Our first full day in Nice we decided to mostly focus on seeing the main things to visit in the Nice area itself. First on our list was the Musee Matisse and it also gave us our first real opportunity to get around on the Nice public transportation.

We actually started the morning with breakfast from the little bakery on the corner just a few steps from our apartment. We split a ham and cheese stuffed croissant and kind of sausage roll. After breakfast we ventured out to the market which is just a block or so from our apartment and wandered through. On Mondays apparently they do an antiques market instead of the usual food market (hopefully will see that tomorrow). After making our way through we headed to the tram stop nearby to buy a bus pass (yes Jennifer so far Becky still has hers) for 7 days which will allow us to ride the trams and buses all over the Nice and surrounding areas. We caught the bus to the Musee Matisse which is also located on the site of an old Roman arena and bath house complex so we started by going through the arena before heading to the bright red/pink Chateau that houses the museum which features the art of Henri Matisse. It was a pretty small collection so we quickly went through and saw what we needed to see. Next we headed to the overlook of the Roman era bath houses which like the arena was mostly ruins but it was an interesting look into an ancient structure. After this we went by the Monasterie de Cimez which is just down the road. We could enter the main cathedral which was a very old and beautiful building with fading art and a few nice stained glass windows.

After leaving the monastery we headed back to the bus stop and caught the bus the opposite direction to visit the Musee Chagall. Marc Chagall’s art on display is mostly biblically based and was made more interesting by the audio guides that you could use. His artwork tells biblical stories for things like the creation story, Noah and the ark, etc. I think I enjoyed this museum more than the other but much of it may have been a better understanding due to the guide.

After leaving the Chagall Museum we headed back to the old town area and stocked up at the grocery store we had seen but was closed yesterday. After dropping off the food at the apartment we decided to head over to the little town of Villefranche-sur-mer which is just a few miles east of Nice. We walked down the hill from the bus stop to the old town and eventually to the harbor where we sat at a little cafe and had a drink and a snack while generally just watching people stroll by and boats coming in and out of the harbor. Interestingly the exclusive cruise ship “The World” (go look it up) was moored out in the harbor and we saw its tender making regular trips to drop off and pickup passenger/owners. Once we finished resting and relaxing we decided to brave the walk back up the hill and made a quick side stop at the old Chateau/Castle which used to protect the city. It was built in the 1500s and had very impressive high walls and other defenses. It also provided some good views of the harbor area and Cap Ferrat. Next we finished the climb up the hill and Becky won the race up the stairs when I decided to take advantage of a shady bench. The bus on the way back ended at the Nice port area so we decided to grab dinner and found a nice little cafe where I got Fruits de Mer with pasta (this was clams and calamari in cream sauce on linguine) and Becky got Scampi ala Provencal on Risotto which turned out to be several LARGE whole prawns in a tomato sauce on risotto. I am pretty sure she thought they were moving when they came out! 🙂 We spent a relaxing time watching the sun drop over the hill across the harbor area and then decided to walk back to the hotel via the sea wall around the harbor and the mountain back to old town. This led to many beautiful views as the sun set. We got close up looks at several large super yachts which are just each more ridiculous than the last. Though if any person that owns one needs to give their dated model away so that they can build the new biggest one in the harbor I will send you my number. The path continued around a point and gave us several great views of both the Nice port area and also the main city of Nice and the promenade and beach area. To end the day we decided to make it a tradition to hit the gelato shop next to our apartment. While eating the gelato we headed back to the apartment to relax and do a little blogging. Good night for now Cannes and Antibes and who knows what else tomorrow.