giant polar bear on the boardwalk. It's one of ten massive statues by Richard Orlinksi that decorate the city. While this statue is white, other brightly colored plasticine animals in the shape of lions, gorillas, and even a T-Rex are scattered throughout Nice.

For one of our last lunches out, we specifically ordered some local specialties. Kevin had the moules frites (mussels and fries) in white wine sauce while I had a local beef stew called Daube Niçoise. 

To burn off all the wine, cheese, and delicious meals we've had on this trip, we made sure to take a few more walks along the Promenade des Anglais to burn off some of the extra calories. This is the view back to the Promenade from an overlook on the eastern edge of the beach. Look how blue the water appears. It's definitely called "the Blue Coast" for good reason!

One afternoon we were walking and could hear snare drums nearby. So we followed our ears and found this Napoleonic marching band. But this band wasn't dressed up to honor the more famous Napoleon Bonaparte; instead they were dressed in the military style that was in fashion during the rule of his nephew, Napoleon III. Napoleon III (or as I like to call him, "N3") ruled France from 1848 to 1852 as its first president and then also as France's last Emperor from 1852 until 1870. Around these parts, N3 is pretty important -- under his leadership Nice became part of France in 1860. The year 2023 commemorates 150 years since his death, which is probably why this marching band was partying like it was 1873. 

We have enjoyed staying in this very walkable city. We loved that we felt safe walking at night in the most popular districts. It does feel like the city of Nice comes alive in the evenings. This is the former train station building (Gare du Sud) in the Liberation quarter -- it's now a food hall.

One of the fun things we were able to see at night while we were here was how the kids in France celebrate Halloween. We did not know Halloween was even a thing here, but we did see kids walking through the streets in costume on the 31st. Interestingly, it would be difficult to go door-to-door to homes here since many apartments are located inside buildings with an entry code. So instead the children go trick-or-treating at the local ground-floor businesses who keep their doors open a bit later to hand out treats to the kids. We saw some cute costumes but they were maybe a little more homemade than what you get in the US (there are no "Spirit Halloween" stores here!) I didn't want to be the weird foreigner taking photos of other people's children, so you'll have to take my word for it. Instead enjoy this nighttime photo of the Palais de Justice (courthouse). 

The meditating human figures in the Place Massena set the night aglow with constantly changing colors. We spent a lot of time in this part of the city in the evenings; it was always lively and filled with people dining at cafes or out for a stroll. Despite enjoying our time here, we are ready to head home after 2 months away. À bientôt, Nice - we hope to see you again soon!

Trophy of the Alps, Èze, and the Nietzche Path

I'm not sure if I'm starting to lose my logistical skills or what, but today was a day of extremely poor planning on my part! We tried to take the public bus to the hilltop town of La Turbie, which would have been a 20-minute drive away if we'd only had a car. Instead we waited at a poorly marked bus stop for an hour watching many city busses (that were not our bus) pass us by. And then by chance I looked up and saw a small passenger van with the tiniest sign in the window indicating that it was our bus! I frantically waved to flag it down and we were lucky he stopped at all, since he had to cross two lanes to pull over and pick us up. Whew! After a zig-zagging ride along the sinuous Upper Corniche roadway, we reached the pretty village of La Turbie.

The village itself has cobblestone and brick-lined passages, leading you past many charming stone houses decorated with potted plants and greenery.

There are several original medieval gates that have been restored. This is one of the fortified gates from the 13th century. I love how the plants cling to life, managing to survive in the cracked mortar between the stones.

I know I keep bringing it up, but there is so much ancient Roman history in this region. Romans settled all along the Côte d'Azur. The Via Julia Augusta was the Roman road that linked this part of Gaul (aka France) to Rome. 

La Turbie is the site where Augustus based his campaign to conquer this Alpine region. Over the course of a decade, his generals defeated many alpine tribes that resisted Roman rule. To commemorate the victory, an enormous monument called the Tropaeum Alpium ("Trophy of the Alps") was built on the summit overlooking the village.

After the fall of Rome, the trophy was abandoned. Over the centuries it fell into ruin with many of its stones being used to build up the town. This model shows what it would have originally looked like.

But even though only a fraction of it remains today, it is still massively impressive. It looms over the town and can be seen for miles. Unfortunately, poor planning snag #2 had us visiting this town on a Monday -- the one day of the week when the monument is closed! It's surrounded by a high fence so not only could we not get very close, but we also missed out on the museum and park inside. Oh well! We did manage to get another good view of it from the nearby cemetery.

