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This ancient trading city on the Bay of Angels boasts its own Nissart language, still spoken by many. Not to mention its own Nicois cuisine. Ratatouille, to pick a dish at random, and the eponymous salad Nicois with fava beans and anchovy fillets, were both invented here. So were scores of other dishes. The culinary range and scope of an entire Mediterranean nation is concentrated in a single city, which boasts three 3-star Michelin restaurants. So far, Nice has come as a bit of surprise to me. Perhaps this is because the picture I had in my mind was heavily tinted by a confusing mix of conventional wisdom and myth. Princes built palaces in Nice in the nineteenth century. The rich and famous came here in droves to take the sea air, to cavort in yachts, to gamble in the Nice casinos and stay in its fabulous hotels. Nice is a luxury resort, is it not? A playground of the rich? a millionaire’s paradise? One by one I am deleting my preconceptions, or altering them drastically. Yes Nice was, and to some extent still is all of those things, but it is much more besides. Nice is dynamic, a place of continual change. As a city, it is not backward in moving forward. If its image is staid, perhaps this is because the immensity of its fame overshadows the radical changes that have been going on there. Is Nice stuffy? Just look at its café life, its modern art and futuristic architecture. Is Nice predominantly elderly? Hardly, half its population is aged under 40, and 35,000 students are enrolled here. Is Nice expensive? Not where I am staying. Anyone can find their niche in Nice, a city which retains the best of the past and seizes the opportunities of the future. My chosen niche is in the Old Town, Vieux Nice, ten short steps from Cave de la Tour, at Villa de la Tour, a boutique “Hotel de Charme” converted from an 18th-century convent. The old convent clock tower, quite a landmark above the Old Town skyline, is the tower that puts the “de la Tour” into all the names of this locale. I am thrilled: Villa de la Tour is not only exceptional but inexpensive, too. Created with an artist’s eye, it comprises a thoughtful collection of 16 beautifully crafted, well-equipped individual rooms. The staff are friendly, the service is efficient and unobtrusive, and this is the only hotel actually situated in the old town. Between the two of them, the sublime Villa and the wonderful Cave form the centre of my universe for a few short days. From here I can sit and watch the world in slow orbit around me, or I can stroll out on short expeditions to the several different varieties of Nice that exist in close proximity. There is the Old Town, the New Town, the breezy seafront and the aristocratic hill of Cimiez with its Belle Epoque mansions. Within a five
minute walk I can inhale the frangrances of the flower market on Marché
aux Fleurs, or the briny aromas of the fish market whose shaky stalls appear
each morning on Place Saint-François. Linked by winding alleyways
and squeezed between high walls of flaking ochre decorated with shuttered
windows and washing hung out to dry, the dense, intense quarters of Vieux
Nice are transformed during the hours of darkness into streams of light
flowing between the dark tenements. The whole area becomes an exotic, stylish
kasbah, the illuminated shops spilling into the alleyways, the air filled
with the aroma of herbs, coffee, chocolate, truffles, soaps, olives, oils
and the dozens of other specialities on sale. I continue my amble along
Rue Droite, packed end-to-end with avant-garde art galleries, to linger
over a beer at Les Distilleries Ideales, a youthful corner pub with chairs
outside. The décor within is a quirky cocktail of Art Nouveau, Wacky
Races and madcap gizmos. Restaurants and bars are so numerous and varied
that anyone can dine well here, be they a student or a celebrity.
