Day in Nice

Michel de Vacri

It’s good to see Monsieur Robert back in Nice with his Godson and his mother. Yesterday I was their tour guide. We started in the Cours Saleya market and shopping for food and various other domestic chores. After a late breakfast a la francaise of a baguette and croissants we took the lift to the castle. The open park spaces and various amusement for little children pleased Jamie, and the adults too, with spectacular views over the Baie des Anges and the port.

We took the dinky bus-train down to the Promenade des Anglais.

This through headphones provided a rather sanitised history of our city. No reference to the War and the July 14 atrocity but we were enlightened about the various regimes which governed Nice: initially the Greeks, then the Dukedoms of Bourgogne, then Of Savoy, before coming under the French department Alpes Maritimes.

Deposited on the Promenade we only had short stroll to the Blue Beach my favourite beach restaurant. Being by an azure sea with lapping waves was idyllic in the sunshine and it was not long before Jamie was skimming stones into the water. Robert had to have his siesta and after that we went to a crowded Safari restaurant for local nicois cuisine. Opposite the restaurant and after the meal I enjoyed an Armagnac or two in the balmy night air watching the second half of Juventus v Barcelona. Nice is very much influenced by Italy – Garibaldi was born and lived here – so Juve had the bigger support. They have the best defence in the world and I can’t see Barcelona scoring 6 as they did against PSG in the return leg.