Last night we decided to walk around Nice and get our bearings and we found a new way home from the main shopping street of Avenue Jean Medecin. On our way home we passed by the Nice train station and wandered down Paganini Street which was full of ethnic restaurants that we want to try out another night.
Just down from our VRBO we passed by a lovely little owner operated Italian restaurant called ‘Piccolo Mondo’ which looked quite charming inside, so after dropping our shopping bags back at the condo, we walked back to the restaurant for dinner.
Piccolo Mondo, Nice, France. Just look at the way the table is set. The napkin and knife and fork are offset to the placemat. A neat approach to setting a table!
We shared a Caesar salad with chicken, not knowing that the Caesar salad came with chicken! Richard had the fresh carbonara pasta with bacon made in the actual Parmesan wheel and I had pesto with fresh pasta. The food was delightful and the service and ambiance was wonderful too! We would highly recommend this owner operated husband and wife run restaurant in Nice! And we got a take out box for most of my pasta because there was way too much for one person!
This morning we were out of our VRBO condo on Rue Alphonse Karr by 10am. We slept in a bit today because we frankly didn’t have a good night’s sleep on the plane in Delta Comfort+ and we were both pretty zonked last night by the end of our dinner at Piccolo Mondo.
We had a big walking day planned as we headed out on Rue Alphonse Karr in the opposite direction from where we walked yesterday. We knew that if the Nice train station was on our left leaving the condo, the Mediterranean Sea would be on our right. We turned right to start our day.
.As we walked along Rue Alphonse Karr, we noticed that there were quite a few high end boutiques on our street and as we crossed the street we saw that there was a very quaint pedestrian street which was leading us towards the Sea.
Rue Paradis, Nice in the background which we discovered had both the Chanel and Louis Vuitton stores located on it.
I had looked at Google maps last evening and planned out our route for the day. I bought an eSIM for this trip as I am usually the navigator and not having access to an inexpensive Canadian phone plan made the decision easy to spend the 39 euros to purchase the eSIM for the time we were going to be away. I tried to do the navigation from memory though this morning, rather than using my phone since I was also carrying my Fuji XT4 now for today’s photos, and having one less device handy to look at meant “NO tripping hazards!” Or falling off a curb looking at my phone instead of where I was supposed to be going!
Fontaine du Soleil, Nice France
We realized as we got to the Fontaine due Soleil or Sun Fountain in Place Massena that we had been here before on our last trip to Nice, with our friends Doug and Heather when we did a Uniworld River Cruise.
The Sun Fountain constructed by Alfred Janniot, was unveiled in 1956 and the people of Nice were not impressed. Apollo, (represented here), in mythology is supposed to carry the sun across the sky every day in his chariot pulled by 4 horses. This statue of Apollo has no horses but there are 4 horses on the top of his head which form a crown. The people of nice claimed that Apollo looked like an advertisement for the Renault 4CV car, known as the “4 horsepower” car. So the magnificent Greek deity was saddled with the nickname “the 4 horsepower statue”. On top of the issue of missing his chariot, Apollo was a bit too well endowed in his ‘manhood’ so the sculptor took a hammer and chisel to his creation to reduce the size of the offending member. Now instead of being called “4 horsepower” the statue was called “the virgin”. For awhile Apollo was banished to stand near a sports stadium where he would offend less women. He actually stayed there for 30 years and in 2011, Apollo was reinstated back to Place Massena. We sure wouldn’t have known that history just looking at the statue!
Flowers in the market Nice.
We actually bought one of these olive oil dispensers for our Florida home
Nope. Not buying the local sardines or foie gras!
It is nice to see orange trees again!
The market was a busy spot today but not too crowded we couldn’t get around
More flowers in the market today.
If you’ve followed the blog before you know that I love to visit markets. In fact our last Viking River Cruise we visited Christmas markets all over Austria and Germany. Today’s market visit was to Cours Saleya in the heart of Nice Old Town. Cours Saleya originated in Nice in the 1700’s and had seen its ups and downs over the centuries until the 1980’s when the market was opened back up as a pedestrian market. The market is known as MARCHE aux Fleurs or Flower Market but it sells fruits, vegetables, cured meats, cheeses, locally made jams, olive oils, spices, honey and soaps. On Mondays the market transforms into an antique/vintage market when the regular vendors have a day off.
Richard has a friend called Agnes who gave Richard a list of things we had to see and do while in Nice, the French Riviera and Alsace. One of those things we had to do was at the market today.
