Provence & Côte d’Azur, southern France 9 - Nice
Their pastries were somewhere between Scandinavian and French styles.
After thinking carefully, I chose a cardamon brioche. That was ok. J got a pressed ham and cheese croissant sandwich and cappuccino.
After replenishing energy (calories), we headed to the Cimiez Monastery located in the northern Cimiez district of Nice. It was about an hour uphill walk. I think it would have been much harder if it was sunny and hot like the day before.
The Cimiez Monastery was originally built in the 9th century, the Brothers of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Pons nearby. In the mid-15th century, the Franciscan brothers bought the monastery from the Benedictine brothers because their convent was destroyed during the siege of Nice. During the Revolution, the Franciscan monastery was used as barracks and later a military hospital. Today the building consists of a church and Franciscan museum. We entered the church through the 19th century Neo-gothic facades and porches.
Dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption, the church was consecrated by the Bishop of Nice in 1667. The inside was pretty dark while the Renaissance altarpiece and the frescos on the central nave were glowing.
One of the highlights in the church was the panel of 'A Pietà' created in 1475 by Louis Bréa, a 15th-16th century religious painter from Nice who was one of the leaders who introduced the transition from the Gothic art to the Renaissance in Nice and Liguria, the region of northwest Italy.
We strolled the monastery's garden. It wasn't fancy or exotic like those we saw on the day before, but spacious and peaceful, perhaps good for a morning run or a dog walk. I might have had a different impression of the garden under blue sky or in a different season, though.
We saw many plain buildings lined up tightly together from the edge of the park. It was another face of Nice.
Next to the monastery's garden was the Garden of Arenas Cimiez, a large, zero-pesticide public garden with hundreds of ancient olive trees. As the name implies, the garden adjoins the ruins of a Roman amphitheater. We walked through the garden, watching tiny olive fruits.
The garden also adjoins the Matisse Museum. We got there just about 10 minutes before the opening. Good timing!
Nice was where Henri Matisse mostly lived and created most of his works from 1917, when he discovered the city, to his death in 1954. The large colorful reflections in January and the brightness of the day were what attracted the northern France-born painter to settle in Nice. The Matisse Museum was inaugurated in 1963 as the result of the idea of the City of Nice to convert a property they acquired in 1950 into an exhibition space for the donations from Henri Matisse himself as well as his heir.
Now I see the bright colors of his works are the colors of the French Riviera. The entire museum was holding the exhibition 'MiróMatisse. Beyond images' when we visited there. According to the museum, "At first sight, the comparison between the two artists may seem paradoxical. They belong to different generations (Matisse was born in 1869 and Miró in 1893) and are generally associated with different artistic milieux (Fauvism in Matisse’s case, Surrealism in Miró’s) and aesthetic approaches (Matisse’s work is related to ‘decorative’ harmony while Miró’s is believed to be imbued with a sense of the uncanny). However, the exhibition aims to challenge stereotypes and underline the deep, lasting, and constructive relationships that exist between the two artists, their views on art and their works." The exhibition was fascinating and definitely worth a visit.
The exhibition was organized through a collaboration between the Matisse Museum and the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona, which actually we visited in February 2020. While we might have seen some works of Miró in this exhibition at that time, I enjoyed meeting all the artworks there with the unique angle of examining the relationships between the two artists' works.
The ticket of the Matisse Museum included a free admission to the Archaeological Museum, located just next to the Matisse Museum. We quickly checked it out.
We walked around the ruins of the Roman thermal bath complex outside of the museum. They were built between the 1st and the 7th centuries, but mostly in the 3rd century. The Roman city of Cemenelum once stood on the site.
The bright red building facing to the ruin site was the Matisse Museum. I couldn't tell it from the contemporaly entrance that the museum was actually in a fully renovated late-17th century Genoese villa.
We took a Uber to go back to the New Town. It was time for lunch!
We tried Le Bistrot de Gillou again. The menu was almost the same as the day before. For starter, I chose Gazpacho. It was smooth and refreshing! Chilled tomato soup is not J's taste, so we didn't share starters this time. His starter was smoked salmon, which looked nice, too.
We shared two main dishes. One was veal sauté with cider, served with rice. Flavored with warm spices, the dish tasted like tajine. The other was Sirloin steak with fried potatoes, a French bistro classic. Both were pretty good!
My dessert was Blueberry Clafoutis, which wasn't seen on the menu the day before. Clafoutis is traditionally made with cherries. This was perhaps my first Clafoutis with blueberries and it was lovely. J skipped a dessert again but had a little bite of mine.
We liked the little bistro very much. Highly recommended!
We took a walk in the Old Town one more time. The streets were lively in the afternoon. We stopped by a gourmet store that offers jams, syrups, tapenades and other spreads made with fresh fruit and vegetables from local producers in Nice and Provence. We picked two fruit jams to take home with us.
I wanted to go to the lookout on the top of the Castle Hill, a hilltop park, sitting in the east of the Old Town. It was still cloudy but the air was getting hot and humid. J said NO because he didn't want to climb up and get sweaty. I asked him if there was an elevator that brings you to the top. He said Yes. Yes! There was such an elevator conveniently! Just getting on the elevator, which was for free, and Voila! We were already at the top of the hill. So easy, so quick, no sweat. The panoramic view over the Bay of Angels and the City of Nice was wonderful!
We took the elevator down and walked up to the east end of the seaside promenade. It was another remarkable viewpoint.
We came back to the Old Town and found that the Flower Market turned into an Antiques/Flea Market on the day. There could be a treasure but we just passed through.
We crossed the Place Masséna and the New Town, heading west.
Villa Masséna Musée was our last stop of the day. Located on the Promenade des Anglais, the architectural masterpiece of the Belle Époque, which was a common building style on the Côte d'Azur at that time, was built in the end of the 19th century as the residence of Victor Masséna, Duke of Rivoli and Prince of Essling. He was also a grandson of André Masséna, Napoleon I's Marshal.
Today the villa houses a set of Empire-style reception rooms on the ground floor, a museum of the history of Nice and resorts on the Côte d'Azur as well as the memorabilia of Napoleon on the 1st floor, and temporary exhibition rooms on the 2nd floor. The temporary exhibition at that time was by the artist Cabu's drawings dedicated to sport, a contribution to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Victor Masséna was keen on flora and fauna. The extensive garden with Mediterranean flowers and plants was designed by Edouard André, a leading French landscape architect of the late 19th century. The detailed layout reflects the refinement and sophistication of the Belle Époque era. We strolled the garden slowly, admiring the glorious heritage of the French Riviera.
To be continued...
