24 June - 1 July 2013
Paris Stopover
Trains don't go from Le Mans to Nice directly and it was too much travelling for one day if I went via Paris so I decided to have a night in Paris to break it up. I chose a different hostel to before, the Aloha hostel. It was pretty good and it had a decent free breakfast so it had me sold. The strangest thing I saw there was a couple of parents travelling with about 10 kids, definitely not the usual hostel crowd.
Day 1: Paris to Nice
I must've booked my tickets for the train to Nice way too late because first class tickets were cheaper than second class and as if that wasn't enough, it was a 5.5hr trip which is definitely long enough to thoroughly enjoy first class. Naturally I got first class and it was AWESOME! Heaps of room, electric reclining chairs and super quiet. I could tell we were heading to a warmer climate because the scenery on the way started to look more and more like Adelaide; less trees, everything was brown rather than green and lots of large, rocky hills.
First night in Nice
The first thing was to find the hostel, which was super easy because it was right around the corner from the station. Next thing was to get dinner so I grabbed some food from an Asian shop and headed down to the beachfront. The food was terrible (and expensive) but the beach was really good; nice warm sun and lots going on (good for people-watching). Back at the hostel I enjoyed a beer and made friends with a Canadian and an American. Not a bad first night and I was definitely happy to be in a warmer climate.
Day 2: Big Bus
These hop on/hop off buses are in all the major cities and although they're super touristy, I like them because they're easy and it doesn't look weird when you do it on your own. I did a full lap of the circuit and then went back up to the top of one of the hills in Nice that has a bunch of museums, Cimez.
Museums
I went to the Archaeology Museum first where they had all sorts of old tools and building materials, which I wasn't that impressed by because I'd sort of seen that at the Louvre already. Downstairs they had an exhibit called "The Swimming Pool" and it was just terrible. It was a couple of blurry videos and some dodgy out of focus pictures. Outside the museum were the remains of some Roman baths and an amphitheatre, which were ok but not worth the entrance fee. I also went to the Matisse Museum and apparently it wasn't a display of his best work but I didn't enjoy it at all; none of the painting/pieces looked like they required any talent at all. I realise I'm coming off like someone who doesn't understand art and there's a very good reason for that, I don't ;) plus, it's my blog so too bad.
Scammed
Outside the museums I met an old Italian couple who spinned me a fairly long and detailed sob story about how they had no money, etc. due to travel mishaps. Naturally they were asking for money and claimed they'd pay me back the next day. I figured it'd be interesting to see what happened plus they'd put a lot of effort into selling the story so I gave them 15 euro. They didn't show up the next day to pay me back but they reckon they run a BnB in Savona, Italy and the dude's name is Massimo so if you see them, let them know they owe me!
Old Chateau
On the way back home I climbed up the hill between Nice's beach and its port which has the Old Chateau at its peak. There's actually not much to see of the chateau other than a pile of ruins but your reward is definitely the view out in all directions. Totally worth the couple hundred steps you need to climb.
Day 3: Bike Hire
Nice, and probably the rest of the Cote d'Azur, has a bike trail that follows the beach front so it makes for a perfect spot to have a pushy (bicycle). I hired one from Roller Station and rode from the Nice port down to Villeneuve-Loubet Plage (a beach), which is almost at Antibes, and then back in 4 hours. The scenery and weather was so nice and I'm surprised at how close all these cities are to each other.
Day 4: Saint Paul de Vance
I only found out about this place in the morning and then decided to head out and check it out. The spiel is that it's a medieval town built on a hill and it certainly was but it's also surrounded by other hills, so not really that great of a view, and all the streets are full of super expensive restaurants and art galleries; not really my thing. I still enjoyed it but I much prefer Eze (still coming in this blog post).
Day 5: Monaco
I'm not sure why, but I really wanted to see Monaco. Once I was in Nice I quickly found out that it's so small that you can easily cover it all in a few hours and so that's exactly what we did today. We, that is my Korean friend and I, caught the train there, which took a massive 20 minutes. That's 20 minutes to go to another country :P
The first thing you notice when you leave the train station is the fact that the whole town is built on the side of a pretty significant hill. The train station is a fair way up so after a few touristy photos we wandered down the hill towards the old town. In the old town we had a look through the small alleyways, saw the changing of the guard, grabbed a bite to eat, bought a Monaco patch (yay!) and then jumped on the small tourist bus (looks like a train) and went for a cruise around the whole country (in 45 minutes).
