3 Nice Days

I went on a solo trip to the Côte d’Azur in the mid of May (arguably a very good time) and I thought it might be cool if I wrote about it. Before my ability to write and do art get any worse than they already are, here comes this travel + a little bit of art blog from my stay in Nice, FR. I have probably written a little too much about what was going through my head, but eh, might as well write more bs than prune it to make it more palatable (why take time doing something ai does well anyway). I have started giving much more time to my art too, and in this blog you will see some plein-air paintings and some that were made in the comfort of my dorm after the trip. I have also limited this blogpost to the city of Nice so that the length stays manageable (or so I thought).

Day 1 - May 12th

Had an early TGV to Paris. Took me some 1.5 hours to get there. I somehow had the time to take a printout of some random Inverse Reinforcement Learning slides before, so I started reading them while on train. I am the kind of person who just cannot sleep when I am travelling, so nothing like some performative ML paper/slides reading to amp up the cortisol. I reach Paris Gare de l’Est about little before 8am. Being a champ now at changing to the metro, I quickly check if any of my previously (expensively) bought navigo cards had any trips. And one of them did yayy. I side eye the metro line to be taken and the direction (lest someone identifies that this is a clueless tourist), I move through the turnstiles among the tens of Parisian salary people (huh imagine) and get into the M5 going towards Place d’Italie. GMaps had told me that the closest I can get to Gare du Lyon through this metro line, was through Bastille. And since I had not yet actually been there, I decided I might as well get out at Bastille, look at it, and then walk my way to Gare du Lyon. I had enough time, weather seemed nice and it was early in the morning. So I do exactly that. There were fences around the Bastille monument, but it was tall enough and I took a few pictures. Quickly side eyed (we do this a lot) the way to the next Gare and found that we can walk along the Seine. As I am walking along the Seine, I see about 50 camps along the sidewalk. It was kind of weird and when I travel and I see things like this, I always get reflective about life, infrastructure and the concept of home.

I take my time getting into the main street at the end of which is my destination. I do want a croissant now. I stop at La Parisienne, get myself 2 croissants (one of my classics when I want something on the go) and keep walking towards the Gare. Since it’s early in the morning, I give myself the liberty to enjoy the Parisian Haussmann buildings, trees, people and signboards. Of course. I get into the Gare and it is extremely important that as soon as you enter a train station, you keep your phone inside and look up. At the massive screens that have all the trains. First, if you want, look at your train and verify if it even exists. Then look at all the potential places trains from here can take you to. We do some scanning around, look at the red hat children’s troop possibly going on a very fun trip, the one kid who is crying, two adults consoling him and a passerby drunkard saying something to the kid, maybe as a consolation too. Let’s check if we have enough water, if not then we will be onto a side-quest to find a water fountain somewhere. We do have enough water never mind. Time to eat the croissants now. I find my place on a singular cube facing an elevator, between a group of 70 year old francophones, who are tying their suitcases with the free identification tags and saying my bonjours and nods, I sit down. I eat my croissants and oh so lovely. I didnt have to wait long because my next train to Nice is already at the platform. So I make my way there, get my ticket scanned, find my place and sit there. I find that it is the last seat in the coach but hey it has a window. The train starts around 9am and wooo we are on our way to Sud de France.

In the first three hours we have already reached Marseille. The British women in front of me - “I think we are in Lyon. My grandmother’s town was near Lyon and Dijon. Looks like a big city, might be Lyon.” Ma’am we literally saw the sea 5 minutes ago. But anyway that’s okay. Also, not that anyone cares, but the person next to me watched two films in 5 hours, had another handwritten list of films that were official selections at Cannes. So yeah he was going to Cannes. After Marseille, we keep stopping at some of the South of France hotspots - St. Tropez, Toulon, Cannes, Antibes and finally Nice. My hostel is right across the train station, so I check-in in almost no time. I stay at Hotel Antares (if anyone needs this information) and I would rate the hostel experience a 4/5. A modest breakfast is included, lockers exist but outside the room, bathroom was pretty nice.

It is probably around 4pm now, the sunset is not going to be for another 5 hours and so I quickly put on a summer outfit and head out. I walk towards the beach, which is a 20 minutes away but the walk is nice. I cross the Fountaine du Soleil at Place Massena and I am greeted with the amazingly blue Mediterranean through the Quai des Etats-Unis. I had been very excited to go to the beach since I had planned the trip and it looked absolutely worth it. I walked along the sea towards the Castel side. Checked my saved pins to check if we can cover any of the spots we planned to see. An ice-cream from Fenocchio sounded very nice. I crossed the road, very close to the Cours Saleya market and admired the town. The architecture around was so beautiful, all with the pretty pastel colours and the blue sky.

