Côte d'Azur Day 3: Nice

Our third day on the Côte d'Azur saw us visiting the area's unofficial capital, Nice. This city is full of history, culture and architecture, and definitely can't be missed.

Even the train station, the first place most visitors see after arriving, is a really beautiful building.

I had been to Nice a few times before, but there was one particular sight I hadn't seen yet, specifically because I hadn't heard of it until the last day of my previous trip, when there wasn't time to visit it!

So this time, we made sure to visit Saint-Nicolas Russian Orthodox Cathedral straight after emerging from the train station. This is considered to be the most important orthodox cathedral outside Russia, and given that travel to Russia is currently advised against, it's probably the closest most of us can get to visiting somewhere like Saint Basil's Cathedral right now.

The building is absolutely beautiful and almost made us feel like we were in Moscow or Saint Petersburg - if it wasn't for the 30-degree heat and palm trees!

The inside of the church was also pretty interesting, as it was completely different to an Anglican or Catholic church, without the usual pews we'd expected to see.

I also absolutely loved the fact that there were little pet rabbits hopping around the grounds of the cathedral!

Next we decided to visit what is probably the most famous attraction in Nice: la Promenade des Anglais, which extends for 7 kilometres along the coastline.

One of the most famous sites of the Promenade is Le Negresco hotel, one of the most iconic hotels of the Côte d'Azur, along with the Carlton in Cannes.

However, what excited Claudio the most about being there was the fact that a car chase scene in the Transporter was filmed there!

At the end of the promenade, you can find Nice's château, a little castle perched on a hill. From this corner of the city, there are some amazing views to enjoy. 

For lunch, we both really fancied some pasta, and Nice is a great place for it, given that it used to be part of Italy. So we went to Carpe Diem, an Italian restaurant tucked away in an alleyway in Old Nice. Claudio had tagliatelle bolognese, I had a vegetarian pasta dish called Carpe Diem, and we both had a glass of wine. The food and wine were both delicious and very good value, and the portions were huge! I'd say it was the best meal we had during the holiday.

After lunch, we went for a stroll through Old Nice, which is a really picturesque area full of beautiful buildings, including the city's cathedral.

We then went to visit la Fontaine du Soleil in Place Masséna, Nice's most famous square.

We finished off our day in Nice in the best way: relaxing on the beach and paddling in the sea. The beach is beautiful, but because it's made from pebbles rather than sand, it does really hurt your feet to walk barefoot on it!

After we got back to Vallauris, where we were staying, we went to the cute bakery we'd seen on our first day, Maison des Merveilles, and bought a strawberry trompe l'œil cake, as we hadn't had time for cake on Claudio's birthday the previous day. After going for a long swim in the sea, we shared the cake back at the hotel, and I'm pleased to say that it tasted as good as it looked!

It had been another great day on the Côte d'Azur! Nice is such a vibrant city, and we really enjoyed our time exploring its sights and soaking in its atmosphere.

Sadly, the following day was the last day of our trip! It was a slightly more relaxed day, but we still saw plenty of interesting sights. I'll be writing all about it very soon!