Market Day in Old Town Nice

Trip Start May 14, 2008
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Trip End May 28, 2008


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Thursday, May 22, 2008

Thursday was a beautiful sunny day!  The air was cool coming from the most beautiful water I have ever seen.  The turquoise was of various hues as it changed shapes different distances from the shore.  Sun bathers were just as happy as we were, finding their spots on the rocky shore or on the concrete slabs to toast their bodies (sandy beaches are scarce).  There also seems to be a few fishermen no matter what kind of day it is.

Our parking lot for our car was near the parking for the cruise ships where we crossed the busy street and found the stone stairs and switch-back path to the top of a 90-meter hill called Le Chateau.  There's really no chateau now...Louis XIV ordered it razed in 1706...quite quirky for a citadel that was already 2,000 years old!  The foundation of a church is still there to view and now there are gardens, playgrounds and a snack bar.  The best part of this hike was the views Walking up to Le Chateau in Nice
Walking up to Le Chateau in Nice
 .  Check the pictures!  There were many mosiacs on walls and for us to walk on...stones and marble shaped in various ways!  We watched a fine teacher and his student practicing some form of movement with a sword.  School children were running in bunches.  And many locals were out for a good walk.

The descent on the other side of the citadel brought us into Old Nice where on the Cours Saleya is the site of the market:  fruits, vegetables, spices, fish, soaps, artists, dried frut, purses, carvings, flowers...and people...a wonderful adventure into the pulse of Nice.  The smells and colors are amazing...anything you want for your pleasure and kitchen.

Our walk back to the car was along part of the promenade des Anglais...a three-mile wide stretch of sidewalk with hotels and apartments on one side and beach and sea on the other. 

After stowing our purchases at the condo, we parked at the Gare (train station) and did some clothes shopping before catching the train for Villefranche sur Mer, just one stop East of Nice.  We inadvertently got on a train which did not stop at Villefranche so we stayed on the train for the wonderful ride along the coast to Monaco--this has to be one of the most stunning and beautiful stretches of track in the world! Circling back we finally arrived in Villefranche, which is a charming old town with a nice balance of shops and homes along its crooked stone paths and a unbeatable view of the harbor and Cap Ferrat in the distance.  We had the best dinner so far in this area at Les Garcons Restaurant.  Planning to catch the 10:35 train back to Nice, we knew something was wrong when it was five minutes late (the trains in France are almost never late) and we took a taxi back instead.  A minor glitch on a really nice day.
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