Nice and the French Riviera

Tuesday 21 April, 2015 To Nice

We packed and caught the train to Nice after encountering a delay of an hour and a half.  As we approached Nice I had this feeling or dread.  The signs in the train turned from French to bilingual English to finally English only.  My worst fears did come true - I was unable to control Gail - she could order and buy whatever she wanted!  We arrived at 1500h, unpacked and headed down to the "Promenade des Anglais" - a wide 6 km long promenade, built in Victorian times to allow rich vacationers to walk along the sea without getting wet or dirty.  It still works, with families, bikes, joggers, segways, scooters and skateboards all sharing.  It also allows a view of scantily clad sunbathers.  Unfortunately, the economy has had a devistating effect on some of the population.  Textiles I am assuming are extremely expensive as I am estimating they are getting 50 bikini bottoms from a square metre of cloth with nothing left for tops.

The beach itself is gravel and even more astounding is that people are lying directly on the gravel!  There are other nice sandy beaches in the area but the locals do not seem to mind the gravel.

At the end of the promenade we took the lift to the top of Castle Hill, the site of the original Greek town of Nice, and now a beautiful park with wonderful views of the Mediterranean and the city of Nice.  After that we strolled around the old town for a couple of hours and finished the day with dinner at "Le Safari" which specialises in regional dishes.