The Coast of Blue (and Berlin too).
Jessi and I were both on spring break and had decided to go to Nice for a few days because I had found cheap flights (about 100Euros each). KH was busy with work, Katie just not interested. I don't remember how I found Hotel Villa la Tour http://www.villa-la-tour.com/hotel_in_nice.php but certainly checked it on http://tripadvisor.com/ .
Rose drove us to the airport because KH was in Brussels and as so often we got there too early especially since I had already printed out our boarding passes and selected seats online. This stuff all sure is easier than it used to be. The flight was maybe two hours and once we got there we took the bus into the center of Nice to the bus station. I had at least three set of directions to the hotel and after being disoriented for a minute or two we found it just about five minutes from the bus station as promised. This is a nice budget hotel in a convenient location. If you are looking for a beach vacation it is not the right place to be but March is too cold for swimming and with its proximity to the bus station it was a great choice for us. However, do NOT get the smallest room as it is miniscule and really too small for two. It would be o.k. for one person.
On Sunday night we wandered around the old city for a bit looking for a restaurant and ended up back at one close to our hotel since many were closed as it was Easter Sunday. The food was extremely so-so and my impression is that it is hard to find reasonably priced good food in Nice. The hotel had an extremely small roof terrace where I would sit out at night drinking wine while Jessi would watch TV in the room. Jutting essentially out of our building was the tower (tour) the hotel is named for and it was extremely impressive, big, ornate with a large functional clock on it.
The old town in Nice is narrow and windy and reminded me of parts of Naples, Prague and the Left Bank in Paris. I suspect these places were all built about the same time. When it is night and especially if rainy, these old towns can be creepy which was Rose's and my impression of Naples and somewhat my first impression of the old town in Nice. However, during sunny daytime the shops open and move part way out into the lanes they are bustleing with people and activity. I am thinking I would have a really different feeling about Naples if I saw more of it during the day.
My French isn't that good so I don't quite understand it but apparently the communities on the French Riviera are subsidizing bus travel to reduce the amount of cars used in the area which makes sense because it is congested and the roads are small and narrow. What this means is that at least from Nice everywhere else we went on the Riviera only cost a Euro which is about the deal of the century. The buses where comfortable, frequent and you didn't even need exact change!
Monday morning we took the bus to Monaco with the intent to get there by 11:55 a.m. in time to see the changing to the guard at the palace. Monaco is only about 18 kilometers from Nice so we got there pretty early and first stopped for breakfast in a bakery since we had left Nice without eating. (We had checked the bus times and one was about to leave so we hopped on.) You hike up steps to get up to the palace although buses apparently go up there as well. Since we still had some time to kill and I was mildly interested we went into the Napoleon museum that is set up in one end of the palace. It was interesting enough for a short look and wasn't expensive either four euros each, I think. The hightlight there was seeing two of his funny hats and also many pictures and a sculpture of him. When he was young he was actually pretty good looking.
The changing of the guard looked like it was a scaled down version of what they do in the summer. About 20 soldiers were involved in outfits that made them look something like toy soldiers to me. There were drums and horns and it was fun to see but I would not go way out of my way for it. After that we walked over to the Cathedral where Grace Kelly married Prince Rainer back in 1956 to much hoopla. She died in a car crash on one of those twisty roads in 1982 and pretty much everyone who visits the cathedral walks past her and her husband's tombs which are in the church. I, however, was most more thrilled to find a relic of a saint there as well. Located in a golded display case in ANOTHER golden display case was a pretty large bone piece from St. Devote who apparently is the patron saint of Monaco. Then we went onto what they call the Musee Oceanographic where is a really outstanding aquarium with a nautical museum above it. The aquarium is built directly on the Mediterranean and salt water is pumped in. There are recreated coral reefs with some of the most interesting fish I have ever seen. I haven't been to an aquarium in a long time but I thought this one was really great. The nautical museum had the first submarine ever made which they claimed had been used in the American Revolutionary War. There was a large but of course not to size model of the Santa Maria and lots of fish and whale bones. The aquarium was more interesting but together this is definitely a place worth seeing. There is also a nice open air cafe with lovely views on the roof where we stopped for a break and watched the people behind us feed french fries to a seagull, perhaps not the best thing for the bird.