Walked through vielle ville to Place Rossetti and got myself a Tartuffe from Fenocchio. I got one with Gianduja (chocolate mixed with hazelnut paste) and Cookies parfums (flavours), and they add Chantilly on it along with grilled pralines and hot chocolate. It was made by one of the senior guys at the shop because maybe it’s not ordered that often? Anyway, as someone who rarely goes beyond the chocolate flavours, I loved it and give it a 5/5. The Cathedrale Saint-Reparate de Nice is very pretty too. I then walked around the streets of the old town, and this is one of those times when I absolutely try not to check the maps. It is a lovely time to explore around and when you are in a such a pretty scenic part of town, it is probably better if I get lost anyway.

At some point though, I did meet the sea once again and took my time walking along it and admiring the town. As I kept walking towards and beyond the Colline du Chateau, I realised I had found the port. There were the rich-people yachts parked into the port and as the sun was setting down, the other side of the port was glowing yellow orange. I postponed going across the port to another day, and took a left towards Place Garibaldi. Mind you, I didn’t even know what it was and if it was worth visiting. You just bump into interesting spots when you allow yourself to saunter around. Fuck around. Find out. I sat down there under the shade of some big tree along with fellow resters and managed to check my phone at this point to decide my next quest. Since I had only had the Tartuffe for whatever meal that was, I decided to try another one of the popular nicoise food items - Socca. Actually now that I think about it, I hadn’t decided it then and there, but when I had already started walking in some random direction and saw a traditional looking shop selling Socca. Socca is essentially a thicker crepe made of chickpea flour, olive oil and salt. Very close to an indian cheela but very filling. I was still munching on it till the end of the day and it certainly kept the hunger away. Most tourists usually get it at the Cours Saleya market and I can totally see it as a banger street food to keep you fulfilled while shopping for fresh flowers and produce.

As the evening had started setting in now and with my newfound Socca-fuelled energy, I decided to climb the Colline du Chateau and had planned to sit there through the sunset. It was barely a few stairs but the view was still immaculate. I could see the chemically different blue colours of the sea, there was a street guitarist playing some tunes, some lovers sitting at the edge admiring the view and other lovers judging the daredevils together. I took the middle route and sat on one of fences falling through which might not have killed me except for a few scratches (that would have been great for plot). And as soon as I sat and had finished peeling my orange, a lady officer joined us, specifically looked at me to say c’est ferme. At 8pm. Ehh the sunset was still like 1.5 hours away but well I had to climb back down now. Was definitely staying for the sunset by the beach so I just took a seat near the #ILoveNice and chilled while the golden hour led up to the dusk. At some point, after being awake since 4:45am, it was sleepy time and be ready for my adventures next day.

Day 2 - May 13th

The day starts a little late (by my desi standards) but I still am able to catch the hostel’s cereal and coffee breakfast. I didn’t have much plans starting out today. I knew the weather might be nice generally so I was supposed to be outdoors all day.

I don’t exactly remember what I planned to do but I started walking anyway. (story of my life)

I walked through the Place Massena once again, took a left towards the potential nicer areas. Wait, I remember, I wanted to go to the sandy beaches of Villefranche-sur-Mer. And so I start walking in that general direction. I had hoped that at some point, I will hop onto a bus and that will take me there but, as it often happens, I found myself on an accidental hike. Through some corniche, I was already gaining elevation - there were stairs ahead of me, but hey there were pretty orange rooftops and the Alps behind me. At multiple points I felt like I was borderline trespassing and could easily look into people’s backyards and kitchens. I felt very free though (as actual trespassers usually do). Climbing a bunch of stairs, crossing a few main roads, I reached somewhere close to the Fort du Mont Alban. We don’t go there but we are in the right direction.

The great thing about an accidental elevation gain is that eventually you will have the joy of some fun elevation loss. And I found that joy not long after when I saw a board saying “Commune de Villefrance s/ Mer”. I could see the sea and I knew that was where I needed to be, so I climbed down by any observable set of stairs. Again borderline trespassing. I spent an abnormally long time at one of the longer staircases because it seemed like a nice spot to take some pictures. Eventually, I was in the main part of the town. How do I know that? I passed through a big church. It was the Église Saint-Michel de Villefranche-sur-Mer but I did not go in. I had gotten two croissants at a local boulangerie and was happily waddling down whatever stairs might take me to the beach. The town itself was extremely pretty, pastel and quaint. Now, I meet the sea once again. I make my way to the Plage des Marinieres, which isn’t as rocky as the main Nice beach. And so less painful for a quick dip. I played with the sea a bit, sat on a rock and painted.

