The Old Town of Nice

As I mentioned, Nice is not a town, it is a large city.  From views at the top of the chateau you can clearly see that there is much more to Nice than the beach front but it actually expands into the mountains.  However, if you only had a short bit of time to explore anywhere in Nice, it has to be Old Town.

The view over Old Town. 

Nestled at the end of the promenade right before the Port di Nice and the Chateau is the Old Town of Nice.  It is the charming, colorful, historical part of Nice and it was my favorite area in France.  My best advice to someone visiting Nice would be to put your map away in Old Town and just get lost.

Samantha and I getting lost in Old Town. 

Around every corner is another narrow street filled with colors unseen in the last one.  You will find boutique stores, bakeries, café’s, pizza places and if your lucky enough to run into this eatery, the worlds best ice cream.  Be prepared to eat a lot because everywhere you look is going to be another cookie or piece of succa you will want to try.

Pipping hot succa. 

It is clear that there is an Italian presence in Nice as most of the restaurants were Italian and Old Town reminded me a lot of the streets of Florence.  If my memory does serve me correctly, I do believe Nice was part of Italy way back in the day. 

Fresh pasta, the Italian influence. 

Samantha standing in a square 

With that, you still feel the French culture, especially on the main street going into Old Town.  We were lucky enough to have our hotel balcony over look this street and enjoy the liveliness at all time. During the day it is the coveted flower market, which sells fresh flowers (of course), fruits, pastries, meats and chesses (hint: get the apricots).  At night it turns into a number of small seas food restaurants where the most popular dish is mussels Mariana.

The view from our balcony. 

Our pot of mussels. 

I could go on and on about how much I loved Old Town.  My advice is just go in the morning and at night and just walk.  Embrace the history of the area as there are few places, maybe none, which are like this in the U.S.  Have your meals in Old Town, (trust me they will be much better than the Cafes on the water as we learned), stay near Old Town and make sure you have Fennocio at least more than once. 

We may have had Fennochio more than once. 

The windy roads of Old Town.