Provence & Côte d’Azur, southern France 7 - Nice
On Day 7 we spent the whole day in Nice. Situated on the Mediterranean Sea, Nice is the leading resort city of the Côte d'Azur, and the second-most visited city in France, following Paris. It was the largest city of all the places we visited during the trip.
First things first. We went to Bio Brod, an organic bakery to get breakfast. We bought two croissant, orange juice for me and cappuccino for J and took them to the beach. It was around 7:30. The weather was cloudy and the beach was quiet with a few people. Having a still-warm French croissant and sipping freshly squeezed orange juice in front of the turquoise blue Mediterranean Sea, I felt as if I were in a dream...
I came down to the beach after the precious breakfast. I don't know why but J didn't want to be on the pebble beach. Maybe it was because he was wearing the brand new shoes he bought in Avignon.
I could watch and listen to the calm waves endlessly... Some people were swimming. How did we come to the French Riviera without a swimsuit?
We strolled on the seafront Promenade des Anglais toward east, heading to Nice's old town.
The city's famous Marché aux Fleurs, or Flower Market was getting ready to be held on the Cours Saleya. Actually not only flowers but also fruits and vegetables were to be sold. Opened in 1897, the Flower Market was the first wholesale cut flower market in the world. The growers in the hills brought their cut flowers to the market every morning for the wholesalers. The leftover was available for individuals to buy. There is a scene at the Flower Market in the film 'To Catch a Thief,' where Robie meets an insurance man, but apparently the actual filing location of the market was on Boulevard Jean Jaurès, the wider street for easier filming, located a couple of streets behind the Cours Saleya. Nonetheless it was nice to see the real Flower Market in person.
While we wandered the old town, the Nice Cathedral appeared in front of us.
The current building of the Nice Cathedral or La Cathedrale Sainte-Reparate was built in the 17th century in Baroque style although a cathedral has been at the site since the 11th century. The bell tower on the right was built in the 18th century. The Cathedral is dedicated to Sainte Reparate, the patron saint of Nice. Legend says she was martyred in Palestine and her body had arrived in the beach of Nice in a boat guided by a dove in the 3rd century, which is why the beach, our breakfast spot, is called Baie des Anges or the Bay of Angels.
The Baroque style interior was bright and welcoming.
The Cathedral was facing to the Place Rosetta, a square filled with restaurants/cafes, which was supposed to be lively, but not so in the early morning.
There was an incredibly narrow building! I wondered what the layout inside looked like...
A fish market was being held at a square with a fountain with dolphins (I think they are). That makes sense.
The Nice's old town wasn't too big. We noticed we were already out of the old town.
The Place Garibaldi, a large square surrounded by yellow buildings was located on the northern edge of the old town.
We kept walking around the edge of the old town...
We happed to be in front of Pistache, a pastry shop that I was interested in. Unfortunately my tummy wasn't ready for desserts at that time. As expected from a big city, Nice had many pastry shops with lovely-looking cakes.
We came back in the old town and briefly visited the Annonciation church, also known as the Church of Saint Rita that quietly stood on a narrow street. It was another Baroque church, built in the 17th century, but its history dates back to the 10th century. The inside was pretty dark but richly decorated.
We walked though the Flower Market again. The market was fully open this time.
J was buying a fruit juice. The vendor makes a fresh juice with three (I think) kinds of fruits you choose. I remember he chose carrots. Well, carrots were treated as fruit in this case. I don't remember what the other two were, though.
This was the output. According to the color, carrots were in definitely.
The flower section of the market looked relatively small, but the market keeps the tradition today.
I have seen many stores selling candied fruits during the trip, but this was the first time I saw candied angelica, more precisely angelica stems. It was my favorite ingredients in my grandma's delicious fruit cake. My grandma was an excellent baker and often made European-style pastries and desserts. The green stems reminded me of her.
Fontaine du Soleil, or the Sun Fountain, located at the west end of the old town as well as at the north end of the Place Masséna, consists of a marble statue of Apollo, the God of Sun and five bronze divinities: Gaia (Earth), Mercury, Mars, Saturn and Venus.
There were seven figures of sitting men on the poles. They represent seven continents and are supposed to be illuminated in the dark. We didn't come there in the night, so we didn't see them playing a role of street lights.
While J was relaxing on a chair on the promenade, I came close to the water and enjoyed watching the waves. The waves were somewhat higher than in the morning. I didn't see anyone swimming.