We wandered back down from the rock trying to figure out how to get to the Jardin Exotique. We eventually figured out we had to take a bus and the bus across town in Monaco was 30 Euro cents more than the one all the way from Nice. This is a very cool succulent/cacti garden built into the rocks overlooking Monaco. There are giant examples of all different plants and at the bottom there is a "grotto" or interesting cave you can explore with 300 steps down and then again back up of course so good shoes are necessary. This was also worth doing. Theoretically, they have tours down into the cave but they just let us wander down there and back ourselves although they made us wait almost an hour to do so.
Catching the bus back to Nice was a bit confusing but we managed. That night we ate at an o.k. place we found in one of our guide books and I had Salad Nicoise just because we were there and it was fine if not spectacular. We talked a bit to a couple next to us as we were sitting crammed together anyway. They were French and she was a local lawyer and he was her client and a businessman from Paris. We spoke English, naturally, but it was nice to talk to some locals. I spent the latter part of the evening out on the tiny roof terrace drinking wine and watching some seagulls I am convinced had some green lights on them. No, I only had a little wine.
Tuesday we took the bus to Grasse which was about an hour ride away because Jessi was interested as they had read the book "Perfume" in school and it was set in that town. We went to the Frangonard factory museum and they told us a bit about how perfume is made. Of course, at the end of the tour you are dumped into the perfume shop and the guide tries and sells you perfume. Actually, they had wonderful perfume for reasonable prices but we weren't buying. We found out the next day that you can see about the same think at another Fragonard factory in Eze which is much closer. In any case, it was interesting to travel through the countryside and we had a look at a small mueum with provincial clothing as well.
That night a restaurant recommended in both our guide books finally opened again. This restaurant is NOT open on the weekends. It is called Acchiardo and is in the old town not far from our hotel. We went in before 8 p.m. and the place was already packed. We got the last table available without reservations. The food was reasonably priced and good. I had something they called scorpion fish on the English menu and I think I may have seen them in the Monaco aquarium the day before! I don't recall ever having had a scorpion fish before. We made reservations for the next night as well since it was the best place we had been to so far and getting in seemed to be an issue. Every restaurant we went to in Nice had tables jammed in next to each other. Jessi said you could have eaten off your neighbor's plate.
After dinner we bought ice cream from a place called Funnocio or something similar. They offered more ice cream flavors (more than 80) than I have ever seen and several of them (olive, tomato) I assume only for novelty purposes.
Wednesday we took the bus (again, only 1 Euro!) about 25 minutes to a town up on a cliff called Eze. I had emailed and made a reservation for a guided tour of the old town with the tourist information office. The tour was going to cost us each six euros but included the entrance to the exotic garden (apparently popular in these parts) which would have been five euros anyway. We really had no idea what to expect. We got there well before our 1 p.m. appointment and stopped by the tourist office to check on things. We told the guy there that we had the appointment and he said he was the guy I had emailed with, Monsieur Patrick Le Tiec, and would give us our tour once he co-worker showed up at 1 p.m. So in the meantime we went on another Fragonard tour and at this facility there actually seemed to be people doing some work. Once again, at the end of the English tour given by an Asian woman in so-so English we were again in the store smelling perfume and we were again not buying despite the temptation. After the perfume tour we stopped for a snack at a little outdoor snack bar (the weather was lovely the whole time we were there) and then went back to the Tourist Information office. Good to his work, Monsieur Le Tiec was ready to give us a walking tour of the old city for 12 Euros for the two of us. We wandered all over the small town or fortress for about an hour with him and it was definitely worth it since the garden at the top would have cost five euros each anyway. Sometimes we had problems understanding his French accent but overall it was fun. He pointed out things we wouldn't have been able to discover ourselves like a house used in Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief". The old town of Eze is essentially a tourist attraction and he also told us only about 15 people actually live there now. At the end of the tour I gave him a five euro tip. What the hell. After the tour we went back up to the very top where the castle was originally. There is a cactus garden somewhat like the one in Monaco but with even better views. They also had built some wooden lounge chairs for people to relax in and it was lovely to sit there for a bit and look out at the Mediterranean. Actually, spectacular.