Around 2pm, I planned my way back to Nice for some quick lunch and the 3pm biking tour I had booked before. The train that would take me to Nice Riquier in 2 minutes was right above this beach so it was a very short walk up some stairs. From the Nice Riquier station, I make my way to the Port Lympia and sit for a very quick lunch at FOAM. I order for an aperol spritz and a pizzette. The pizzette was fresh and very well-seasoned, the spritz was just spritz ig. I got a little late as I speed-walked to the start point of my bike tour but at least I wasn’t going to be hungry.

My 3 hour bike tour started from Cours Saleya and our first stop was Place Garibaldi. Italy and France both have had major roles in the history of Nice, and this spot has architecture and vibe inspired from the Italian side. From here we climb up the Colline du Chateau and get to very pretty view points both of the port as well as the old city. There is a waterfall here, because apparently at some point there was water shortage here, so we checked that out. The waterfall also made a tiny little rainbow among the rocks which was cute. What was also cute was a man getting his picture taken with his hat a little over his head as a photographic effect of water falling through his hat into his head (probably?). From here we bike down (the joy of descent is 10x when biking btw), ride along the beach through the Quai des Etats-Unis to the Promenade des Anglais, looking at the famous blue chairs of Nice and eventually stopping at Le Negresco, the very very luxury hotel that was made one year before the first world war. From here we bike along the lanes of the not-so-old part of the city and reach Russia. Cathedrale Saint Nicholas de Nice, is a Russian Orthodox Church whose premises are under the Russian jurisdiction, and not the French. It is a very attractive church and they also have bunnies :).

From here, we now reach the best viewpoint in Nice (according to Alfred, our bike guide) - and this took me back to Fort du Mont Alban. The ascent was a little tough at this point but the descent through the beautiful forest area with the cool cool air, made up for it easily.

After the tour was done, my calf muscles were already pressing their SOS buttons so I decided to get a simple focaccia sandwich from Foca to eat and sit at the beach as the sun set.

Day 3 - May 15th

May 14th was my extremely ambitious and exerting trip to Cannes, Antibes and Monaco. We will cover them at some later date. I spent the 15th in Nice and I did have some plans for today.

Given that I had some physically strenuous past few days, I decided today was going to be a more flowy-dress tote-bag kinda day. I start from the famous flowers and produce market of Cours Saleya, get myself a box of fresh pineapples and melons and also four crispy madeleines from Mellow Madeleine. I do some shopping at Trésors Publics, which I randomly went into but it a was very cool shop with all items made in France.

From here, we make our way to the Matisse Museum. It was either a 40 min walk or a 10 min bus ride, and in the most un-geetika move ever, I take the bus. The museum itself is a little out of the central town because Matisse used to stay nearby in his Nice era. I hope none of the Matisse’s fans read this, but honestly I did not much appreciate his work. Fauvism is probably a little too interesting for my plain vanilla brain. The museum shop was also … mid.

It is around 2:30pm now and I was very hungry with no hopes of getting anything good easily. I make my way to the food kiosk next to the museum, and somehow order for a local plate of Farcis Nicoise. I don’t question what it is but it looked like a stuffed vegetable type dish we sometimes make in India, and honestly, this was one of the few times I liked a french dish. The staff at the kiosk were also very sweet, and I could sense a nice vibe around me. Two uncles playing chess, a group of middle aged women having a blast and 4-5 different groups of adults playing pétanque in the park. Life was good (atleast for these people in a first world country). After this, I catch a bus back into town, get myself a delicious la fameuse focaccia from Babel Babel and then some more beach-relaxation with a Fenocchio ice-cream time happens.

Few more bonus hours on 16th May

Today was a Saturday and my train to Marseille was at 10:50am. I had some time in the morning to potentially cover one more spot and this became the Saturday Marche des Antiquities (antiquities market), at the Place de Palais de Justice. There were thousands of ancient postcards, posters and antique cutlery items. I spent an abnormal amount of time checking every 1890s-1900s Le Monde newspaper to see if any of the dates were interesting for me to take back. I spent even more abnormal amount of time reading through the old postcards because I love reading what people before us used to write to their loved ones while travelling. I love to experience these random snapshots of some Jacqueline’s and Marie-Lou’s from the 1990s, and humans are sometimes so cute ehehe.

Okay so that’s a wrap girls and boys. Hope you had fun, if not then you shouldn’t have read this far man, find something else to do.

As I mentioned before, this blog intentionally skips my side quests to some other parts of the French Riviera, and ideally they could get a blog of their collective own. Who knows. I am also a little tired of writing at this point, but aha I still have to work on my manuscript. So more writing here I come.

PS: Tools I used for my art: the Moleskine Sketch Album, Winsor & Newton watercolours, Sakura Pigma Sensei 0.4mm, Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen fine liners and my sheer will to make bad art.