In Nice you have to go up to...
by Viva
In Nice you have to go up to the castle hill to see the city from upside.
You will have a nice view all over the city and to the harbour.
You also has to go into the old city to the flower market and have a walk into the old little streets. If you come to Nice you will have to visit also some other places around.
I will recommended the village where I live which is Valbonne.
It is 25km from Nice, I am sure you will appreciated to drnk a 'Pastis' on the Place des Arcades
explore the OLD TOWN - VIEUX...
by Krystynn
explore the OLD TOWN - VIEUX NICE. This is indeed one of the delights of the French Riviera. Did you know that cars are forbidden to enter these absolutely narrow streets that even their buildings crowd out the sky? (See photo below). Once you're here, take a good look around you and you'd also notice that the winding alleyways are lined with faded 17th and 18th century buildings. And perhaps some houses with flowers cascading down from window boxes on its soft pastel-colored walls... will catch your eye too?
Why shopkeepers are suspicious of you
by NiceLife
When entering a shop in France you will often be greeted cheerily, but thereafter eyed with suspicion. Are you going to try and steal in my shop? Napoleon famously called the British a nation of shopkeepers. Well France is a nation of shoplifters, if my recent experiences are anything to go by.
In supermarkets the practice we call "grazing" - eating goods within the store with no intention of paying for them - is commonplace. Recently at lunch-time in Carrefour we watched a respectable-looking mother and her two daughters munching away at packets of sandwiches taken from the shelves. Each then casually dropped the empty plastic packet, footed it under the counter and wandered off.
You will often come across discarded food packaging among other items on the shelves. I chanced on an opened screw-cap bottle of wine, from which someone had taken several mouthfull to wash down their stolen lunch, and returned the now quarter empty bottle to the shelves. Another "grazer" had pierced the plastic film stretched over a large wedge of cheese, broken off a large chunk for themselves, and then returned the opened packet to the shelf, with the price and weight now wrong (and bacterial content unknown).
Its common to sample food like tasting one grape before commiting to buying a bunch, but I watched a middle-aged man in Monoprix brazenly break off a large bunch and breeze off across the store, shamelessly munching from the bunch in hand. Another shopper had peeled a complete satsuma "to try it" leaving it peeled and half-eaten in the basket.
Actual theft is less common because of security men poised at exits - that's stealing - but it also happens. At checkout it is customary to show your shopping bag or caddy is empty. On the same shopping excursion we watched an apparently respectable middle-aged man at the checkout carefully arranging his trolley. On the floor of the trolley, out of sight of the checkout girl, were two flat packets of expensive smoked salmon concealed by two conspicuously empty large shopping bags on top of them. The man loaded up the trolley, paid for the official shopping, and sailed off with his spoils. It had a practiced air to it.
Perhaps the French shopkeepers are right to keep a beady eye on you, as they know how some of their countrymen behave. Perhaps its French "politics of redistribution " - it's not fair, the supermarket has a lot of food and my needs are so small. Or perhaps its just old-fashioned "something for nothing"? Theft happens everywhere, usually a teenage thing, but in France it looks altogether too common, and by grown-ups old enough to know better, who are not necessarily "poor".
Tip: When shopping in supermarkets it's worth checking that what you have picked up hasn't previously been opened or tampered with.
Cemetery along the castle hill
by Pavlik_NL
You can actually call it a tourist attraction. The cemetery of Nice between the old centre and the castle hill is ancient and full of monumental gravestones and small burrying houses. Statues in amazing forms and made with gret artistic accuracy almost fill the terrain like a museum of arts.
Excellent Souvenir Shopping!
by VeronicaG about Perle d'Azur
Always on the lookout for gifts to take home for the family, one peek into this shop told me that this was going to be a worthwhile stop.
There were all kinds of enticing gifts and souvenirs in Perle d'Azur. Besides friendly shopkeepers, you'll find postcards; sunglasses; table cloths, napkins, placemats, ovenmitts, cloth bread baskets all in bright patterns and hues; ceramic magnets and coasters; fabric and woven totebags, coffee mugs, perfumes, scented soaps, keyrings, small toys and many, many other items.
This was just about one-stop shopping for me, as I was able to find many small gifts here. There was quite an assortment from which to choose and these were priced moderately.
I purchased a cloth breadbasket in a cheery red and green print and matching napkins which I know will get used over the holidays. Each time I use it, it will bring to mind our visit to France. (pic #2)!
Palm trees on Promenade des Anglais, Nice
On the beach
Messina Square
Larry at lunch in St Paul