Le Bistrot de Gillou was a French bistro on a relatively quiet street in the New Town. A friendly husband (chef) and wife (hostess) team runs the restaurant and serves authentic French dishes. The menu changes according to the market and the seasons.
The dining room was simple and cozy. We used Google translator to understand the handwritten menu board on the wall but the hostess kindly explained the menu in English.
She brought 'Socca' as complimentary appetizer. Socca is a savory thin pancakes made with chickpea flour, olive oil, and salt and a specialty of Nice. The appetizer was a happy surprise for me because Socca was on my To-Eat list. It was light and tasty.
Also, the little olives were served. J likes snacking olives. He must have had dozens of olives through the trip.
We ordered two starters to share. One was Pissaladière, a caramelized onion-anchovy-olive tart. Originally from Nice, the savory tart is popular in the southern France. It was also on my To-Eat list, of course. The bistro version tasted lovely.
The other starter was baked Saint Marcellin (I think) cheese with honey. Creamy and wonderful!
We shared the main dishes, too. Both duck breast with polenta and rigatoni with Perugina sausages (small pork sausages of Nice and Italy) and ricotta were delicious.
However, my favorite dish was my dessert - Pêches au Vin Rouge, or Peaches in Red Wine! Bravo!
In the afternoon we walked to Marc Chagall National Museum. The museum was situated on the Cimiez hill. We needed some exercise after the pleasant French bistro experience anyway. We passed by the gigantic building. It was the Majestic Palace Hotel, the former early 1900s Art-Deco hotel with 400 rooms and today is a luxury apartment building.
Marc Chagall National Museum is a French national museum dedicated to the work of Marc Chagall, essentially that of religious inspiration. The initial purpose of the museum was to preserve his 17 paintings of the Biblical Message that he donated to the State in 1966. He followed the construction planning by the Minister of Culture planned and donated more than 250 works in 1972. He also was present for the inauguration of the museum in 1973. The museum was the first national museum in France that was dedicated to an artist and was open during the artist's lifetime, and today owns over 400 works, including painting, gouaches, drawings, wash drawings and pastels.
Good news was it was a free admission day! Bad news was a part of the permanent collection and the entire special exhibition were closed! (That's why the entrance was for free.) The main room with 12 paintings of the Biblical Message was open. The room was expansive and the paintings were large.
Although there were a lot of visitors, we were able to take a look at each painting closely without hurry. The rest of the Biblical Message were in the smaller room behind the main room. The room's entrance was open but blocked by a rope. We were just able to appreciate the 5 pieces from a distance.
My favorite was 'Adam and Eve expelled from Paradise,' created in 1961.
We walked down the hill, looking at the architecture in the city of Nice.
I realized that we weren't so far from a pasty shop that has been highly rated and I was very interested in. Jonathan Le Pâtissier was about to reopen for the afternoon after their lunch break when we got there. Some people had been already waiting in front of the shop and more people lined behind us.
I was so excited to meet beautiful individual cakes in their showcase! I wished I could get all but modestly selected just one: Dacquoise with fresh apricots. J chose a big cream puff. Cream puffs are the pastry chef Jonathan Rochetin's specialty. Their cream puffs are prepared to order to keep the freshness. The staff behind the counter started filling his puff with pistachio cream (I think) that J asked for.
The small pastry shop didn't have any eat-in space or outside tables. We stopped by a grocery store nearby to get a set of disposable utensils. The grocery store was busy and when we were in queue for checkout, a lady in front of us kindly let us go first. She saw our pastry box and told us the pastry shop is the best! Clearly Jonathan Le Pâtissier is loved by locals!
We couldn't find a nice park to have the dessert time around there and ended up sitting on the entrance steps of a building (maybe it was a chapel). Anyway, more importantly, my cake was excellent!! I believe J's cream puff was superb, too.
While we were slowly walking toward our Airb&b, we passed by Basilique Notre-Dame de l’Assomption. Built in the late 19th century, the neo-Gothic church is the youngest and the largest church in Nice. We saw a lady in a bridal gown standing at the entrance. The man next to her could be her father. It seemed they were about to walk down the aisle. Happy wedding! That means their anniversary is always a day before ours. Happy marriage!
The blue sky came back and the temperature was rising rapidly. Buying a few water bottles at an Armenian grocery store near our Airb&b became our routine in Nice.
To be continued...
