Our flight was on the 21st at 7am..meaning we have to take the first RER train at 5am. Unfortunately, those "smart" RER people decided that they want to have strike on the very day. They gave the notification a few days in advanced so that the public can plan own transportation for that day. After tons of discussions, we had no choice but to take the last train on the 20th and spend the night at the airport. We have considered staying at the nearest hotel but since now is a peak season, no rooms were available (cheap ones at least) and we have also considered taking the cab but our apartment is in the suburbs (zone 4, near Disneyland) which is on the other side of the airport..usually it'll take us almost one and a half hour to get to the airport via train. Taking a cab means that we have to spend an additional 100€; hence it is out of question.
Anyway, despite the initial suffering sleeping at the airport, we arrived safely in Nice. I had no expectations at all of what the city will look like as I have never imagined nor planned to visit the place. And yes, I did not do my research before I came over. But it is a good thing though..I was purely surprised of how beautiful and pretty the city is. The people are friendlier than the ones in Paris.
We stayed at Star Hotel, right in the middle of Nice Ville. It is a small 3 star hotel..a very nice and comfortable place if you're looking for a place to just have shower and crash in at night. The workers there are really friendly and helpful too. One of them (Phillipe - he has been to Malaysia and loved it!) actually rearrange our itinerary for us so that we would be able to enjoy the very best of Nice.
On our first day, since we arrived at 10am, we had the whole day to see the city. After we checked in and dropped our bags at the hotel, we went on foot to the old city.
Along the Avenue Jean Medicine which is also where our hotel is situated. This is the modernized part of the town where there are malls, boutiques, and fast food chains. The tram pictured above will take you from one end to the other.
Place Massena.
Look closely and you'll see that there are men up on the stilts sitting in different positions. They lit up at night in different colours that change every few seconds.
Vieux Nice or The Old City.
Narrow streets with shops selling food, icecreams, handcrafts, and sourvenirs of course. And that's a stranger who just happened to be in the middle of the shot.
The Promenade des Anglais is a long seaside walkway (about 5km) that stretches along the pebble beach. Restaurants and naked people burning themselves can be found all along this Mediterranean seaside.
This is definitely the highlight of the day ; The Colline du Chateau or The Castle Hill. There's only a few sections of the castle that still remain but mostly people climb up (or in our case, took the free elevator up) there for the spectacular panoramic view of the city and also for the amazing fountain which I really can't recall the name.
Of course we had to try the seafood since we were in Mediterranean (and plus the fact that that's the only halal thing we could have!) We had our dinner at one of those many many restaurants along Cours Saleya..and again , I can't recall the name..Sorry!
Told ya they lit up at night in different colours! We spent a good few hours here watching street performances by the local artists. Coincidentally that it was Fète de la musique day so there were a few small street concerts going on along the area.
