On the first morning in Nice, the two of our group who were PADI certified went scuba diving. The rest of us went exploring!
We took the metro to the area known as “old” Nice, looking for the Marché Aux Fleurs Cours Saleya. The stop where we got off was near this big beautiful library – we wanted to go inside to check it out, but it was closed for renovations.
We continued on our way, eventually finding ourselves winding through very narrow streets with steep stairways, which had both shops with storefronts and street vendors.
One shop we went into had everything lavender! Apparently the area of France near Nice is famous for its lavender fields.
We continued exploring by going up and out of the shopkeepers alleys via a walkway connected to an old church, and eventually found ourselves at the top of a cliff overlooking Nice and the Mediterranean.
Along the way we saw a sign saying something along the lines of “once a month this is an area with a loud siren noise happening at noon”…and today was the day it would happen, in about a half hour! We decided to plan our route around avoiding the area with the warning.
The views were spectacular! We stayed up top until we heard the siren, which we later found….
We continued our exploration, and found a very, very old graveyard with interesting statuary. Investigations revealed the biggest and most impressive piece was for Madame and Monsieur Francois Grosso and their two young children; the Grossos were extremely important figures in Nice in the late 1800s to early 1900s. In appreciation for that and for them donating all of their fortune to the city upon their deaths, the Nice city council in 1935 named a boulevard after Monsieur Grosso: boulevard François-Grosso
Next, our groups reconvened then split up again – the boys decided they wanted to ride wave runners in the Mediterranean, and the girls decided to explore further.
We headed out to the opposite side of Nice from where we were staying. We sat and relaxed, enjoying a drink and the gentle Mediterranean breeze. We also noted the beaches on this side were much busier than where our flat was!
Reenergized, we headed down the beach toward what I thought was an old hotel that made use of an older building to give it a unique look.
I wanted to head that way because from the streets in old Nice we’d looked up and saw a huge waterfall way up at the top of the hill. The girls also wanted to check the building out, and we discovered something really cool that combined what we were looking for – Lou Casteu (Castle Hill), dating back to the III century BC!
We made it there just in time to take an elevator up, which was about to close.
We explored all around, seeing architecture from various periods, breathtaking views from the top, AND the giant waterfall up close!
This is the view looking straight down from the top of the waterfall!
More exploration revealed the source of the siren that’s tested monthly. We never did find out specifically what warning it would deliver if set off on a different date/time.
We found more ruins and even what looked like might’ve been a Roman bath house with working fountains before water was diverted to the waterfall.
We saw cactus fruit growing, which we tried during this trip. It was pretty tasty.
That evening when discussing what type of food we wanted, we all said “French, of course!”
It turned out there was a Michelin star restaurant serving French food that was within walking distance of our flat. None of us had eaten at a Michelin star restaurant before! We all pieced together nice outfits from what we had and headed over.
The restaurant was called “Le Esclun.” It was staffed by only three people – the chef, the server, and who I think was the sous chef/expediter. The food was absolutely incredible!!
Au revoir, Nice! We loved our visit! Next stop – Rome.
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