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Published: November 7th 2009
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Looking out on the first morning Once arrived in Nice and thoroughly wanting to die from traveling so long, we headed to our hotel 'The Little Palace' just a few blocks from the ocean. I shared a room with Alex and Kelsey while Mike joined his two friends that came in from Paris in the room adjacent. It was a very nice place with one double and one single bed.
Starving, we ventured out into town and found a place to share two pots of mussels and fries along with some beers. Pretty tasty, but not overly satisfying, hence a necessary croque brie second course at another place. This small mountain of cheese CERTAINLY left me satisfied. Walking around through what seemed to be the restauranty/touristy area, we eventually called it an early night as we were exhausted from travelling all day.
Our first morning I was slightly disappointed upon looking out our quasi-balcony and seeing the overcast skies, but the weather was certainly doable. After showering and whatnot, our first move was clear - chocolate almond croissants. We found an absolutely delicious bakery in the old town and quickly gobbled up our flakey pastries filled with chocolate and almond cream and dusted with powdered
sugar, toasted almonds, and a bit of chocolate. My first impressions of the Nice were as follows - a laid-back, if not sleepy Mediterranean city worn by the ocean breeze; long-fallen out of prominence, but still very elegant and charming.
The rest of the afternoon was spent touring the old town, on the way seeing the building where both Chekov and Magritte apparently resided in the city. This part of the city is beautiful - rich golden and pink-colored buildings, narrow passageways opening onto beautiful plazas, a constant hustle and bustle, and so on. Also a traditionally Occitan city, street signs were marked in both French and Occitan, or, Niçard as Nice's dialect is called.
The old town sights we passed included the Palais du Justice and Palais Rusca, the Cathédrale Sainte-Réparate, and the Place Garibaldi among many others. We popped into many a shop, our favorite being this adorable shop with homemade liqueurs for sampling. I bought a small jug of fig liqueur along with two little glasses. Moving onto the Cours Saleya we checked out the nice flower market just a block up from the water. The area was also surrounded by a dozen or so
delicious looking restaurants and had a few street performers doing their thing, in this case some Brazilian gymnastic business.
We then stepped out of the old town for a bit and checked out some of the more modern area. Needing to recover from all the walking, we had a stop at a café some some café crème, or, in my case, afternoon Pastis. I have a renewed appreciation for the potent Anise-flavored liqueur now that I know that people in the south of France really do drink it all the time! All day and night you see small glasses of the telltale creamy white-yellow color resulting from the alcohol's reaction with water upon being slightly diluted.
Next it was time for some lunch. We had read about a very affordable place in the old town with Niçoise specialities in a guidebook and hence headed that way. Sure enough, there was a line, but we went ahead and waited and were rewarded with a delicious feast. Farcis (roasted vegetables stuffed with breading, pork, and other delicious things), socca (a chickpea crepe), pissaladière (an onion flatbread/pizza with olives, anchovies, and garlic), and of course some more moules frites (mussels with
fries). We also got our booze on with a nice jug of red table wine. Molt bé.
Tired and somewhat drunk, we headed back to the hotel for a nap. Once revived, we went on the cheap and got kebabs which we ate along the Promenade des Anglais, the main promenade along the waterfront/bat. We had a nice walk along the water, then headed back toward the center for some ice cream. Unfortunately the ice cream left something to be desired, but luckily we would find much more satisfying varieties in the coming days.
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Oh, I just love your descriptions of food and surroundings. My only concern is how will you be able to enjoy the simple fare Uncle Ray and I serve on Christmas Day? Just kidding.....