After our bus ride back to Nice, we ate at Acchiardo again and talked to some Germans sitting right next to us. They had been in Nice before in the summer and really recommended against it as it was too hot. The food was pretty good again although not excellent but was a good value as was the house wine. I spent the evening out on the roof terrace again enjoying the tower and our last night.
We were leaving Thursday evening so had decided to stay in Nice that day to make sure we didn't miss the plane. So we asked at the hotel and they told us how to get up to the Chagall museum again by bus. We also went to the Matisse museum as well but decided that would be too much. The Chagall museum was nice providing you like Chagall which I do but relatively small. We also went to the market that day and had some fresh socca which is a pancake they make with ground up chick peas which is better than it sounds. We sat on a bench near the stoney beach for awhile just enjoying the fun and had lunch outside at a wine "cave" across the street from the hotel. I had pasta (keep in mind this area once belonged to whatever preceeded Italy and Italy is just down the road) and Jessi had what looked like goat cheese melted on toast. It never would have occured to me to melt goat cheese but have since tried it here and it is great.
I thought the bus system down there was great and would not want to try and drive around there myself. Not only driving but parking also would be difficult. There are supposed to be some sandy beaches in the area but we didn't see them. Of course, we didn't look either. I read that Cannes has a sandy beach and a friend mentioned Menton. The beach at Nice is not particularly nice; it is relatively small and rocky.
In general, I think it is a lovely area and it is yet another place I would be happy to visit again. I would not go in summer because of the heat and crowds both of which drive me crazy. There was a hotel around the corner from where we stayed called the Hotel Picardy or Hotel Au Picardy which apparently is cheaper than the place we stayed and I might try that next time.
Two days after I got back from Nice I took the train up to see NK in Berlin. Normally I would have liked more time between trips but that is when she was there from Minnesota and I was on break. We stayed in the same place we stayed in before the Berolina Hostel in Charlottenberg which is REALLY basic with bathrooms in the hallway but is safe, clean and in a great location so we'll probably stay there again.
We went to the Berlin Philharmonic and heard some really modern pieces which I completely enjoyed but like Rose says, you have to be there. I suspect if you heard them recorded they would just sound odd.
Rose drove us to the airport because KH was in Brussels and as so often we got there too early especially since I had already printed out our boarding passes and selected seats online. This stuff all sure is easier than it used to be. The flight was maybe two hours and once we got there we took the bus into the center of Nice to the bus station. I had at least three set of directions to the hotel and after being disoriented for a minute or two we found it just about five minutes from the bus station as promised. This is a nice budget hotel in a convenient location. If you are looking for a beach vacation it is not the right place to be but March is too cold for swimming and with its proximity to the bus station it was a great choice for us. However, do NOT get the smallest room as it is miniscule and really too small for two. It would be o.k. for one person.
On Sunday night we wandered around the old city for a bit looking for a restaurant and ended up back at one close to our hotel since many were closed as it was Easter Sunday. The food was extremely so-so and my impression is that it is hard to find reasonably priced good food in Nice. The hotel had an extremely small roof terrace where I would sit out at night drinking wine while Jessi would watch TV in the room. Jutting essentially out of our building was the tower (tour) the hotel is named for and it was extremely impressive, big, ornate with a large functional clock on it.
The old town in Nice is narrow and windy and reminded me of parts of Naples, Prague and the Left Bank in Paris. I suspect these places were all built about the same time. When it is night and especially if rainy, these old towns can be creepy which was Rose's and my impression of Naples and somewhat my first impression of the old town in Nice. However, during sunny daytime the shops open and move part way out into the lanes they are bustleing with people and activity. I am thinking I would have a really different feeling about Naples if I saw more of it during the day.
My French isn't that good so I don't quite understand it but apparently the communities on the French Riviera are subsidizing bus travel to reduce the amount of cars used in the area which makes sense because it is congested and the roads are small and narrow. What this means is that at least from Nice everywhere else we went on the Riviera only cost a Euro which is about the deal of the century. The buses where comfortable, frequent and you didn't even need exact change!