A beach almost five miles long marks the southern limit of the city, fringed by the long sweep of the Promenade des Anglais. A broad boulevard shaded by palms and romantically lamp lit at night, it takes its name from the Englishman who financed its creation in the 19th century – the Reverend Lewis Way. A pendant suspended between the city and the sea, the Promenade des Anglais is still the classic stroll, and the Hotel Negresco remains the jewel in the chain. Stuffed with fine art and serviced by staff in Louis XIV livery, the regal whiff of aristocracy still lingers here. Outside on the seafront though, where royals and writers, artists and statesmen once jostled for space on the broad promenade, a more inclusive population now prevails, with roller-bladers and joggers, chic or casual, weaving or plodding among the population of promenaders. A good way to get a snapshot of what Nice has to offer is to take the open-top tour bus that leaves the Quai des Etats Unis where the Opera House backs on to the seafront boulevard. The casinos and the grand hotels of the seafront can be viewed from the top deck, clear of the traffic. The tour skirts the Old Port, filled with yachts and cruisers, a safe haven since the time of the Ancient Greeks. From here it’s a winding climb up through the wooded slopes and exclusive villas of Mont Boron. Nice may no longer be a home to royalty but the king of this particular hill is Elton John, who owns a big place up here. The bus swoops back to the port, with fabulous coastal views along the way, before the steady climb to Cimiez, a hill crowned with fantastic glass palaces, a park with Roman remains and the Matisse Museum. Then it’s back down to the Louis Nacera Library, a showpiece building attracting 3,000 readers each day. Is it a building
or is it a statue? The new library in Nice is a giant bust, surmounted
by a metallic cube the size of an apartment block. Tete Carré is
neither and both, according to its creator Sacha Sozno, a leading figure
of the Nice School of artists. It is all about obliterating boundaries,
and the integration of art into the urban landscape.
There is a lot to see here. Nice has 19 museums and galleries, more than any city in France after Paris. There are 32 listed historic sights and another 33 on the supplementary heritage inventory. Every type of architecture is represented, from Baroque through Classical, Belle Époque, Art Deco and contemporary. Furthermore, Nice is the capital city of the Cote d’Azure and the French Riviera, with the countless possibilities that this offers, right on its doorstep. Meanwhile, Nice does not stand still. Just down from MAMAC in the Avenue Félix Faure and in the Italianate Place Masséna they are digging up the roads in two long branches, each stretching five miles, to the northeast and the northwest suburbs. Once again the past makes way for the future as a sleek, shiny new generation urban tramway becomes the next item on the agenda of major change, a bold move towards a better future Nice Selection Here is a small selection of some of the most interesting places to visit in Nice: Palais Lascaris, an Old Town mansion, now a museum of folk art and Nice tradition, at 15 Rue Droite. Archaeology Museum of Nice-Cimiez, including Roman amphitheatre and public baths, at 160 Avenue des Arenes. Fine Arts Museum, in a sumptuous 19th-century villa, at 33 Avenue des Baumettes. The Opera House, rebuilt in 1885 in sumptuous gilt Belle Epoque style, at Rue Sainte-Francois-de-Paule. Le Palais de la Prefecture, the former palace of the Dukes of Savoy, at Rue de la Prefecture. The 17th-century Cathedral of Sainte-Reparate, Place Rossetti. Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Promenade des Arts. Matisse Museum, in a 17th-century Genoan-style villa at 164 Avenue des Arenes de Cimiez. The biggest event in the Nice calendar is carnival, a two-week festival of processions, parades of light, and the renowned Flower Parades. 1,500 participants and hundreds of thousands of visitors enjoy carnival around Mardi Gras (February 28 in 2006; February 20 in 2007) Information Information: Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, 5 Promenade des Anglais. Tel +33 492144646. info@nicetourisme.comwww.nicetourisme.com Further information outlets can be found at the train station, airport and port. Transport: Bus from airport Terminal 1, Route 98 to centre every 20 minutes, 6am to 8.30pm, $1.60. One day bus pass $5 Hotel Villa la Tour, 4 Rue de La Tour. Tel +33 493800815, direction@villa-la-tour.com www.villa-la-tour.com From $64 double (Highly Recommended) Hotel HI,
3 Avenue les Fleurs. Tel +33 497072626, hi@hi-hotel.net
www.hi-hotel.net
From $228 double
Cave de
la Tour, 3 Rue de la Tour. Tel +33 493800331
The following articles are Richard's previous articles for the magazine:
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