After a long journey which started two days ago from Paris, it finally came to an end. No more driving on narrow mountain passes and no more listening to the GPS British lady yap away. We are finally at a destination that will allow us to kick back and enjoy.
Like many European cities where you have an old part of town and then you have the newer developed area. In Nice, we struck gold! After being in the burbs in both London and Paris, we rented a very modern apartment in the heart of Old Town Nice, AKA Vieux Nice.
The apartment building was down a very narrow street, with lots of character, a boulangerie, a Fenocchio (popular ice cream/sorbet shop), and a few local restaurants. Literally 30 seconds walk away is the market that sets up every morning for local produce, then in late afternoon it turns into a market for random items. Throughout the day, locals and tourists eat here as the restaurants line either side of the market, patios just filled with people enjoying the sun, wine and some amazing Italian and French cuisine.
Nice treated us with sun, nothing but sun.
Another great thing about where our rental apartment was located was that it was a 2 minute walk from the beach. The beaches here are rocky, but once you settle in, can be quite comfortable! What I definitely do enjoy about the beaches here is that once in the water, getting out to walk to your towel your feet are not covered in sand!
There were beach volleyball courts (guess they ship in the sand), bocci courts (is that what they are called?), bike lanes, side walk wide enough for runners and walkers, and of course, miles and miles of beach for you to enjoy!
I was very happy to see that there was the option of playing some beach volleyball as I am missing that very much from my weekly routine. There were two courts set up and I gathered enough courage by myself to approach the people to join in. There were some awesome players, some good players, and also just the few travellers jumping on for kicks! Great mix!
What was annoying were the "pros" that played there. I think they totally ripped me off too! When I approached one of the courts and asked to join in, one dude came and informed that it costs money to play. I paid the guy the 2 Euros he has requested and proceeded to join the game. We went for about 30 minutes of hit and miss volleyball. Afterwards, a Swedish guy and I were challenged by the "pros", a lady and a guy. Now I'm always up for a good challenge, but the guy that I was playing with could not set the ball if his life depended on it. Sooo long story short, we got killed 15-5.
The match was quite the workout and I would not recommend playing beach volleyball after chugging a beer, and playing against high calibre players! I was seriously going to barf.
Old Nice had countless small lanes and alleys lined with shops and restaurants. Every night, we ate out and had some great Italian cuisine. I thoroughly enjoy having dinner late and in a busy trafficless square. There's definitely a buzz, a nice feeling.
Tanning, without a doubt was definitely my goal for this stop. The surprising thing on our second day here was how comfortable it was to tan in 28 degrees. There was a consistent breeze from the east that kept me cool, but the sun was definitely still doing its thang!
Ahh, I think Nice might be worth a second visit on this adventure in November when we plan on making our way from Italy to Spain through the south coast of France.
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