Having stayed in Singapore for 30 years, we had enough of people and the city. Hence, we opted to stay in Villefranche-sur-mer instead, which is just next to Nice.
Nice can be simply put: Plenty of Sun (when it is still raining in other parts of France), the blue sea and the drive along the coast line.
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| This is not a famed nude beach, but that didn't stop those good bods from flashing their tits and bums on the sand. |
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| This looks like a huge swimming pool - never seen a beach so blue.... |
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| A panoramic view of the Promenade des Anglais from the man made waterfall |
Villefranche-sur-Mer
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| View of the cove of Villfranche-sur-mer |
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| The Citadel at Villfranche-sur-mer |
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| Place du Conseil - The place where the major decisions of the town were made. |
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| Rue Obscure - It used to be a passageway along the ramparts, and later served as a shelter for the people when the town was bombarded. |
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| This is what Villfranche-sur-mer is about - Colourful houses lining its coast, a much more relaxing and laid back countryside as compared to its neighbour, Nice. |
Vence
We went to St. Paul de Vence before coming down to Vence 30mins later. After visiting the beautiful villages for the past few days, St. Paul is simply not exciting enough. Vence, on the other hand, do have some interesting architectural remains to keep us going for another 2 hours with a satisfying lunch at the brasserie.
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| People were allowed to build their houses against the ramparts from the 15th century. Notice how the houses are not in-line with each other. |
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| The iconic double arch windows, which are still very much preserved in this building. |
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| The Cathedrale |
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| This Cathedral is simply decorated, but it did leave an impression with the subtle scent of fresh flowers lining the altars. |
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| Double arched windows and walk-way |
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| This is the cosy little brasserie that we settled with for lunch - their rabbits are limited, fortunately, we took the 2nd last piece before the lunch crowd arrived. |
Eze
Seriously, this village is a little over-rated. But I would say the drive from Villefranche to Eze is one of a kind. When Mr. Steves said to take the coastal route and drop by Eze, I think he really meant it that way. We left after 30mins, including a toilet break. Oh well, some pictures for memory sake.
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| It felt like Chateau Eza is the main attraction of the place. It is actually a Chateau converted into a high end hotel. Around the village, the most common scene was porters carrying their clients' luggages into the reception and the rooms. The whole Eze village is a hill top resort with rooms all around the village, so what's so nice about this place? |
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| This was what we enjoyed most in the village. |
Monaco
Casino, F1, dense housing, luxury yachts and the rich flaunting their flashy cars. This is the impression before and after visiting. Sounds like Singapore, so not that exciting for us either....except for the street lifts and women, who were walking their dogs in their flamboyant outfits and leopard printed stilettos.
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| This is to show my boss that I'm still working on the leisure yacht segment even though I'm on sabbatical. |
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| This system is awesome! Monaco is located on a hilly terrain, and parking is limited. And so, they stepped their parking lots on different levels according to the gradient of the slopes. There are numerous lifts across the city to bring people to the different street levels, so that pedestrians need not walk uphill alongside the roads. |
The highlight of our trip in Nice is the drive on the coastal route. Loved the Sun and Blue Sea from Nice to the neighbouring villages. Opt for the coastal routes, and the views will sweep you off! This is rather different from the coastal route from SFO to LA, and more challenging I think, since it'll bring you up and down the mountains with a coastal view...What we experienced cannot be captured in video (although I tried), as the panoramic view of the coves and caps is so magnificent, I'm so thankful that I can see...
Surprising, we didn't get too much of frustrated drivers on the road, from the mountains to the sea. We finally hear a long forgotten horn for manoeuvring too slowly at the roundabout, just outside our home. Parisien of course.
We do cross references with Michelin (which have options for scenic routes or time saving ones, these 2 usually don't co-exist), Google and of course our GPS. We forced the GPS through the scenic path sometimes.
Food and Accomodation
We stayed in La Regence in Villefranche-sur-mer. The place is conveniently placed opposite the tourist office, and have 2 public carparks nearby. 10 mins' walk to the old town of Villfranche, and 10 mins' drive to Nice by the major road it is on. Having said that, it is a pretty noisy place. Not for anyone looking for a luxurious stay by the sea (no sea-view here to start with). Nonetheless, I would think it is a value choice, considering that we were at a very touristy area. The owner runs both the hotel and the bar below the rooms, that means getting a cuppa/beer is always within reach.
We love socca in Nice. It is a crispy pancake made of chickpea flour. Niçoise salad is great, if served with socca, it'll be superb! Felt cheated by the guide books to try bagnants and beignets. Bagnant is nothing special, it is basically a sandwich. As for beignets, these are actually donuts with toppings. We preferred the ones with apples over nutella.
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