The French Riviera Part One: Nice
Tuesday we trained into Nice, and checked into our hostel.
Villa St. Exupery was an colorful modern art-filled hostel with good music, 3.50 happy hour mojitos, and euro beers, and was a great start to our first night in the riviera. I don't understand why anyone would ever do a hotel now. Although somewhat cheesy, like some tourist summer camp, with everyone's "where ya from? what brought you here?" and my favorite amusing answer, "well, I'd like to think of myself as a citizen of the world," hostels offer a great opportunity to meet people from all over, get tips on where to go and where to stay, and learn about other opportunities for travel. For instance you have the cute little gap year students, and the wild spring breakers, and you have the ex-computer programmers who left town after the parents moved in, but then there are ex-cruise line employees, private super yacht stewardesses and cooks, and hostel staff, who just wanted to travel. I learned that the girls who work on cruise ships in the little retail/mall areas make decent money, travel everywhere for 6-months to a year or more, get two months off to go back home. Two guys I met scuba diving (one staff chef, the other dishwasher), basically live on a private yacht for free, and get paid to travel the world's most beautiful places, use all the boat's toys (jet skis, scuba gear), and the owner comes aboard maybe twice a year for a few weeks.
We came right in time for Nice Carnival,the supposedly French version of New Orleans Mardi Gras.
During the day large floats of floral designs would stroll down the streets, and everyone would have their bouquet of yellow flowers on the metros that they were going to throw during the parade. Every night it turned into a comical costume dance party with large floats, dancers, masks, and an all out silly string and confetti war.
Tuesday and Saturday night we ended up bar hopping in Old Nice, starting off at the renowned Wayne's Bar, where British youth dance on tables and drink way overpriced drinks to classic american and english rock tunes. What I liked much more was the way less touristy Blue Whale, still expensive (but everywhere is), but had live music every night until 4 a.m., happy hour until midnight, and Leffe Rouge and Orgasm Shots.
In Old Nice, lively markets are held every morning until 1:30 in the afternoon. It's known for it's large flower markets and socca (crepe like thing) you can buy hot off the gridle from a tough lady named Theresa, called the Queen of the Market. I bought a bag of delicious olives and some fruit to snack on, as we hiked up to Castle Hill, for an awesome view of Nice, the mountains, and the ocean. For a euro, we took the bus to Villefranche-sur Mer, a 15 minute away very quiet village of beautiful views and old people.
Spices!
Saturday night after visits to the Matisse Museum, Roman Ruins, and Museum of Contemporary Art, we had an amazing dinner in Old Nice on the market street. Bread, Nicoise Salad, Moules and Frites and Ice Cream.
Friday morning we boarded a scuba diving boat, where a french man with a nautical striped shirt, named Febreze (like the air freshner he said), explained quickly in bits of english how to scuba dive...it was bit more like tandem scuba diving, since it was both our first times, with a guy leading us around. Once back on board, we were given a glass of rose wine...although whiskey might have been a better choice, since it was freezing in that water, even with two wet suits on.
Sunday I wandered the markets and city by myself, and since it was the first Sunday of the month, I was able to catch the Chagall Museum for free. On my way to the museum though I ran into a parade of bohemian/hippie looking people, playing hand drums, singing, on quirky decorated bicycles, heading back down to the carnival. Many of them slightly smelling like pot. Afterwards I headed back to Old Nice and got some pistachio gelato from Fennochios (Spell?), and took a nap on the pebble beach, as it was the first moderately warm day I spent there. I walked through the children's part of the carnival, where kids were dressed up as everything from clowns (Which are really popular here) to Buzz Lightyear.
I watched as parade security guards and police man laughed on the ground, as the silly stringed each other. Even I got attacked with it and confetti by an old man and his buddies. I saw an incredible accordion player outside a gelato shop, a guitar player outside the Palais du Justice, and an interesting man with two white cats, dressed up as some medieval character with a painted white face and white wig, doing balancing acts in Old Nice, with a sign reading "I am not a vagabond." Perhaps it's the warm friendly weather, or the heavy italian influences, or perhaps the carnival season that makes Nice wonderfully laid back and less serious and playful, at least much more than the rest of France.
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