Today, we thought that we were in for a bit of a rest; just wander around town a little and get acquainted. It didn't turn out that way. We wandered around, but we really got tired. In the morning, the first thing that we did was to head to the tourist information. For some reason, they did not seem very gracious, I thought. We got our maps, we got the info about the bus stops and we were on our way to the old town, known here as Vieux Nice.
Old Nice is just like the old centers of other cities and towns. The streets are small, narrow and crowded with restaurant tables and people. Some of the lanes are so narrow and lined up in such a manner that the sun doesn't really shine there. Some of them seem to be in perpetual shade. But, then there are the sunny open squares where there is usually a church, a fountain and room to move about in the off season. This part of the city reminds me a lot of parts of Italy, especially the campos in Venice.
We had lunch in the most touristy of old town streets, which also serves as the flower market. The combination of restaurants and flowers all up and down the middle of the wide boulevard seemed rather postcard picturesque.
After a mediocre lunch, we headed to the the oldest part of old town, the remains of the castle on the tiptop of the hill overlooking the sea. Being of a certain age ourselves, we took the elevator to the top. Even then, the additional stairs to the very top were a bit tiring. We took a lot of pictures of the city surrounding the bottom of the hill. From the crest, we could see the rest of the city plus the beach, the sea and the mountains which are not all that far away. Very lovely views.
Here are some of them:
The elevator was installed in the tower that had previously been used to bring water up to the top. It stood a bit away from the rest of the hill. When the door opened at the top, there was a narrow balcony surrounding the tower. This is not ideal for me, with my fear of heights. I made it 180 degrees around to the bridge that connected the tower to the terra firma. I barely caught my breath when we came upon a small group consisting of a couple of firemen and some teenage boys. For some reason, the firemen were trussing the kids up, one at a time, and holding the ropes while the kids rappelled down the side of the stone wall.
I had just got off the dizzying balcony and I thought for sure that the kids were going down the whole depth that I could see from the elevator tower. Just the thought of it made me queasy. After watching a few of them go over the side rail, I decided to investigate with the idea of taking photos from a little lower level of them coming over the wall. I was mighty surprised to find that the path would around to the bottom of their descent, which was probably all of 20 feet! I had imagined them going down several hundred feet to the bottom of the hill.
Here is one brave kid getting suited up:
The castle complex was completely destroyed by one invader or another, so there is nothing left of the original castle, keep or wall. Some of the original places are being excavated. We saw the dig for the church there. This was part of the structure that seemed to have survived since it's original construction.
Other space, which was no doubt within the keep, is being used as park space with equipment for kids. Believe it or not, you can even walk on the grass. I put my foot down and no sirens went off. Amazing. The French are unbelievably ridiculous about their greenspace. Usually there are special police assigned to keep people off the grass. Step on the grass at the Tour Eiffel and you will get a ticket. Here you could walk, run, lie or play with no consequences. Only dogs were forbidden. Thank goodness for that because the French have not learned to pick up after Fido.
Even the stairs to the bottom of the hill would have been hard on our legs, so we took the elevator down and wandered some more around the old town, stopping to have creme de glace' in a square along the way. As we were walking through the old town, we went past some restaurant back doors where the crews were cleaning up. I could not resist this guy taking a cigarette break in the doorway.
We came back to the apartment much the same way that we went, going through the really nice park space at Espace Messena which had many fountains and flowers. It was a very nice place to rest our legs before moving on. And, it was smack in the middle of the city.
Here's the park:
I'm beginning to really like this city. It has nice architecture, some fancy aging hotels that are quite the thing, lots of open public spaces, and of course, there's the several-mile-long promenade along the Mediterranean, lined with palm trees, that stretches the complete length of the city from the airport to the far reaches of the old city. What's not to like? (well, traffic is a bit much)
Just in back of our apartment, we found an internet cafe. Finally, I will have internet access. I am truly annoyed that the cafe next door to our apartment advertises wifi on its awning, but the owner doesn't seem willing to share the code. It annoys me every time I have to walk past the cafe. If he spoke English, I would have to have a word with him, but I am powerless to say anything (of course, I could say it, but he wouldn't understand). So, after our trip to Antibes tomorrow, I will visit the internet cafe and post my tardy blog entries all to the tune of 3 Euros/hr. Considering how much coffee at a cafe can cost, that is probably a bargain.
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