Nice, France & French Riveria

I arrived in Nice, France from Venice, Italy at around 10 pm. I had been hoping to take a night train but there weren't any. I had directions to tram stop and where to buy tram ticket, all set. When I was here last there were no trams, these have been in place for about the last 10 years.

The instuctions were great to get to Villa St Expury. The streets were full of people, more than likely as it was a Saturday night and Christmas season.  Streets were all light up and decorated for the festive season, just beautiful in Massena Square!  The French go over the top in decorating for Christmas!

Entrance to Christmas market

 

These globes are huge!  There are benches inside where people can sit and rest. The globes light up, then goes off, comes back on, very pretty!

The air was warm for the time of evening. Once I got checked in I decided to go for a coffee and stroll the promenade.  The sound of the ocean was music to my ears. I couldn't wait to see the ocean waves in the daytime. There were many people walking down the promenade, sitting at rest areas, people watching. The pedestrian only streets were full of people strolling, stopping at cafes. The cafe and restaurants in this area were very busy. I found a cafe, stopped for a coffee and later went for another stroll along the promenade.

When I returned to the Villa it was almost 1 am. I spent another half hour speaking wth George at reception. He was from New York and had been in Nice working for the last 4 months.

Massena Square in the daytime.

In old town, near the Palace of Justice

The next day I walked along the promenade taking in the sight of the beautiful beach. The beach area is very rocky, with small and large rocks, but the beauty of the water & waves make up for this.  In Nice you can access the beach anywhere off the promenade. In Cannes the beaches can only be accessed at either end. The areas in between are blocked by restaurant and hotels.

 

I took a couple of day trips on the train to Cannes, 30 minutes away.  The first trip was typical tourist, nothing to exciting occurred.

The next time I went to Cannes I had exited the station, waiting at pedestrian crosswalk when I heard a lot of yelling.  A man was running down the street with a policeman on his heels. The man was tackled down however managed to slip away, running back in opposite direction.  There was another policeman at that end and between the two, this man was caught. I'm not sure but I believe he had tried to rob a store, this is quite common in France during the Christmas season.  Later that afternoon while waiting at main blvd crosswalk, myself and other pedestrians heard all this yelling.

Three couples on motorcycles came around the corner and were yelling, shouting at each other. We could only think that 1 or 2 had cut the other off. This yelling continued up the street with motorcycles weaving in and out towards each other.  The next thing we heard was a bang and all of a sudden a large piece of black plastic from one of the motorcycles came flying down the roadway.  All three motorcycles carried on. Talk about road rage! I would hate to see what occurred when they finally stopped!  That was an interesting day!

There are so many designer shops & large hotels on the main blvd and everywhere else!

 

Sushi, etc. delivery by motorcycle

The beaches in Cannes centre are very nice and sandy, whereas in Nice they are rocky. However the public can only access down to the beach from either far end. The area in between belongs to restaurants and hotels and is blocked off.  Not sure if you are able to tell by this photograph.

 

 

I went on a daytrip to Monaco, Monte Carlo.

I also took a few day trips to some villages nearby.

This is a glimpse of Villafrance, located about 10 minutes outside of Nice.