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Nice Weekend

Nice Weekend

It's the Riviera city with je ne sais quoi, that indefinable something. It's not just the beach promenade, or the bustling markets and shops, or the galleries with more art than you can shake a paint brush at, Nice has always attracted visitors for the best reasons: the light, the sea air, the effortless glamour.

This may now be France’s fifth biggest city, a sprawling conurbation, but most of us are happy just to wander along the seafront, the Promenade des Anglais which was built at the suggestion of English expats living there in the 18th century, to provide work for the local unemployed and create a grand boulevard from which to enjoy the sea vista even more. It’s still a pleasant stroll to this day, a little noisier perhaps, but as the sun goes down, the perfect way to stimulate the appetite for dinner. You’ll find the ratatouille nicoise a delight.

How to get here
Nice is easier to get to than any other Mediterranean destination, with more flights leaving more airports every day, summer and winter. Easyjet lead the way, flying in from 15 different cities, but there are plenty of others offering cheap fares for the 2 hour flight.

The alternative is rail, unthinkable a few years ago but now the combination of Eurostar and France’s superfast TGV system direct to Nice Ville, means journey times are slashed, less than 9 hours door to door during the day, or overnight by sleeper to arrive in time for breakfast. Details from Rail Europe.

OK. WE’RE HERE.
The beach is the thing, stretching languorously along for miles, bordered by hotels and apartments, shops and a permanent buzz of activity. Brits came here for the delights of the winter air, but it’s summertime that attracts the hordes. All of France seems to want to head here in August. But beware, like Brighton in England the public beach isn’t sand, it’s pebbles which are pretty uncomfortable.

Explorations should start a couple of streets back, parallel to the promenade, along Zone Pietonne, a pedestrianised precinct with cafes galore which is perfect for a coffee, a snack, lunch and most importantly, people watching. You’re on holiday, but the Nicoises are going about their business. There are shops galore, good for shoes and fashion, and plenty of interesting places to poke your nose in.

Closer to the seafront is the market, Marche aux Fleurs, where tourist cafes should generally be avoided but the market itself is a delight and is open every day. The little streets of the old town (Vieux Nice) which lead off the marketplace are well worth exploring for both the architecture and general ambience.

Beyond that the main square to head for is Place Masséna, which until a few years ago was a mess. Now the tramway has been completed (handy for getting to and from the station but little else as it’s designed to ferry people to and from work) it’s an elegant, wide square where art is featured, fountains play, and in the evening buskers entertain. Galleries Lafayette borders the side which leads to Nice’s main shopping areas, the other side is the Old Town.

Around the eastern headland, the Old Port is worth the walk, harbouring restaurants serving fish soup and lively pubs like Ma Nolan’s on the far side. Between these last two can be found Place Garibaldi, a charming Square away from the tourist melee, populated by the Nicois still getting used to their new tram system gliding through the middle of the square.

STAY WHERE?
Of the hundreds of hotels which Nice offers, the most expensive are facing the sea, the Negresco, a Nice landmark since 1912 is the most expensive place in town.

Just a couple of hundred metres back from the sea on Avenue Verdun is The Hotel Plaza, an Italian business hotel (the Boscolo Group and part of the Special Hotels of the World) where the rates are much cheaper. The lobby and dining rooms are perfectly attractive, the rooms plain and simple, but if you can get a room on the fifth floor, you have a view of the gardens and beyond to the sea from your terrace. As the sun goes down, it’s beautiful, and although there’s a bar and restaurant above on the roof, there’s also a branch of Galleries Lafayette around the corner with extensive deli produce for an impromptu picnic. Private terraces have motorised canopies to shield the midday sun as well as loungers. Inside there are modern, clean, bathrooms, as well as flat screen TV and wifi. Staff are helpful and outside you’re just a few metres from Place Massena. The sculpture outside the front door, an enormous painted steel girder entitled 'Arc 115.5' is by the renowned French artist Berner Venet.

REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL, 1, 2, 3….
Once you’ve explored the main town on foot, the harbour and beach, it’s time to find out what’s around Nice. The art on show is second to none. These are best done by hiring a car (all main rental companies are outside Hotel Plaza) but bus services are good and can be found here.

(1) Matisse. The main Matisse museum dedicated to the works of Henri Matisse is in Nice and well worth a visit but his most extraordinary creation is in Vence, half an hour (20km) to the north west. The Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence took Matisse four years to design and build for Dominican nuns. It’s white, simple and the stained glass windows are a joy, instantly recognisable to those with even the most cursory knowledge of Matisse painting.

