Location Location Location

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There are two major youth hostels (auberges de jeunesse) in Nice and they are located in drastically different places. One of them is a short walk to the train station, a short walk to the old town with lots of restaurants and a short walk to the beach. Then there’s the one I stayed at. The primary means of reaching this hostel is taking a bus from the old town up a giant hill and for the first time since I’ve been in Europe, I was not pleased with the workings of the public transportation. The bus routes were labeled in a confusing way and, at least for the bus I had to take, the buses didn’t come very often. They also stopped running just after 9:00. Luckily, I really enjoy walking everywhere, so much so that I walked up the giant hill to the hostel twice in a 5-hour period. Of course the second time wasn’t much of a choice since the buses had stopped running (and no I’m not going to pay for a cab, do you know how expensive those are? I’m not made of money!).

The location of my hostel had its benefits, though. With a bit more of an uphill walk through a forested area I was able to reach the summit of Mont Alban, which has, in addition to an old fort, tremendous views of both Nice and Villefranche de Mer, the neighboring town. The Med looked fantastic from up there and I stayed around to get some nice pictures of the sun going down. The hostel itself also had a very nice view from a large terrace on the top of the building. So I don’t really regret having chosen that hostel, though it was a little disheartening to see a sign directing me towards the other one 45 minutes into my 55 minute walk to the train station (which I had to start at 5am). Oh well, it’s all behind me now as my journey continues to Provence. (Note: This was true when I wrote it, but I am now in Barcelona.)

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Photos

Nice #1
View from hostel

Nice #2
View from hostel

Villefranche sur mer
From Mont Alban