Nice. Really nice Nice.

After what feels like eternity, I went for a holiday abroad. Mum and I escaped to Nice for a weekend for no real reason.

And what was the best part? Being in France. Just being there, seeing all the signs in French, listening to the tram announcements in French and picking up odd sentences here and there.

I was supposed to practice my very limited French skills, but it was surprisingly difficult to get to speak the language. People tend to say that the French don’t want to speak English, but every one I tried to speak French to switched immediately to English. Am I that bad? I suppose it didn’t help that my mum was trying to speak Italian to them at the same time….

Bongiorno, si si, molto bene

No, wrong language!

We stayed in Nice for four days including the travel days. I don’t want to pretend to be a guide book and won’t give detailed explanation but I do want to show you some pictures. So I’ll tell you what I enjoyed the most.

Walking up and down the streets

We walked a lot: 10-25km par day. Nice is a lovely city because it is so accessible for pedestrians. It is easy to get around. The Promenade des Anglais is a great place for a stroll although the beach beside it would not be my first choice for a swimming spot. On the last morning I went for a little run up and down the promenade and it seemed like the most natural thing to do. Here and there Sunday morning runners gilded down the promenade in an orderly fashion. Brilliant!

Historic spots in and around

One day we took a train to a nearby medieval town called Eze. We spent a little while in the lovey town and walked back to Nice following the coast. The town itself doesn’t offer entertainment for many hours, but with the 20km walk, it became a good excursion (so good that I’ll write more about it later).

The city has historic parts as welll of course. Colline du Château, Castle Hill, is refreshingly lush little islet above the city. Walking around the park offers a wee escape from the asphalt streets. The view to the city is gorgeous. And the Vieille Ville, old town, on the foot of the hill is exactly what you’d expect from an old mediterranean city with narrow streets and little shops.

Art by Chagall and Matisse

Nice is great for museums. We visited the Musée National Marc Chagall, which I enjoyed immensely (I’ll write a separate post about it). We also checked out the Musée Matisse, which is a bit bigger and a bit more odd. I sort of like his paper cuttings but at the same time they just remind me of the scissor art I’ve done with elementary school kids in art classes.

Vegan food probelms

Lastly, I want to mention food. It was rather difficult to find vegan food in Nice. In Finland (and in the UK) it is pretty odd if a cafe or restaurant doesn’t have plant based milk available for coffee, but in Nice it was not to be expected. Our hotel, Sonder at Yelo, was great and offered some vegan breakfast items – but I don’t know if they would have done that if we had not asked about it beforehand. We did findd some veggie places after some searching. Here are a few good restaurants with vegan options: a rather popular Vietnamese restaurant Nha Que, a simple and super friendly mediterranean place Alounak and an old town bistro Tote et Mamie Charlotte, which has a good tapas plate.