City Break in Nice

Friday, November 27th, 2009 at 6:28 am

I was delighted to have the opportunity to join my couses at their holiday flat in Nice. After meeting my cousins at Grenoble (Lyon) the plan was to head down to Nice by car.

I was welcomed by my cousins and their dog Tuppy as my flight from Stansted arrived without any problems. On the way to Nice, we stopped at Orange to view the ancient Roman Theatre and the size of the semi-circular theatre backing on to the hillside is impressive. An awesome sigh was colossal statue of the Emperor Auguste which was housed in a niche in the stage wall.

Our destination was Avignon; the sun shone on the old golden sandy coloured buildings. We opted to take the train tour through the vasted gardens of the Palace of the Popes. The alleyways were extremely narrow and cars were often parked haphazardly! 22 arches of this famous bridge used to span the two arms of the Rhone but today all that remains are the four arches with a small chapel on the second pier. Tuppy was more interested in a paddle in the river than the amazing Roman aqueduct with its triple tiers that we saw at Pont du Gard.

As we continued to Marseille, we again found lovely old golden buildings along the coast road and the harbour. The old fort and the church on the hilltop reminded me of Malta. Heavy rain marred the latter part of the journey to Nice and again the following morning. We visit the Russian Cathedral of St Nicholas in the afternoon which is the largest Russian church outside Russia. The nearby chapel is built on the site of the Villa Bermond where the Crown Prince Ncholas Alexandrovich died in 1865. I had not realised that the Cote d’Azur had been visited by the Romanovs since 1856. Queen Victoria used to stay at the palatial hilltop hotel where we stopped for lunch !! Today, the building has been converted to flats and a statue of Queen Victoria and several angels can be found at the bottom of the hill. Blue Skies and sunshine tempted us out to visit the Roman Monument, La Turbie, in memory of the Emperor Augustus. The people of the Alps were finally subjugated between 25BC and 14BC. This paved the way for the Roman advance up the Rhone Valley and along the Rhine and ultimately to England.

We moved on to Monaco; wonderful views along the Corniche roads. I would NOT drive along any of them; such horrendous sharp bends! It was a Yachting Week and two very large cruise ships were in the vicinity. Traffic was horrendous but eventually we found an underground car park. We visit the Cathedral where Grace Kelly is buried and Prince Rainier lies alongside her grave; her grave is covered with masses of flowers. Jacques Cousteau was Director at the Oceanographic Museum for many years which were saw along with the Casino.

Our expedition up the hill to visit the Matisses Chapel was in vain as it was closed. We moved on to Vence, a lovely old city with narrow paved passageways, cafes and craft shops. In the town centre there is a very large statue of a wounded dove, i.e. Wounded Peace. This bishopric is the smallest in France and there have been bishops here since 374AD.

On my last day, we headed for the Market. New streamlined trams run through the streets and stretches of grass between the tracks give a countrified air to his part of the city. One could broswe the large market for hours on end with stalls offering vast quantities of fruit and veg, pottery and herb mills, African animals and table linen. I returned from Nice with many happy memories of my first trip to the area.

You can book trip trip to Nice online with Explorer Travel on their website (http://www.explorerdirect.co.uk)

Share and Enjoy: