Monday 13 November 2017

The joy of walking without purpose - on the French Riviera!


The best of all worlds IS to be had here in the Alpes-Maritimes - we are, of course, delighted to be tucked away just North of Nice in the Mercantour National Park.  

However with a strict renovation timetable allowing us to be ready for guests over the festive season, we haven't been too far afield!

We were however tempted by some culture on the coast,  and the chance to escape for the day.  Getting on the €1.50 bus, albeit at 07.15, is an instant step into no-responsibility'ville - no concerns over bad driving, parking on the coast......your fate rests with the usually not too!, manic driver who will deposit you at the "seaside"....



We can't guarantee this beautiful dancer from the Alonzo King Ballet company - but lots of other excitement awaits!!

Ah to wander without purpose and gaze, and window shop....nothing bought aside from some great coffee - local coffee roasting - yum!!

Our new Nice Museum Pass  - available to residents of the Metropole (with ID and a proof of address) - allowed us back into the Musee des Beaux Arts after a gap of some 10 years - a gorgeous building and much lovely art including one of our favourites, which will shortly be gracing our kitchen wall!!


Thanks to winter opening - only from 11-6! - we did walk back and forth from central Nice several times,  just taking our time and enjoying the buzz for the Nice marathon which took place on November 5 2017.

Lunch - at the always generous Le Socrate - just off the main shopping street - Jean Medecin - a Lebanese feast at its best - and great value - even on a Saturday - they do offer an astonishingly good value lunch platter for c €12 from Monday to Friday.

Another recent recommendation has been for the Portuguese restaurant - Peixes ...fish orientated as you would imagine!!

The Opera in Nice remains quaint, a hop from the flower market, and some of the most pretentious/expensive restaurants in Nice.  It reminds me of being in the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds - let's hope that they don't knock it down and create a modern monstrosity.

Mahler's 6th - not everyone's choice for a light couple of hours but amazingly complex and "listenable"!! - the Philharmonic has a new musical director - a Mr Rath,
and talented he was too in achieving success with this tricky piece. 

We were magic'd back to our Mercantour lair with a kind friend who had made the effort to do the return trip - after a short sojourn in Ma Nolan's Irish pub in Old Nice.

Yes - there is everything down here!! - and now we have SNOW!! - and accommodation, still available, for the Christmas week here in Berthemont les Bains.

Planning a long weekend in February for snow shoeing - not yet on line!!

www.space-between.co.uk

Walking and adventure holidays in the Mercantour - and Provence, plus Gran Paradiso in Italy.