Eze
We caught the bus back rather than the train because then we could get off at a place called Eze Village. This place had a similar spiel to Saint Paul de Vance except this was on a mountain and by the coast so it had (probably still does actually) a fantastic view. You have to pay 6 euros to get into the rooftop succulent garden and enjoy the views but it's totally worth it!
Political Party
We got word that there was a party happening at the Old Chateau so we bought some super classy 3.50 euro wine and went for a walk up to see what it was all about. It turns out that it was run by some political party who were spreading propaganda but because I don't understand French, I was blissfully unaware :D The place was packed and there was music going so we had a few drinks and enjoyed the views out over Nice at night.
Day 6: Beach
Today I went down to the beach to have another go at a pebble beach. Basically it wasn't that great because the water was pretty cold and as I've already complained about, the pebbles really aren't nice to walk on without shoes. Still, the sun was out and there were quite a few people embracing the nude European beach lifestyle (some who probably shouldn't) so it was a good day.
Political Party, again
There was meant to be another party tonight but this time with better music; dance, dubstep, techno, etc. We gathered a big bunch of people at the hostel but unfortunately got a bit carried away with pre-drinks so by the time we got up to the chateau, the party was over. Fear not though because we went back into the old town and visited Wayne's Bar (well known apparently) and a few others before they all closed.
Day 7: Off to Barcelona
Really not much to say here other than I had a few drinks, went to bed late, got up early and had to carry heavy bags on a crowded and stinking hot bus. I wouldn't recommend it. I flew from Nice airport to Barcelona and as a strange coincidence, the Korean girl in my room was on the same flight.
Thoughts on Nice
Nice is nice! Sorry, I couldn't resist. It's not too bad but I feel like it's aimed more at older (and richer) people rather than young party go-ers. I'm still really happy I went because the coast is so pretty, I met some great friends and the weather was so much better than what I'd had up to that point. Oh, and the pebble beaches suck!
Paris Stopover
Trains don't go from Le Mans to Nice directly and it was too much travelling for one day if I went via Paris so I decided to have a night in Paris to break it up. I chose a different hostel to before, the Aloha hostel. It was pretty good and it had a decent free breakfast so it had me sold. The strangest thing I saw there was a couple of parents travelling with about 10 kids, definitely not the usual hostel crowd.
Day 1: Paris to Nice
I must've booked my tickets for the train to Nice way too late because first class tickets were cheaper than second class and as if that wasn't enough, it was a 5.5hr trip which is definitely long enough to thoroughly enjoy first class. Naturally I got first class and it was AWESOME! Heaps of room, electric reclining chairs and super quiet. I could tell we were heading to a warmer climate because the scenery on the way started to look more and more like Adelaide; less trees, everything was brown rather than green and lots of large, rocky hills.
First night in Nice
The first thing was to find the hostel, which was super easy because it was right around the corner from the station. Next thing was to get dinner so I grabbed some food from an Asian shop and headed down to the beachfront. The food was terrible (and expensive) but the beach was really good; nice warm sun and lots going on (good for people-watching). Back at the hostel I enjoyed a beer and made friends with a Canadian and an American. Not a bad first night and I was definitely happy to be in a warmer climate.
Day 2: Big Bus
These hop on/hop off buses are in all the major cities and although they're super touristy, I like them because they're easy and it doesn't look weird when you do it on your own. I did a full lap of the circuit and then went back up to the top of one of the hills in Nice that has a bunch of museums, Cimez.
Museums
I went to the Archaeology Museum first where they had all sorts of old tools and building materials, which I wasn't that impressed by because I'd sort of seen that at the Louvre already. Downstairs they had an exhibit called "The Swimming Pool" and it was just terrible. It was a couple of blurry videos and some dodgy out of focus pictures. Outside the museum were the remains of some Roman baths and an amphitheatre, which were ok but not worth the entrance fee. I also went to the Matisse Museum and apparently it wasn't a display of his best work but I didn't enjoy it at all; none of the painting/pieces looked like they required any talent at all. I realise I'm coming off like someone who doesn't understand art and there's a very good reason for that, I don't ;) plus, it's my blog so too bad.
Scammed
Outside the museums I met an old Italian couple who spinned me a fairly long and detailed sob story about how they had no money, etc. due to travel mishaps. Naturally they were asking for money and claimed they'd pay me back the next day. I figured it'd be interesting to see what happened plus they'd put a lot of effort into selling the story so I gave them 15 euro. They didn't show up the next day to pay me back but they reckon they run a BnB in Savona, Italy and the dude's name is Massimo so if you see them, let them know they owe me!
Old Chateau
On the way back home I climbed up the hill between Nice's beach and its port which has the Old Chateau at its peak. There's actually not much to see of the chateau other than a pile of ruins but your reward is definitely the view out in all directions. Totally worth the couple hundred steps you need to climb.