With the two strikes already against me, you think I would've known better for the next stage of our transit plan. But we ended up wasting over an hour waiting for the bus that should have taken us from La Turbie to the village of Èze. When bus after bus (none of which was "our" bus, of course) kept passing by the stop, we finally gave in and called an Uber for the -- I kid you not -- quick ten-minute ride along the Middle Corniche road to get to Èze! It would have taken us less time to walk, except there aren't sidewalks along the narrow twisting road. Anyway, eventually we made it to the very photogenic town of Èze.

Like Saint-Paul de Vence, Èze is a "perched" village and it's known for its botanical garden that showcases cacti and succulents from all over the world. With all the agaves and other desert-dwelling plants, the garden reminded us very much of home. The garden's plants are scattered among the hilltop ruins of the 12th century fortress that used to guard the town. Along the pathways, several sculptures representing Earth Goddesses stand watch over the views. 

After visiting the garden we had a nice lunch and took a walk through the narrow streets of this pedestrian-only town. It wasn't too crowded, but there were definitely plenty of other tourists walking around despite it being shoulder season in late October. Wikipedia claims that only about 2000 people live here; I can't imagine living in a town this pretty. Of course it might be less fun to be a resident in the summertime when the throngs of tourists are out in full force.

After seeing the sights, we decided to walk back down to the water along the famous Nietzche's Footpath. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzche came to this part of France to recover from a mental and emotional breakdown. He settled in Èze during the winter of 1883 and spent a great deal of time walking this steep trail. It inspired him to write his most well-known work Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

The path is about 3 miles long and gains almost 1400 feet in elevation. Many people hike up this trail to get to Èze from the coastal town of Èze-sur-Mer below. Maybe they are gluttons for punishment or just never heard of Uber? We cleverly decided to hike it the easy way -- downhill.

Even still, it was quite steep and slow going. But at least we had beautiful scenic views all the way down. We rested a few times to give our knees a bit of a break. The landscape was dry and the air temperature was actually quite warm. If not for the huge expanse of Mediterranean sea below us we could have imagined we were hiking back in Arizona.

Whew! Sweaty and tired, we finally made it to the bottom of the trail. We could look back up the hillside and see how far we'd come -- the town of Èze is somewhere up there out of sight from below. We were so glad we could catch the bus from down here and not have to hike back up!

Daytrip to Cannes

 

The first thought that comes to mind when you hear the name Cannes is the glitz and glamour of film stars on the red carpet. We were disappointed to see that the Palais des Festivals (where they screen the films) was under construction and nearly completely blocked from view. Oh well, we managed to walk along the parts of the sidewalk that weren't blocked off, where international film stars and directors have left their handprints over the years during the Cannes Film Festival held each May.

When not hosting the film festival, the Palais is just the town's regular old convention and conference center. It can't all be glitz and glamour, I guess.

As with all the other French Riviera towns, there is an old port with fancy yachts right in the center of town. This is one of two large marinas in town.

If you aren't staying on a swanky boat, you can stay in one of the swanky historic hotels along the Boulevard de la Croisette which stretches along the waterfront. The luxurious Carlton Hotel was built in 1911 and was used as a location for the film To Catch a Thief with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly.

Murals around town celebrate the international film industry. This one at the Hôtel de la Plage depicts filmmaker Jacques Tati and the painted posters are tributes to his Monsieur Hulot films of the 1950s and 60s.

From the promenade along the old port, you can see the hill of Le Suquet, the oldest quarter in Cannes. This is the site of the original Roman settlement in this area. The hill is dominated by the tall tower and crenelated rooftop of the Château de la Castre on the left, and the clock tower of the Église Notre-Dame d’Espérance on the right. The castle was built by monks in the 1200s and is now a museum. To get to the top of the hill you have to climb 109 steps.

Or you can do what we did and take the Petit Train Touristique. All aboard!

The church of Notre-Dame d’Espérance was built during a 100-year period in the late 1500s and early 1600s. It has a very simple exterior and facade.

From the side courtyard of the church there are great views of the Old Port and the Cannes promenade. 

We enjoyed visiting this beautiful walkable town very much!

A Very Rainy Week in Nice

The weather predictions for this week forecasted rain for most days, so we made the best of Monday, the sunniest day, and took the train and a bus to the perched village of Saint-Paul de Vence.

Saint-Paul is called a village perché and that term describes it very well: it's a fortified village that is quite literally "perched" atop a cliff or promontory. These medieval villages are found throughout France and typically have walled ramparts and narrow pedestrian streets. The idea was that if you made your village extremely hard to get to, then you would be less vulnerable to attacks by your enemies.

