Delius Diaries

We flew from Brussels to Nice, an easy flight. The Brussels airport is modern and nice, although it has only one entrance which means you must enter through the smoking gauntlet, not our favorite by any means. In Brussels after going through bag check and security, you look at the boards to determine your flight’s gate location. We arrived early as we weren’t sure how long it would take through security, etc. and didn’t want a missed flight drama. Looking at the departure board our flight was noted as “gate A, RELAX! 12:35”. We thought this was hilarious. We walked to gate area A and sat in the terminal with shops, cafes, high value cars (which Connor enjoyed inspecting) and a beer bar. At 12:35 the board was updated with our gate #. It was a very pleasant experience, we did in fact RELAX! European travel is more elegant and enjoyable.

We arrived in Nice on a beautiful day and checked into our hotel located on the Promanade de Anglais overlooking the French Riveria. It was beautiful! We went to rooftop bar overlooking the Mediterranean with lots of people and car watching. The water us a unique shad of blue, so beautiful, difficult to fully describe. The view was so lovely that we decided sitting and watcing should be our afternoon activity. Once the sun went down I pushed us to head to a local restaurant in Nice Ville, the historic part of the city. We walked and enjoyed the evening sights. We ate at a French brasserie outside, which unfortunately always poses the smoking issue. I enjoyed our dinner, Connor and Scott struggeled a bit to find something, let’s just say I am more adventurous with food. 

First day we spent touring on scooters along the Promadade de Anglais and then rode up to Castle Hill. The cemetary and the view were the highlights. The cemetary was the most beautiful I have ever seen as well as the best maintained. Ancient family plots are still used in modern times and are adorned with flowers and plants to honor loved ones. The architecture and style of the monuments reminded me of cemeteries in New Orleans, but taken care of much better. We made it to the top of Castle Hille enjoying the sweeping views along the way. At the top we took a break for a “snack”, as the signs conveyed, of beer, coffee and a messy but good nutella crepe. 

Castle Hill, that we ascended, was the first inhabited area of Nice in the 11th century. At the time, living along the coast was dangerous, too easily overtaken by a military seige. Castle Hill had the advantage of height and a flat top. It was first settled by the Greeks and later taken over by the Romans, as we have found with all of our travels throughout the centuries there was constant upheaval amongst different countries and cultures. During the Middle Ages, the hill developed into a military citadel, known as Château de Nice. Louis XIV ordered the castle to be completely destroyed in 1706 after the War of the Spanish Succession, when the French army sieged the castle. Today it is a very popular public park with views of the bay, the Riviera, and on clear days you can see the snow topped Alps. We walked the entire grounds and headed back to Ville Nice for lunch and shopping.

Our second day was rainy and cloudy but did not stop us from getting on the train to Monaco. Monaco was Connor’s request to visit so we could see the small country but mostly so he could see his favorite, race cars! The 20-minute train ride was short but allowed for beautiful views (everything in Monaco is beautiful including the trash cans!) along the coast. We spent the day walking the palace grounds, the beautiful city and taking in an F1 racing tour of the circuit. We enjoyed a nice lunch taking a break from the rain. The F1 tour ended at the the Casino Plaza with especially beautiful and interesting artwork along with high-end shops. We walked through the mall and had a coffee sitting below large scale beautiful chandeliers. Princess Grace, the American actress who married her prince, is referenced throughout the municipality. Everyone speaks French in Monaco, which makes sense as it is run by the French government as a part of the agreement that was cast long ago between France and Monaco. We took the train back to Nice and found a place for dinner before heading back to the hotel. As with the night before, we found a great gelato shop, which we devoured as we walked back through the historic area.

Friday we decided to have a non-scheduled day which seemed like a good idea at the beginning of the day, it was Halloween. We slept in a bit and then went to the “beach“ to swim in the Mediterranean waters. The challenge with the beach is it is all rocks. While it looks beautiful visually, it is not beautiful to walk on. We tried to use slippers from the hotel to walk on the rocky beach and into the water (also has the rocks), which was quite funny. We still enjoyed time at the beach with the unique blue waters, the landscape views and people watching (always fascinating). As you can imagine the water was chilly so we warmed up in the rooftop heated pool overlooking the Mediterranean. Our party then broke up, I went shopping searching for lunch on the go, and the boys got lunch at the rooftop bar ($38 hamburger, yikes) and car spotting on the Promadade de Anglais from the rooftop. I found lots of fun shops and ate a yummy quiche on walk about. We regrouped to walk through the tourist area which included a few art shops where Connor picked up the art bug. He found several grafitti art options, out of his price range and too early for Christmas. But this interest carried over into the next day. We ended the day at an Itallian restaurant in Ville Nice with a large pedestrian promenade sitting outside. Throughout the afternoon we began to see costumes and locals in makeup, all ages. More goolish and goblin types than cute, sweet or funny, even the young kids. Definately a different vibe. The challenge for sweet Connor was he missed his buddies!!! It hit him hard knowing he was not with the boy pack roaming our neighborhood at home. We all missed our normal Halloween, but we talked, ate and watched the French Halloween. Instead of “Trick or Treat” the kids walked into restaurants and shops with their bags saying “Bonjour” or “Bonne soire’e”. The littles sounded very cute. We ended with gelato cookie sandwiches, yum.

Our final day in the south of France was a short road trip to Provence and the small village of St-Paul-de-Vence and Vence. This is my third time visitng both and I wanted to show Connor and Scott. The area is a well known art community with painters such as Chagall, Matise and Picasso having spent time and influence in the area. The village dates back to the 12th century with intact bastion walls. We walked on top of the perimiter walls with Scott and Connor discussing 13th centry battle strategies – bow and arrow turning to firepower over the centuries. The scenery from the wall showcased the Alps to the north with the Mediteranean to the south. Oh what it must have looked like in the 12th century! We then walked through the village making our way to the top. I loved looking at the local residential front doors, walking only lanes, gardens and verandas. It would be so cool to live in this village, except for the nosey tourists like me. The village hosts a few cafes and pastry shops, art galleries, along with clothing and gift shops. Connor found 2-pieces of grafetti art in different shops in his budget. Cool finds! I bought earings, a velvet jacket and a few Christmas gifts. I also found art, unfortately far outside our budget. The top of the village has a lovely small historic church with a unique black alter that we walked through.

We made a quick trip to Vence, the local township. Since it was All Saints Day, most of the town was closed as was the Chagall museum, but we still enjoyed walking about with a stop at a bolangerie for a pastry. We ended the day with dinner at the hotel. I typically don’t want to eat dinner at hotels as I don’t find them to be that great. But we were tired from the day so I gave in to weary feet. And wouldn’t you know it, that was the best meal we had all week. I enjoyed a warm pumpkin soup and salad, Connor and Scott had hamburgers. Two desserts later and we were in bed asleep, tired from a long day of adventure. We arrived back at our home away from home Sunday early afternoon in time for a walk to the park and RC car running. A fun and full Fall break. Time to plan the next adventure.