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Popular Sports Travel | Miscellaneous Sports Travel Tips | All Tips (25)  | |  |  | get your skates on | Tip Rating:    |  |  | |  |
For about 3 weeks in December as part of the Nice's 'Village de Noel' or Christmas Village, part of the main central square, Place Massena, is converted into an outdoor ice-skating rink. We were here in December before the French school holidays began, so the daughter had the ice-rink to herself. It was lovely watching her in the winter sunshine. The ice-rink is surrounded by the Christmas Village (wooden huts!) selling gifts, foods and drinks. Across the road, there is a walkway of white Christams trees and a Big Wheel. For more details about the Christmas Village in Nice, please see my tip in Local Customs. I think the ice-skating rink will taken up at the end of December but I am sure the Big Wheel will stay in place until the famous Nice Carnival is over (end of February) So, you will need to get your skates on (sorry) if you want to have a go. If you don't make it, you don't have to wait until next December as there is a huge indoor ice-skating rink or 'Patinoire' at the Jean Bouin Palais de Sports Centre, by the Acropolis Exhibition Centre, just north of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.
If you are in time to try the outdoor rink at Place Massena, skates can be hired (5 euros) just opposite the rink and there are four 1 - 1 1/2 hour sessions a day when the public can use the rink. Warm clothes are a good idea plus gloves; in fact there are notices saying that gloves must be worn. If you go to the indoor rink by the Acropolis (I've not been yet) then www.wguides.com gives the following details: "Located right in the centre of town, this Olympic ice-skating rink is open throughout the week. You can rent a range of skates (from EUR2.75): classic skates for beginners or hockey skates for those in search of speed and thrills. Once kitted out, step out onto the ice, try to keep your balance and above all, avoid crashing into anybody! Entry EUR3.15-EUR4.30. Snack bar and paying car park available." Leave a Comment Theme: OtherAddress: Place Massena, Central Nice (December only)Directions: For December only: the large square at the start of boulevard Jean Medecin, separating the Old Town and the beach from the modern city centre. For all-year skating: Jean Bouin Sports Centre, Place Don Bosco.Website: http://www.wguides.com/city/17/176_53242.cfm Other Contact: above link for all-year skating
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| | | | GET YOUR FEET WET! | Tip Rating: | | | | |
If you're like me and want a refreshing reprieve to escape Nice's masses huddled along the Promenade des Anglais, and the ever-present toxic fumes from diesel fueled cars in nonstop traffic, St. Laurent du Var is 5 minutes from Nice and a great place for windsurfing. Other recommended places for windsurfing is Estérel, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin and the Lérins Islands. If you?re into ocean canoe kayaking or rowing, the best places are: Antibes, Mandelieu, St-Laurent-du-Var and Cannes. Rowing at Villefranche sur Mer, Mandelieu, Monaco and Menton. For motorized water activities (Jet-skiing, Water-skiing, parachute rides, etc) things get a little tricky. The driver of any craft with an engine more powerful than 6CV needs a license. If you have a license from a country outside of France, it should be ok but check this out anyway, just in case! For scuba diving: contact the Comité Départemental de Plongée (Alpes-Maritimes) Tel: 04 93 61 26 07
Equipment rentals (windsurfing, canoes, kayaks and boats) and advice/information are available at one of the many sailing centers (Stations Voiles). OH. Take note of the flags on the beach! GREEN means it's pretty safe and there's a lifeguard somewhere (hopefully), ORANGE means it's dangerous but there's a lifeguard somewhere (maybe). YELLOW means that the water is POLLUTED so please, definitely ask someone about the flag colors if you're color blind!!!! Theme: SurfingAddress: Saint Laurent du VarPhone: (33) (0)4 93 74 77 05Directions: Near "CAP 3000," a mall where you can park for free and walk to the beach from there.Other Contact: Ligue Cote d'Azur de Voile
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| | | | Two legs good, two wheels better! | Tip Rating: | | | | |
No other nation is quite as barmy about cycling as the French. The Tour de France has the entire nation gripped (despite being won by an American for the last four years in a row). Paris - Nice 2005 is one of the biggest races, after the big one. Held in the second week of March, it too was won by an American, Bobby Julich . Against a pure blue sky, the Men in Lycra hurtled from the Prom pursued by a pack of photographers on big motorcycles, cheered on by young and old cycling groupies similarly decked out in logos, spandex and shades. The Promenade was festooned with logos of obscure companies that make space technology derived titanium mudguards, performance-enhancing energy drinks, or Bleu Azur radio station. Competitive cyclists in their brightly coloured jerseys sped off like a swarm of bees pursuing their queen, around the Port and off uphill towards Villefranche and the dizzy heights of Eze, winding its way back to the finishing line in Nice. The champions greeted by national TV cameras and thousands of journalists from Top Velo! or Quel Mudguard? . That evening the cycling media circus packed up shop, and headed back to Paris to file their copy and their expenses. Upturned cycles were loaded onto roof racks, and the spandex folded away, whilst diaries were marked up for the next competitive event on the cycling calendar. I sat on a plane heading back to London recently , next to a Frenchman who was reading, as it happens, "Top Velo". I mean how can anyone find enough things to write about to fill eighty pages about cycling? Every page had a picture of someone - wait for it - on a bicycle. Maybe I'm missing something but bikes are for riding on, not reading about.. Though not if you are French apparently. Can't wait for next months issue, can you?
Bicycles and spandex Leave a Comment Theme: Biking
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Cruise along the blue Med on inlines as palm trees roll by, a great way to fly. Soak in the evening sun as you go westwards. Theme: Extreme Sports
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on December 26, 2003
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