From what I understand this little town is a zoo during the summer months when it is packed with tourists. We were here on a Monday in October and it was much easier to walk the narrow cobblestone paths with fewer tourists. The village is full of art galleries of all types, so it was interesting to peek inside the little shops and see one full of pastel impressionist paintings right next to another one full of inventive modern sculpture.

Saint-Paul's reputation as an artistic haven is well-deserved. One of its most famous residents was Marc Chagall, who lived in this area in his final years. He is buried, along with his wife Vava, in the town cemetery. In the Jewish tradition, small stones have been placed on the grave as an act of remembrance by visitors.

After spending the afternoon in Saint-Paul de Vence, we made a quick stop at the nearby town of Vence (they should call it "Regular-Old-Vence" to better distinguish it from the fancy Saint-Paul). Vence was very quiet on a Monday and there wasn't much to see, although its Cathedral Notre-Dame-de-la-Nativité has the claim to fame as being the smallest cathedral in France. It also has a very lovely Marc Chagall mosaic called "Moses Saved From The Waters".

The weather in Nice became even cloudier and more ominous on Tuesday, so we took a 15-minute walk to the nearby St Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral.

Beginning in the 1860s, Nice became the winter home for the Russian Tsars and nobility. By the early 1900s there was a large Russian population living in Nice year-round, and Tsar Nicholas II funded the construction of this cathedral so that they would have a place to worship.

On Wednesday we started receiving weather alerts warning of "soaking rain" during the coming couple of days. Because we knew we'd be spending the next few days indoors, we decided to pick up a 4-day Museum Pass. It was a pretty good deal -- 15 Euros for access to 10 museums. We started with the Villa Massena Museum, which is housed in a Belle Epoque mansion right on the Promenade Anglaise. It was a small museum but very beautiful inside.

Then on Thursday we ambitiously visited four more museums, starting with the Musée Matisse which has one of the world's largest collections of the artist's works.

During his last decade, Matisse was very ill from cancer and no longer had the stamina to paint and sculpt. He changed his preferred medium to using brightly colored paper cutouts which could then be arranged into the compositions he had envisioned. It was a unique way for him to continue making art despite his limited mobility.

On to the next museum: the Archaeology Museum of Cimiez, which was just next door to the Musée Matisse. We had already walked around the exterior site of the former Roman Arena and Bath complex. But displayed inside the museum building were all of the smaller treasures that had been dug up from sites all around Nice, including this bronze mask of the god Silenus excavated from a ship that was wrecked off the coast of Antibes during the 1st century B.C. 

Our third museum of the day was the Palais Lascaris. This 17th century palace was once the home to an ancient noble family. It is now a musical instrument museum, but the baroque-style palace's rooms are very well-preserved, including the former family chapel.

Our fourth and final museum on Thursday was the Musée de la Photographie Charles Nègre which was holding a temporary exhibit of the photography of Robert Doisneau.

Doisneau was a 20th century freelance photographer whose work appeared in Life and Vogue magazines in the 1940s and 1950s. Probably his most famous photograph is Le Baiser de l'Hôtel de Ville ("The Kiss by the City Hall"). Although it was taken in 1950, this photograph had a second life as a very popular poster and postcard in the 1980s -- in fact, if I recall correctly my best friend had this poster hanging from her wall back in those days!

During our marathon museum day we did take a break for lunch near the Cours Saleya market -- and what a lunch! When I ordered what I thought was a slice of lasagna at La Favola, I did not realize I would be getting an entire casserole dish of it! It was delicious and there was more than enough for both of us. If you are ever in Nice and dining with a crowd, don't make the same mistake I did -- I'd recommend that you order this dish to partager ("share").

The "soaking rain" definitely came out in force on Friday! It was a true deluge, with the skies just inundating the city and surrounding countryside with sheets of rain. During a break where the rain let up a tiny bit, we put on our heavy duty raincoats and used our travel umbrellas to walk to the nearby Musée des Beaux-Arts. 

This small but interesting fine arts museum had sculptures by Auguste Rodin and many large-scale paintings including some Art Nouveau works by Jules Cheret, the "father of the modern poster". His smiling Belle Epoque ladies with colorfully draped dresses influenced other artists of his time such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

Another artist that was on exhibit at the Beaux-Arts museum was Raoul Dufy, a French fauvist painter whose bright and eye-catching works included this one, called "May in Nice".

Well, goodness! After six museums in just three days we were exhausted and more than a little "museum-ed out", as I'm sure you are also after reading this post! (Aren't you glad we didn't attempt all ten museums on the Museum Pass?) Well hopefully we have some sunny weather for our next adventure, no art museums allowed!