Day 3: Bike Hire
Nice, and probably the rest of the Cote d'Azur, has a bike trail that follows the beach front so it makes for a perfect spot to have a pushy (bicycle). I hired one from Roller Station and rode from the Nice port down to Villeneuve-Loubet Plage (a beach), which is almost at Antibes, and then back in 4 hours. The scenery and weather was so nice and I'm surprised at how close all these cities are to each other.
Day 4: Saint Paul de Vance
I only found out about this place in the morning and then decided to head out and check it out. The spiel is that it's a medieval town built on a hill and it certainly was but it's also surrounded by other hills, so not really that great of a view, and all the streets are full of super expensive restaurants and art galleries; not really my thing. I still enjoyed it but I much prefer Eze (still coming in this blog post).
Day 5: Monaco
I'm not sure why, but I really wanted to see Monaco. Once I was in Nice I quickly found out that it's so small that you can easily cover it all in a few hours and so that's exactly what we did today. We, that is my Korean friend and I, caught the train there, which took a massive 20 minutes. That's 20 minutes to go to another country :P
The first thing you notice when you leave the train station is the fact that the whole town is built on the side of a pretty significant hill. The train station is a fair way up so after a few touristy photos we wandered down the hill towards the old town. In the old town we had a look through the small alleyways, saw the changing of the guard, grabbed a bite to eat, bought a Monaco patch (yay!) and then jumped on the small tourist bus (looks like a train) and went for a cruise around the whole country (in 45 minutes).
Eze
We caught the bus back rather than the train because then we could get off at a place called Eze Village. This place had a similar spiel to Saint Paul de Vance except this was on a mountain and by the coast so it had (probably still does actually) a fantastic view. You have to pay 6 euros to get into the rooftop succulent garden and enjoy the views but it's totally worth it!
Political Party
We got word that there was a party happening at the Old Chateau so we bought some super classy 3.50 euro wine and went for a walk up to see what it was all about. It turns out that it was run by some political party who were spreading propaganda but because I don't understand French, I was blissfully unaware :D The place was packed and there was music going so we had a few drinks and enjoyed the views out over Nice at night.
Day 6: Beach
Today I went down to the beach to have another go at a pebble beach. Basically it wasn't that great because the water was pretty cold and as I've already complained about, the pebbles really aren't nice to walk on without shoes. Still, the sun was out and there were quite a few people embracing the nude European beach lifestyle (some who probably shouldn't) so it was a good day.
Political Party, again
There was meant to be another party tonight but this time with better music; dance, dubstep, techno, etc. We gathered a big bunch of people at the hostel but unfortunately got a bit carried away with pre-drinks so by the time we got up to the chateau, the party was over. Fear not though because we went back into the old town and visited Wayne's Bar (well known apparently) and a few others before they all closed.
Day 7: Off to Barcelona
Really not much to say here other than I had a few drinks, went to bed late, got up early and had to carry heavy bags on a crowded and stinking hot bus. I wouldn't recommend it. I flew from Nice airport to Barcelona and as a strange coincidence, the Korean girl in my room was on the same flight.
Thoughts on Nice
Nice is nice! Sorry, I couldn't resist. It's not too bad but I feel like it's aimed more at older (and richer) people rather than young party go-ers. I'm still really happy I went because the coast is so pretty, I met some great friends and the weather was so much better than what I'd had up to that point. Oh, and the pebble beaches suck!
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| Socca. A chickpea flour crepe, the local Nice specialty. It's a bit bland though, needs something else. |
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| A war memorial carved into the Old Chateau mountain, Nice. |
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| Cruising around Nice on a pushy |
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| Looking back toward Nice airport from Cagnes-sur-mer |
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| Nice beach from part way down the stairs of the Old Chateau |
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| Nice from a viewing platform at the Old Chateau |
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| Nice port from a viewing platform at the Old Chateau |
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| The Old Chateau |
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| A dude with a cube for a head, Nice. |
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| This guy has horses for hair, Nice main square |
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| First day in Nice at the beach front with SUNSHINE! I'm happy. |
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| Nice beach at sunset |
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| Nice port |
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| Small streets in Saint Paul de Vance. People still actually live here! |
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| A horse made of horseshoes |
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| A wire chick |
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| Saint Paul |
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| Monaco |
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| Got balls? at Monaco Palace |
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| My Korean friend in a park in Monaco |
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| The succulent garden at Eze |
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| The view from Eze |
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| My Korean friend at Eze |
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