(2) Miro, Calder. A few minutes from Vence is the picturesque ‘tourist village’ of St Paul de Vence, a charming hilltop medieval community almost entirely given over now to art shops, boutiques and small hotels which feed the tourist trade winding through it narrow cobbled streets. It’s well worth a visit as is its famous Hotel Restaurant La Colombe d’Or (see Cannes Weekend) but a few minutes drive away is Fondation Maeght, one of the great art sites of Europe. Created by a couple of Parisian art dealers, this charming garden has built into it works by Miro, Giacometti, Chagall, Braque and Calder, while inside a beautiful gallery paintings by Bonnard, Leger, and Ellsworth Kelly. The overall effect is of perfect harmony between nature and art, a place where modern art can be shown off to its best advantage.

(The car park, incidentally, is outside the gate and not the first one you come to at the bottom of the hill forest).

(3) Picasso. The main museum for Pablo Picasso in the area is in Antibes, a pleasurable half hour train ride along the coast towards Cannes. (If you’re driving it’s worth the detour to Biot to the Leger Museum). Antibes itself is attractive, the main draw being the old covered market which huddles beneath the coastal ramparts which houses the Musee Picasso. In summer it’s heaving but parking isn’t really a problem, there’s a huge carpark beside the yachting harbour as well as on top of the ramparts themselves. The cafes adjoining the market are good.



The museum is housed in what was once the Grimaldi Museum and contains over 150 works by Picasso (as well as rooms filled by others) the most striking of which is la joie de vivre, complete with preparatory sketches and musings. The views from the windows over the bay are exactly those Picasso himself saw as he worked here (in a room let to him after the Second World War). If anything captures the sheer exuberance of being in the South of France it’s this place and its contents.

LET’S DO LUNCH
Cheap
In the Old Town, you’ll pass several places where hordes of Nicoises and tourists are queuing for deep fried something or other. They’re not, they’re waiting for socca, a speciality which is basically a chick pea flour crepe and in the old town the places which sell socca also sell beignets, pan-bagnat and a variety of other battered fried vegetables. The best socca is generally regarded to come from Chez Pipo, a short walk north of the old town to Rue Bavastro, in the port area, where devotees can be seen, and probably heard, devouring socca, pissaladière, pizzas, and sweet blette tourtes, all washed down with glasses of rose wine from the Var.

Still OK
In the centre of Nice, the smallest, most highly recommended restaurant in town – and it doesn’t have a phone! Reservations have to be made as you walk past earlier. Even more confusingly, it’s on rue Raoul Bosio, which used to be called rue Terrasse, and on some old maps still is. This is a local eaterie with a tiny menu on a blackboard, handed to your table, with other dishes on another blackboard nearby. You may have to sit on a stool, it’s cramped and no, they don’t take cards. So what’s to like?

Freshly made market sourced food, expertly handled: salads, sardines, beef, tripe, chickpea chips, or be adventurous and go for the stockfish or andouillette. The owner/chef used to be chef at the Chantecler inside the Negresco. This is his baby and it’s called La Merenda.

Not so cheap
Jouni is one of the more famous places in Nice, it moved to a stunning new location overlooking the water beside the old port in La Reserve (Boulevard Franck Pilatte, a short cab ride away from city centre). Cheaper is the downstairs bistro for dishes like sea bass a la planche. There’s a set, seasonal lunch which hovers around €30 and if chosen carefully drinks can be very reasonable. It’s worth it for the location alone.

September 2009, the owner, Jouni, is reported to have left but apparently the place continues unchanged. Watch this space.

WHAT’S YOURS?
In the Old Town, head for Place Rossetti and you’ll find one of France’s more magnificent cathedrals, Sainte-Reparate, which is dedicated to Nice’s patron saint, Reparata, who was burnt in a furnace and allegedly emerged unscathed. The square is always lively, its bars and ice cream parlours being the main attractions. But it’s a pleasant place to meet, to sit and sip a glass of wine before heading off. In fact, you’ll probably return after dinner too for a coffee, another ice cream, or another drink.

DINNER IS SERVED
Head for Place Garibaldi, either walking or by tram, and wander around checking out the various places to drink and eat. It’s one of the most pleasant squares in Nice. You’ve left behind the tourist hordes of le marche au fleurs and are now in a more civilised, local part of town. You’ll come to Cafe de Turin on the corner, an ancient looking bar (which is what it is) that has extended itself underneath the arches, out onto the pavement, in a somewhat random manner and is now serving up shellfish. All day, every day, from breakfast time. There’s no booking and queues form at the bar (it’s easy to keep count of waiting customers by making them line up). It’s generally packed by 7pm by the happiest diners you’ve ever seen. House wines are sold at the bar cash, by the glass or small carafe, and then you are called. Insist on a table outside during hot weather as there doesn’t appear to be any aircon inside. The waiters hurry and scurry around, dishes piled high with oysters, langoustines, clams and so on, the customary fare of a high class shellfish emporium.

The difference here is the price. A plateau can be had for €20, about half the cost of the competition down nearer the seafront or the harbour. Full four course menus for €30, specialities include scampi salad and sea bream socca with vegetables. Best place in Nice.

© TheTravelEditor.com

Reproduced with the kind permission of TheTravelEditor.com

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