We had to try Socca!
I’m sure if you’ve never been to Nice before, you’ve never heard of Socca. We had never heard of it either.
For 3 euros we got a slice of Socca from Chez Theresa which was established in 1925!
The actual Chez Theresa restaurant is a few streets over from the Cours Saleya and this enterprising young man rides the covered, steaming hot trays of Socca over by bicycle from the restaurant to this stand in the market. People pay 3 euros and then wait on the other side of the stand for the Socca to show up. When we first arrived at the stand there was no Socca so we kept walking. After about 10 minutes I saw the guy on the bicycle with the Socca on the front so I said to Richard “Hey, thats the Theresa’s Socca guy, let’s follow him back to the Socca stall!” And its a good thing we did follow him, because we were lucky enough to get a slice of the second pan of Socca that he brought.
So what is Socca? A chick pea pancake! So it’s gluten free too!
Socca recipe:
250 grams of chickpea flour
1/2 litre of water
6 large spoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper t o task.
Mix the chickpea flour with cold water in a bowl and don’t leave any lumps. Add 4 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Let the mixture rest for 30 minutes. Head the oven to 220-230C. Grease a pan with olive oil and put it in the oven to get hot. After a few minutes take the pan out and pour in the batter. Bake for 5-10 minutes. Once you see toasted edges and a shiny golden crust the Socca is ready. You can also prepare Socca in a cast iron pan and cook it on the stove until the edges are browned for 5-10 minutes.
We really enjoyed the Socca in the market from Chez Theresa’s. I think some of the pancake could have been cooked a bit longer, but it was still quite tasty and a nice snack to keep us going on our busy walking day in Nice.
We walked along the Promenade Des Anglais which is the beachfront area of Nice, France until we saw the #I Love NICE sign.
Renault is introducing their new Renault 5 vehicle so they had the car on display at the #I Love NICE sign.
We had seen the new Renault 5 earlier in the day outside a hotel on the Promenade Des Anglais where we learned they were staged for a press ride and drive. Richard felt like he needed to get his clipboard out and start Trip Directing the event!
I told Richard that we were going to walk up a lot of stairs today to get incredible views of Nice. Our destination was ‘Colline du Chateau’ or ‘Castle Hill’, but no matter how hard we looked there was no way we were going to see a castle today.
Ruins of the castle on Castle Hill, Nice.
More ruins on Castle Hill., Nice.
And more ruins on Castle Hill, Nice.
The first settlement of Nice was on Castle Hill so I presume this could be one of those settlement buildings.
Apparently there has not been a castle on the hill for over 300 years, but the hill is still referred to as la Coliline due Chateau. The hill separates Old Nice from the Port and there are 3 ways to get to the top of the hill: Take a small train, take the elevator, or in our case walk up a ton of steps!
The views from Castle Hill were outstanding overlooking Nice and the Mediterranean Sea. We could see there was weather in the distance and we knew it was going to storm in the near future, so it was time to take our photos and get going!
Yacht Club de Nice from Castle Hill
Nice Harbour from Castle Hill
Cascade Dijon in Castle Hill Park. Built in 1885, this artificial waterfall is pretty spectacular nonetheless. I love this photo! The Fuji XT-4 does such a good job of freezing the water without a ND (neutral density)filter.
The ‘Petit train’ tickets cost 10 euros to take the train up to Castle Hill. I’m glad we walked to and from Castle Hill because the folks on the train missed some sights that we saw on the walk back down.
I had read that the Cimitiere du Chateau or Chateau cemetery on Castle Hill in Nice was one of the most beautiful cemeteries in France and a great place to wander, so as we walked down the from Castle Hill, with the Petit Train passing us, we decided to stop and visit the cemetery.
First though, a bit of a lesson on Nice history. Nice only became a part of France in 1860. Before that and since 1388 it had been a city that was part of the Country of Savoy, which was ruled by a Duke in Torino. During WW2, in 1942, Nice fell under the jurisdiction of the Italians being occupied by the Royal Italian Army. Nice’s citizens were asked to hand over Jews to the Germans for deportation and they refused. Many Jewish citizens fled to Nice from other areas of France and Europe and it is thought that in August 1943, 25% of the City of Nice was Jewish. In September 1943 a infamous German commander came tO Nice. The reaction of the citizens of Nice to his plan to target Jews was that the citizens of Nice hid Jews and their children especially with false identity cards. A monument to those Citizens of Nice who helped the Jews during WW2 in Nice was erected in January 2014.