Monday morning we took the bus to Monaco with the intent to get there by 11:55 a.m. in time to see the changing to the guard at the palace. Monaco is only about 18 kilometers from Nice so we got there pretty early and first stopped for breakfast in a bakery since we had left Nice without eating. (We had checked the bus times and one was about to leave so we hopped on.) You hike up steps to get up to the palace although buses apparently go up there as well. Since we still had some time to kill and I was mildly interested we went into the Napoleon museum that is set up in one end of the palace. It was interesting enough for a short look and wasn't expensive either four euros each, I think. The hightlight there was seeing two of his funny hats and also many pictures and a sculpture of him. When he was young he was actually pretty good looking.
The changing of the guard looked like it was a scaled down version of what they do in the summer. About 20 soldiers were involved in outfits that made them look something like toy soldiers to me. There were drums and horns and it was fun to see but I would not go way out of my way for it. After that we walked over to the Cathedral where Grace Kelly married Prince Rainer back in 1956 to much hoopla. She died in a car crash on one of those twisty roads in 1982 and pretty much everyone who visits the cathedral walks past her and her husband's tombs which are in the church. I, however, was most more thrilled to find a relic of a saint there as well. Located in a golded display case in ANOTHER golden display case was a pretty large bone piece from St. Devote who apparently is the patron saint of Monaco. Then we went onto what they call the Musee Oceanographic where is a really outstanding aquarium with a nautical museum above it. The aquarium is built directly on the Mediterranean and salt water is pumped in. There are recreated coral reefs with some of the most interesting fish I have ever seen. I haven't been to an aquarium in a long time but I thought this one was really great. The nautical museum had the first submarine ever made which they claimed had been used in the American Revolutionary War. There was a large but of course not to size model of the Santa Maria and lots of fish and whale bones. The aquarium was more interesting but together this is definitely a place worth seeing. There is also a nice open air cafe with lovely views on the roof where we stopped for a break and watched the people behind us feed french fries to a seagull, perhaps not the best thing for the bird.
We wandered back down from the rock trying to figure out how to get to the Jardin Exotique. We eventually figured out we had to take a bus and the bus across town in Monaco was 30 Euro cents more than the one all the way from Nice. This is a very cool succulent/cacti garden built into the rocks overlooking Monaco. There are giant examples of all different plants and at the bottom there is a "grotto" or interesting cave you can explore with 300 steps down and then again back up of course so good shoes are necessary. This was also worth doing. Theoretically, they have tours down into the cave but they just let us wander down there and back ourselves although they made us wait almost an hour to do so.
Catching the bus back to Nice was a bit confusing but we managed. That night we ate at an o.k. place we found in one of our guide books and I had Salad Nicoise just because we were there and it was fine if not spectacular. We talked a bit to a couple next to us as we were sitting crammed together anyway. They were French and she was a local lawyer and he was her client and a businessman from Paris. We spoke English, naturally, but it was nice to talk to some locals. I spent the latter part of the evening out on the tiny roof terrace drinking wine and watching some seagulls I am convinced had some green lights on them. No, I only had a little wine.
Tuesday we took the bus to Grasse which was about an hour ride away because Jessi was interested as they had read the book "Perfume" in school and it was set in that town. We went to the Frangonard factory museum and they told us a bit about how perfume is made. Of course, at the end of the tour you are dumped into the perfume shop and the guide tries and sells you perfume. Actually, they had wonderful perfume for reasonable prices but we weren't buying. We found out the next day that you can see about the same think at another Fragonard factory in Eze which is much closer. In any case, it was interesting to travel through the countryside and we had a look at a small mueum with provincial clothing as well.
That night a restaurant recommended in both our guide books finally opened again. This restaurant is NOT open on the weekends. It is called Acchiardo and is in the old town not far from our hotel. We went in before 8 p.m. and the place was already packed. We got the last table available without reservations. The food was reasonably priced and good. I had something they called scorpion fish on the English menu and I think I may have seen them in the Monaco aquarium the day before! I don't recall ever having had a scorpion fish before. We made reservations for the next night as well since it was the best place we had been to so far and getting in seemed to be an issue. Every restaurant we went to in Nice had tables jammed in next to each other. Jessi said you could have eaten off your neighbor's plate.
