After a magical four days in Bruges, we took the train all the way to the south of France! We made Nice our home base for exploring the stunning French Riviera for the next four days. We spent our first full day exploring Nice itself, and I fell in love with this city.
I can’t go on with this travel guide without addressing the tragedy that recently happened in Nice on Bastille Day of this year. My heart breaks for the individuals and families that were forced into such tragedy on a day meant for unity and celebration in France. Nice is a gorgeous city, and when I was biking along the Promenade des Anglais back in February of this year, I couldn’t have imagined something so horrendous occurring in such a beautiful part of the world. All we can do is pray and seek out the beauty and goodness that is in the world and in most people on this planet.
Morning Pastries
Our morning started off with delicious French pastries at Boulangerie Blanc!
The pastries were divine (as anyone would expect pastries in France to be). We picked up a couple each and headed to the Promenade des Anglais to sit and watch the ocean until our city bike tour started.
Nice Cycle Tours
At 10am we met our tour guide for Nice Cycle Tours right along the Promenade des Anglais. She gave us a great introduction to the city and then walked us to the bike shop to pick up our bicycles. After picking up our bikes, we started to ride around the streets of the city and stop at various sights for the next three hours. At each of the stops the guide told us stories and interesting historical facts. I’d highly recommend this tour!
The umbrella shop below has been on this corner in Nice since 1850! It originally sold umbrellas as a source of shade from the sun rather than the rain. It was not popular to have a tan at that time. 🙂
The famous chocolatier below, Henri Auer, has been around since 1820 and was a favorite of Queen Victoria’s.
Candied fruits in the chocolatier!
We (slowly) biked up to Castle Hill to see a gorgeous view of the harbor and the shoreline as well as a beautiful cemetery.
Castle Hill has multiple gorgeous viewpoints. This is a must-do even if you don’t do the cycling tour!
Daniel picking out his future yacht
After biking back down from Castle Hill (much easier than biking up!), we wandered around and then had lunch at a delicious sandwich shop called Multari.
Cours Saleya Market
We really enjoyed walking through one of the markets, Cours Saleya. There were gorgeous flowers and lots of veggies and fruits.
Cafés Indien
Cafés Indien is a great little coffee shop right in the heart of nice. I recommend it if you need a caffeine fix while wandering the streets!
La Voglia
Nice is very close to the border of Italy, so you can see a lot of Italian influence in the architecture and in the food! We decided we were craving Italian food, so we booked a table at La Voglia at the recommendation of our cycling tour guide. We were not disappointed.
Delicious antipasta platter starter
Fresh pasta!
We enjoyed this restaurant a lot. We sat out on the patio filled with locals, and it was a fun evening!
That was our one day in Nice! We stayed at our hotel in Nice as a home base for two more nights and took day trips to both Cannes and Monaco. I’ll be sharing our days in those locations coming up soon!
Also, I’m guest posting on Olya’s blog today, and you should check it out! I’m sharing my top five travel memories, some from trips I haven’t had the chance to share on my own blog yet.
Our time in the French Riviera was part of a 2.5 month trip across Western Europe. Click here to check out all of my posts from this adventure!
{Thanks for reading! Want to know a little more about me? I’m a CPA learning how to balance a career with frequent travel while planting roots at home in Austin, TX. When I’m not exploring my home city with my husband Daniel or cuddling with our chubby orange cat Banana, I’m probably planning, packing, traveling to, or daydreaming about our next adventure. After all, my travel mug collection is never complete. If you have wanderlust too, be sure to follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat (emilya89), or subscribe to my blog!}
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