Nice

Nice was our last stop of the tour. Morning people, we loved the food markets, and enjoyed finding items for picnic lunches. In other words - this was our kind of place!

Morning Market

market

Lush fruits, vegetables, and bakery goods were available in all varieties.

It was fun to explore the market in the morning sun with a fresh breeze from the ocean.

By 10:00 am things began to close down, and everything loaded up. The awnings came down, tables, chairs, produce boxes -- everything disappeared. Then the cleaning crew prepared the plaza for the afternoon/evening market. What a transformation! Walking through the narrow walkways in Old Nice revealed endless turns, cafes, and merchants - very high energy and busy - easy to get lost!

Evening Market

By evening an entirely new market appeared - more like a street fair with foods, clothing, manufactured and hand-made goods of every imaginable size shape .... and price. If you looked hard enough you could find most anything you would want (or maybe didn't want). By early evening the sidewalk restaurants were beginning to get busy and the bars were hopping; the pace seemed to continue to speed up as the evening wore on. Many cruise ships call here which makes for very crowded spaces. Nice is spectacular after dark.

Daytime Nice

The expansive beaches attract sun worshipers. After the beaches of Normandy, the warmth felt pretty good.

Things got pretty crowded by mid-morning. The Promenade des Angais boardwalk was busy just as it has been since the 19th century. Many of the hotels still carry English names from when wealthy English tourists on holiday used to frequent this "promenade" to see who was doing what to whom. We were lucky enough to find an empty park bench and enjoyed our picnic lunch in the warm sunshine entertaining ourselves "people watching". The clientele are much different today but it is still "the" thing to do in Nice.

For a taste of "The Walk of the English" circa 2005, check out the video link below.

Nighttime Nice

Our last night in Nice we met as a group with Patrick on the boardwalk,where we shared good memories and a glass of champagne, said our goodbyes, and then reluctantly made the trip back to our room to finish packing.

Room with a View

Our room here was one of the nicest we had on the trip. Too bad we didn't have more time to enjoy the water view. From here we could see the infamous Promenade des Angais.