Our central location in Valbonne made for a quick 30 minute drive on the Auto Pista with NO wrong turns and Steve silently yielding to the ease of GPS with our Hertz Wifi Cellspot making it easy-peasy. Rick Steves helped heartily with his recommendation to drive to Nice Nord and park in a free garage, buy a one day transit pass for 5 Euro and hop on the tram at Henri Sappia,to whisk us into centro in ten minutes. Only one problem, but as usual, people are so helpful. Our American chip credit card, no PIN required, was rejected at the transit pass machine. There was no slot for paper money and we were short on coins. The information desk attendant had no change. There was no where in sight to get change. But the oh-so-nice clerk, who spoke no English, offered to buy our passes with his personal debit card if we had a 10 Euro note, which we gladly gave him and - voila - we got our passes. We managed to get off at exactly the right stop for a quick cafe creme, and the beginning of the Rick Steves walking tour of Vieux Nice, the old town.
Another hop onto the tram, then a bus took us easily to the Chagall Museum where 12 large murals of his work were on display. A garden cafe for a bite and a great English audio guide made the visit perfect.
We had rushed through the Chagall museum a bit to be sure to get to the port to catch the 3PM boat tour. We hopped back on the 15 bus in the opposite direction but somehow failed totally to either get off at the right stop, or perhaps we didn’t stay on long enough, with the end result the unlikely ability to get there on time. As luck would have it, Steve was able to flag a cab who got us there at the appointed requested hour (10 minutes later and 30 Euros poorer..... ), 30 minutes prior to sailing. As luck wouldn’t have it, the 3PM boat was cancelled for no apparent reason, as the uncaring young lady told us in English with a shrug. But onward we marched, or really casually strolled along the port, along the exquisitely beautifully blue seaside and smooth rock beach with almost nary a topless girl in sight. Apparently it is no longer in vogue on the Riviera.
With no other museums on our agenda, we simply enjoyed the Italian architecture and colors, the busker shows, and a bit of wine, tapas and gelato before heading back to Valbonne. Bottom line for us is that Nice was Nice, but a bit too touristy, and our advice would be to skip it in favor of the smaller, more charming towns of Provence. A short rest and into town we went for an
evening stroll and light bite. We walked through the lit and lively square with tourists and locals dining. Up the alleys of neat as a pin houses and neighbors on bistro chairs sharing local gossip and wine and headed to Razamataz, a small Lebanese place we had scoped out earlier. In perusing the menu we noticed something strange. In addition of typical middle eastern mezze, there was chile and tacos and BBQ.....huh? It didn’t make any sense until the chef came out to chat. Turns out he was born in Lebanon but lived in Houston for a while. His son went to school in NM and he has family in Santa Fe.
His chiles come from Albuquerque. He worked in Houston and Monaco in oil and gas for 25 years, so he couldn’t help name dropping to let us know that Prince Albert of Monaco, a friend, had been in only three weeks ago! I know I say it every blog but what a small world it is. And tomorrow we will get to explore a bit more of it.
Another hop onto the tram, then a bus took us easily to the Chagall Museum where 12 large murals of his work were on display. A garden cafe for a bite and a great English audio guide made the visit perfect.
We had rushed through the Chagall museum a bit to be sure to get to the port to catch the 3PM boat tour. We hopped back on the 15 bus in the opposite direction but somehow failed totally to either get off at the right stop, or perhaps we didn’t stay on long enough, with the end result the unlikely ability to get there on time. As luck would have it, Steve was able to flag a cab who got us there at the appointed requested hour (10 minutes later and 30 Euros poorer..... ), 30 minutes prior to sailing. As luck wouldn’t have it, the 3PM boat was cancelled for no apparent reason, as the uncaring young lady told us in English with a shrug. But onward we marched, or really casually strolled along the port, along the exquisitely beautifully blue seaside and smooth rock beach with almost nary a topless girl in sight. Apparently it is no longer in vogue on the Riviera.
With no other museums on our agenda, we simply enjoyed the Italian architecture and colors, the busker shows, and a bit of wine, tapas and gelato before heading back to Valbonne. Bottom line for us is that Nice was Nice, but a bit too touristy, and our advice would be to skip it in favor of the smaller, more charming towns of Provence. A short rest and into town we went for an
evening stroll and light bite. We walked through the lit and lively square with tourists and locals dining. Up the alleys of neat as a pin houses and neighbors on bistro chairs sharing local gossip and wine and headed to Razamataz, a small Lebanese place we had scoped out earlier. In perusing the menu we noticed something strange. In addition of typical middle eastern mezze, there was chile and tacos and BBQ.....huh? It didn’t make any sense until the chef came out to chat. Turns out he was born in Lebanon but lived in Houston for a while. His son went to school in NM and he has family in Santa Fe.
PS: If you only read this on your phone, you are cheating yourself, as it looks much better on an iPad or desktop !!!
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