After dinner we bought ice cream from a place called Funnocio or something similar. They offered more ice cream flavors (more than 80) than I have ever seen and several of them (olive, tomato) I assume only for novelty purposes.
Wednesday we took the bus (again, only 1 Euro!) about 25 minutes to a town up on a cliff called Eze. I had emailed and made a reservation for a guided tour of the old town with the tourist information office. The tour was going to cost us each six euros but included the entrance to the exotic garden (apparently popular in these parts) which would have been five euros anyway. We really had no idea what to expect. We got there well before our 1 p.m. appointment and stopped by the tourist office to check on things. We told the guy there that we had the appointment and he said he was the guy I had emailed with, Monsieur Patrick Le Tiec, and would give us our tour once he co-worker showed up at 1 p.m. So in the meantime we went on another Fragonard tour and at this facility there actually seemed to be people doing some work. Once again, at the end of the English tour given by an Asian woman in so-so English we were again in the store smelling perfume and we were again not buying despite the temptation. After the perfume tour we stopped for a snack at a little outdoor snack bar (the weather was lovely the whole time we were there) and then went back to the Tourist Information office. Good to his work, Monsieur Le Tiec was ready to give us a walking tour of the old city for 12 Euros for the two of us. We wandered all over the small town or fortress for about an hour with him and it was definitely worth it since the garden at the top would have cost five euros each anyway. Sometimes we had problems understanding his French accent but overall it was fun. He pointed out things we wouldn't have been able to discover ourselves like a house used in Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief". The old town of Eze is essentially a tourist attraction and he also told us only about 15 people actually live there now. At the end of the tour I gave him a five euro tip. What the hell. After the tour we went back up to the very top where the castle was originally. There is a cactus garden somewhat like the one in Monaco but with even better views. They also had built some wooden lounge chairs for people to relax in and it was lovely to sit there for a bit and look out at the Mediterranean. Actually, spectacular.
After our bus ride back to Nice, we ate at Acchiardo again and talked to some Germans sitting right next to us. They had been in Nice before in the summer and really recommended against it as it was too hot. The food was pretty good again although not excellent but was a good value as was the house wine. I spent the evening out on the roof terrace again enjoying the tower and our last night.
We were leaving Thursday evening so had decided to stay in Nice that day to make sure we didn't miss the plane. So we asked at the hotel and they told us how to get up to the Chagall museum again by bus. We also went to the Matisse museum as well but decided that would be too much. The Chagall museum was nice providing you like Chagall which I do but relatively small. We also went to the market that day and had some fresh socca which is a pancake they make with ground up chick peas which is better than it sounds. We sat on a bench near the stoney beach for awhile just enjoying the fun and had lunch outside at a wine "cave" across the street from the hotel. I had pasta (keep in mind this area once belonged to whatever preceeded Italy and Italy is just down the road) and Jessi had what looked like goat cheese melted on toast. It never would have occured to me to melt goat cheese but have since tried it here and it is great.
I thought the bus system down there was great and would not want to try and drive around there myself. Not only driving but parking also would be difficult. There are supposed to be some sandy beaches in the area but we didn't see them. Of course, we didn't look either. I read that Cannes has a sandy beach and a friend mentioned Menton. The beach at Nice is not particularly nice; it is relatively small and rocky.
In general, I think it is a lovely area and it is yet another place I would be happy to visit again. I would not go in summer because of the heat and crowds both of which drive me crazy. There was a hotel around the corner from where we stayed called the Hotel Picardy or Hotel Au Picardy which apparently is cheaper than the place we stayed and I might try that next time.
Two days after I got back from Nice I took the train up to see NK in Berlin. Normally I would have liked more time between trips but that is when she was there from Minnesota and I was on break. We stayed in the same place we stayed in before the Berolina Hostel in Charlottenberg which is REALLY basic with bathrooms in the hallway but is safe, clean and in a great location so we'll probably stay there again.
We went to the Berlin Philharmonic and heard some really modern pieces which I completely enjoyed but like Rose says, you have to be there. I suspect if you heard them recorded they would just sound odd.
posted by Terry at 8:34 AM
