I'm not exactly sure what I expected from the French Riviera, but Nice was a little bit touristy.... and not in a good way.
We asked for a room with a view of the water and we got exactly what we asked for in this lovely old hotel - The Hotel Westminster, which is situated right on the strip about a block from all the action.
We watched people teeter past in their high heels and short shorts. I'm not sure what it is about French people..... or perhaps it's just people who happen to be in France, but they love a wedge! I even saw a lady changing her shoes - out of her thongs and into her very high wedges - to walk on cobblestones.
Another type of person that Nice attracts is the jogger. There is a fantastic promenade along the beach that people make the absolute most of. If they're not jogging, they're cycling or roller blading, or just meandering (this was our choice) taking it all in. There are all sorts of sporty cars being driven along the strip. We saw a Porsche 4WD taxi and a chap pulled up in his Ferrari wearing his Ferrari jacket and cap, just in case we didn't know who the car belonged to!
After our early morning leaving Tarascon, coupled with a 4 hour bus ride and the thunder, lightening and stormy rain that was going on outside, we decided that we would venture too far and we'd have dinner in the hotel restaurant. It's very possible that we could have been in the seaside town of Torquay being served by Basil Faulty and Manuel, because it was a bumbling experience that we could only laugh at. Check out the size of the fish bowl wine glasses we were given for our white wine. When we looked around at the other 4 groups of people, (there were only 5 tables in the tiny restaurant) they all had normal sized glasses.....
After dinner, which turned out to be quite nice food wise, the weather did an turn about and fined up for our "Passeggiata" - the walk after dinner (even thought we're technically still in France)
In Nice there are lots of these private beaches that are fenced off from the rest of the public areas. You pay for a half or a full day and get a daybed and an umbrella and security for your belongings. I guess there is also food and beverage services as well as other beach equipment that people might need.
It would have been nice to go for a swim, but it was a little chilly for my liking, a little late and the beach is a people stone beach.... so not terribly enticing, although the water looked lovely.
Check out me Jenny's hair. :-)
Check out me Jenny's hair. :-)
The cold water didn't stop this lady from not only going for a swim, but from using the pebble stones as a makeshift brassiere! There's no such thing as privacy when you're doing this on the Nice beach in front of 100s of people.
It turned out to be a lovely evening and we managed to walk nearly the entire length of the promenade.
It would have been great to be in Nice for the Rock Festival or the Jazz Festival, but I was most curious about what goes on in "Crazy Week"
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