Monument to “Justes parmi les Nations” or “Righteous among the Nations” Monument to the citizens of Nice who assisted Jewish families during WW2
Before entering the Jewish cemetery (which is separate from the Chateau Cemetery in Nice, a memorial wall has been constructed with the surnames of the 3,602 Jewish victims whose were deported from Nice’s two railway stations. It was very moving to see the names in alphabetical order on this monument.
Gates to the Jewish Cemetery, Nice.
Upon entering the Jewish cemetery in Nice stands a cenotaph with two urns. The first urn contains ashes from the gas chambers and crematoria of Auschwitz. The second contains soap made from human fat by the Nazis. Horrifying, just horrifying.
Jewish cemetery, Nice.
Jewish cemetery, Nice.
We walked a bit further down the hill to the Chateau cemetery and by now it had started to rain. We had one umbrella between us and I had a wool rain hat, so I dug it out of Richard’s knapsack while he used the umbrella.
Chateau Cemetery, Nice, France
Chateau Cemetery, Nice, France
Chateau Cemetery, Nice, France
We walked down from Castle Hill a different way than we had walked up Castle Hill. I’m a firm believer in not taking the same path twice or ‘getting lost’ in a city to explore without a destination, and that is what we were doing coming down from Castle Hill.
Eventually when we did reach Nice Old Town I did punch into Google maps our next destination.
Elise Saint-Jacques-le Majeur, Nice, France
This Jesuit church was constructed in the 17th century in the Baroque style and is very ornately decorated with mosaics, statues and stucco walls.
Of course Richard lit a candle for his father and for friends we’ve lost recently too.
Richard sat and said a prayer and then we went looking for the bar!
Really! We went looking for the bar in the church. Apparently this church established a bar in its back courtyard accessed via a corridor inside the church, to raise funds for and increase awareness of this beautiful church! The bar is only open though from the spring to fall equinox, so we just missed being able to light a candle, say a prayer and go for a cocktail!
We were getting pretty hungry again and next to the church was an Indian Lounge restaurant that looked pretty neat. They had booths in a back alley which were all decorated with lights and fabric, so we decided to see if we could get a booth in the alley for lunch.
Indian Lounge restaurant in Nice Old Town
Folding up the umbrella during lunch in our booth.
We ordered the lunch specials of the day and a side of garlic Naan bread. The tandoori chicken was amazing! One of the shockers though was the price of a bottle of Evian water was 7.50 euros! Our mains were only 13.50 and 15 euros by comparison!
Richard’s meal came with a dessert so we chose “Barfi” which was a pistachio based sweet. It was quite delicious and we really enjoyed barfi!
When we left the Indian Lounge restaurant we wandered through Nice Old Town with no plans; enjoying the meandering streets and looking at the various small shops and their wares. We were able to buy Richard a ‘euro scarf’ as he likes to call his scarves that he wears in Europe!
This narrow building reminded me of the Gridiron building in downtown Toronto!
Gridiron building Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (I shot this photo in January 2020 right before Covid shut everything down when I was taking my first photography classes with my Canon beginner camera).
Richard modelling his new scarf. It has so many colours he can show various sides of it depending on how he ties it.
We spent the rest of the day trying to avoid the heavy downpour of rain, spending quite a bit of time exploring Galeries Lafayette and picking up some groceries at Monoprix to eat dinner at home instead of venturing out on a rainy night.
My rain hat is wool and water proof. It has been a live saver on many trips!
Mashed potatoes, French green beans, pot roast with gravy, salad with home made vinaigrette. I’m not sure why Richard wasn’t smiling but the meal was delicious! Not bad getting the food cooked and hot on the table considering we have a one burner hot plate and an oven/microwave. Richard washed his meal down with a glass of rose from Provence of course!
We had quite the 1st full day in Nice exploring and our ‘dogs are barking’ as Richard likes to say (he means our feet hurt!). It would have been nice to find that bar in the gothic church today in Nice, but we saw so many other neat things that I think we did ok for Day 1!
Richard is glued to You Tube watching a guy who is commentating from Florida on Hurricane Milton. The hurricane is yet to make landfall in Florida but there have been so many tornadoes touching down in Florida in advance of the hurricane. This definitely appears to be “The Storm of the Century” and we are praying our house and our neighbours and friends homes will be spared. I trust everyone stays safe in Plant City and Lakeland and the rest of Florida as they ride out this horrific storm.
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