Our eight weeks in Nice have been absolutely wonderful. It is such a relaxing place to be and we thoroughly enjoyed having a home with cooking facilities, washing machine, reliable internet and above all space to move and just kick back and relax. The area we are in is only 300 metres from the beach surrounded by supermarkets (4 within 2 blocks) and bakeries (6 within 2 blocks) under 10 minutes walk to the city centre which has all the shopping anyone would want and another 5 minutes to the old part of the city with the daily markets being held in the mornings with all manner of foods, flowers, plants, meats, cheeses, vegetables and souvenirs for sale. The old town is also filled with restaurants, coffee shops, snack bars, bakeries and general stores, clothing and shoe shops.

This area of the Cote d'Azur is absolutely buzzing with people of all nationalities and we are amazed at how many thousands of people parade the promenade by the beach every day (we included), and on the weekend it is busier with non stop traffic flowing alongside the boulevard area. The beaches are packed with people and swimmers braving the water at an October temperature of around 22 degrees and many hundreds (maybe thousands) just content to sun bake on the very pebbly beach area.

The busiest areas in Nice are the Promenade des Anglais, a pedestrian strip which runs the length of the beach, the beautiful Place Messena, a lovely square a few streets back from the beach, the Promenade de Paillon, the central water gardens which are just off Place Messena, a city block wide and we guess around 1.5 ks long which is all beautiful gardens, playgrounds, seating areas and best of all water features with timed water jets and sprays erupting from vast paved areas which of course are covered in laughing children and very often adults too all enjoying the water features as they squirt to all different heights and patterns, it really is a wonderful area to enjoy. Another busy area is the mall running off Place Messena where masses of restaurants and high end shops peddle their wares so successfully as the mall area always seems full of people no matter what time of day we have been through there. Another of the hot spots is the old town, Vieille Ville, with the market always full of people early in the day and the tiny streets always packed with tourists and locals all enjoying the food outlets, cafes and bakeries. We cannot believe the place is so busy as it is not high season here but the tourists keep flocking in as the airport is in easy view of the promenade area and we are stunned at how many flights come in and out of this area with airliners taking off and landing every few minutes. The airport is the third busiest airport in France handling 50 plus air traffic movements an hour. There is also quite a large number of ships come to the Nice Port with 2 large ferries making multiple trips, numerous cruise ships arriving in Nice Port or anchoring around the corner in the bay at Villefranche or along the coast at Monaco.
Public transport is excellent around Nice itself as well as going further afield, along either direction of coast or inland. You can catch a bus for €1.50 taking you up to 50 kilometres. Taking the bus from Nice toward Monaco would be one of the world's most picturesque bus rides. The road hugs the coast so the beautiful blue water is always in view along with the gorgeous colourful buildings. Trains from Nice are more expensive than the buses but much faster.

We have done many day trips to Villefrance, Monaco, Menton, Cannes, Cagnes sur Mer, Beaulieu sur Mer, St Jean, Cap Ferrat, Vence & St Paul de Vence.

The small town Villefranche around 5 ks away which is very quaint and typical of an old port town with beaches and small streets going into the hills to explore, a lovely little spot.

Menton was another day trip around 30ks away by bus, a medium sized seaside resort town with lovely beaches and restaurants lining the edge of the beach area plus lots of streets of the old town winding their way up the hills from the sea to markets and churches from days of old.

Cannes around 40 ks from Nice another beautiful area with sandy beaches and crystal clear blue waters. This area is famous for the annual film festival with the stars flocking to be seen at the festival. For us tourist types it is just a very pretty and relaxing place, surrounded by beaches, marinas, promenade areas and the obligatory restaurants and cafes. The culture here seems to be get outside and enjoy the atmosphere and watch the crowds stroll and roll by and it is a very pleasant way to live we both agree as there is always so much going on. We happily watched hundreds of cyclists pedal through the Cannes area the day we were there, some solo and many in small groups all enjoying the weather and sights of the area. We wandered through the main shopping area and it was lovely, lots of high end shops with elegant and extremely expensive clothing to temp the passers by. The area is well serviced by public transport with a continuos flow of buses and trains entering and leaving the area as is similar all along the coastal strip here in the south of France.

Beaulieu is around 10 ks from Nice, the other way along the coast towards Italy. Another very pretty spot, again beaches and the holiday atmosphere abound in this area with steep cliffs dominating the town just behind the beach area and marinas full of huge cruisers and yachts moored for the rich and famous to use when they are in the area. We were stunned at the size of some of the boats, they are more like mini cruise liners and are meticulously maintained by live aboard crews (a job we would absolutely love to do).

Cap Ferrat and St Jean are close to Beaulieu and we were inspired to walk around the Cap Ferrat coastal walk which we estimate was around 15ks for a total loop back to Beaulieu. This area is stunningly beautiful with craggy white stone cliffs dropping to the sea and nicely formed paths to walk on. It was a real pleasure to get away from the towns and enjoy the peace and quiet of the area. The town of St Jean is also lovely with its marina and quaint streets winding closely together around the cape area. Apparently it is quite a rich area with lots of wealthy people maintaining holiday residences here and on Cap Ferrat itself as we witnessed by the homes we spied on our trek. The wealth was confirmed by seeing an advert in the real estate window for a 57 square metre 1 bedroom apartment for sale at €690,000 which is over $1,000,000 AUD - quite expensive.

Vence & St Paul de Vence are both very pretty walled medieval villages in the hills behind Nice. Both have been popular with artists for centuries. Vence has also a thriving modern city centre & market town. St Paul de Vence is the 2nd most visited walled medieval village after Carcassonne. We were lucky to have it all to ourselves almost as there were only about a dozen tourists.

The remainder of the time has been spent exploring Nice which we think is an absolute gem of the Cote d'Azur area and well worth a visit by anyone who enjoys a relaxing life by the seaside. We have been pleasantly surprised by the warm sunny days we have had considering it is almost winter. We met some Aussies a few days ago who have travelled all over the world and have come to Nice on their way to a cruise and are blown away by their discovery of Nice, stating they will be back next year to rent an apartment and stay for an extended period to enjoy the area.

We too will happily return to Nice & the stunning Cote d'Azur again as it is one of our favourite holiday spots & there is still so much more to see & do. We have loved living life like the locals, trying to communicate in French only to be answered in perfect English, deciphering the food labels whilst shopping, marvelling at the low cost of groceries, delighting in the wonderful produce & of course enjoying the daily baguette or two. We will certainly miss France.

We now head to Hamburg Germany to meet up with John, Gaylene & Estelle. It will be lovely to see them & enjoy their company on the final month of our holiday.