Nice Off The Beaten Path

2nd pic: THE PARC CHAMBRUN..A PLACE FOR LOVERS...
LITTLE TOURISTS KNOW THIS BEAUTIFUL PLACE...YOU HAVE TO MAKE A WISH IN THE LITTLE COUPOLE....AND BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR IT BECOMES TRUE SAYS THE LEGEND...

Most people just flock to the city...where Old NIce is and around that area. There's a whole other side of nice with cute little shops and stores that's not so tourist fested =] Check those places out! Just hop on a bus away...and go towards the airport and just hop off somewhere in the middle =]

Between Cannes and Nice you will find another heaven on earth… Villefranche sur mer…(speechless) It is so incredible how it rises like an amphitheatre from the sea, and everything from the “Rue Obscure”, to the Saint Pierre Chapel, decorated by Cocteau, makes you feel that although all the expansion around the area, they were able to succeed in preserving the charming character of an old fishing village
Least, but not last…I went to St. Jean Cap Ferrat.
I stayed at La Voile d’Or Hotel (“une joue contre la mer” as Cocteau used to say), where I had the best of times… I fell in love with this refuge, the view, the marina, everything…

Take a car and visit the small villages around Nice such as Mougins, which I loved...
Valbonne, was built in 1119 by monks according to a checkerboard orthogonal design. The mill was built at the same time and attracted a number of villagers around the abbey. Up until the creation of Sophia Antipolis high-tech centre in April 1972, Valbonne was a quiet little village concentrated around its 12th century Romanesque church...
From the mid 1970s, major firms in the private sector - from teaching to research - set up business in Sophia Antipolis. Ten years later, there were more than 120 companies in the pine forest.
Stroll along the shaded path of 'La Brague' river up to Biot. All around Sophia Antipolis, you can stroll through the Valmasque forest (some 430 ha): pines, green oaks, botanical trails.

Saint Paul de Vence : a favorite with celebrities and lovers of Provence, Saint Paul is just the place for a stroll in the midst of charm and liveliness, with narrow streets and building of ancient stone. Saint Paul de Vence used to be a 'royal borough' under the direct authority of the King of France. In 1537, a continuous village wall was built at the request of François I. This construction required the destruction of 700 homes and the inhabitants were forced to leave their village. They then founded the neighbouring village of La Colle sur Loup.


You can find the famous 'Maeght Foundation' ,a collection of modern art works, established in 1964 in exceptional surroundings. The gardens house sculptures and mosaics by famous artists: Miro, Giacometti, Chagall, Braque... the Foundation also mounts top quality temporary exhibitions.

If you take a bus tour around the city, you can get away from the beaches and see some of the historic sites on the hills include some ruins from over 1,000 years old.

Tired of the flabby beach culture and the superficial bars, then take a walk around Old Nice - I was surprised that something like this could still exist!

We took a very short drive out of Nice to Villefranche sur Mer, and then to Eze. The views were spectacular.

From our lovely little sojourn in Nice, we travelled on to Grenoble.

I don't think the guidebooks tell you about this one. But as you're meandering down off the hill from your visit to the fort, make sure you stop and take a closer look at the cemetery here.