Nice, France

The eastern end of Plage Promenade des Anglais (English Promenade Beach) under Parc de la Colline du Chateau (Castle Hill Park) with a car-passenger ferry heading for Sardinia or Corsica; Nice, France

 

Inspiration for artists and writers, playground for European royalty since Victorian times, Nice, remains the charming capital of the French Riviera.  The Promenade des Anglais runs for several kilometers along the beachfront (and was the scene of the horrific truck terrorist attack earlier in the summer of 2016; there are flower memorials that are poignant reminders of that event).  It is lined with hotels and restaurants and shops.  The city is home to several excellent small art museums – the Chagall Musuem [see an upcoming post], the Museee Matisse and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. From Nice we explored the Cap Ferrat peninsula [see an upcoming post] and Mougins (where Picasso and other artists lived in the foothills above Nice) [see an upcoming post] and Grasse (the capital of French perfume) [see an upcoming post].

 

Sun bathing on Plage Promenade des Anglais (English Promenade Beach) – note that the composition of the beach is pebbles and stones, not sand; Nice, France

 

The Promenade along the waterfront (Mediterranean Sea) is full of public and private boardwalks that access the “beach” (pebbles and stones, not sand), Nice, France

 

The main waterfront street, Promenade de Anglais, is lined with hotels, Nice, France

 

Hotel Cresp (on the left) and its neighbor building are typical of the French-style architecture (with wrought iron balconies), Nice, France

 

Palais de Justice (Court House), Nice, France

 

Fresh, local olive oil for sale at one of the leading vendors, A L‘Olivier, on the Promenade des Anglais, overlooking the waterfront, Nice, France

 

The ultra-modern Biblioteque (library) in Nice, France