What about Nice? A City on Its Own, Nice, France

The first thing you’ll hear about Nice, the fifth biggest city in France, is its blue waters and famous pebble beaches. The capital of the Côte d’Azur is unlike any of the other big French cities. It’s glitzy but not quite like Paris, it’s a port city but not quite like Marseille, a resort town but not quite like St. Tropez…

Nice was an Italian city until 1860 and attracted famous guests and artists over the centuries which helped it to become the largest resort on the Mediterranean coast today. At first my senses were confused by the city and its salty air, which drives you to immediate thirst. Nice airport is an easy reach to the city with the frequent bus line 99 taking you to the center of the city. The city center, promenade des anglais, Colline du Chateau and all the other touristy spots are in a pristine condition of shabby-schickness. I word I think gets grossly over used today. Truth be told, my senses were in a blur and not because of my eight-hour lay-over, but because of the fact that all the big old grand hotels on the beach front seemed to be frozen in time, probably the 1920s. Some of the buildings and hotels in the city are truly rundown and stretches the definition of ‘shabby-shick’ to a very thin line. A late night out ended up in a 8 km walk in the wrong direction and as soon as you leave the beautiful ‘Old Town’ or tourist areas, the city tends to get down right shady. The huge apartment buildings are in bad condition with scary immigrant-like characters eyeballing the odd young female tourist walking in the wrong direction. I guess no harm will come to you if you stay inside the tourist areas (and don’t get lost). ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).