The first 5 days of our trip to France, we stayed in Nice. The old town was by far my favourite part with Nice being a good base for day trips.

I found the section on Nice in the “36 Hours In Europe” handguide very useful and the recommendations where great. It lead us to a great little restaurant, L’ Escalinada, which lead us to a fab part of the city . . .

We found little organic co-op type stores like the above . . .

This funky wine bar . . .

An exciting basket store . . .

The land of soaps!

Oh my, this store!!(Heart palpitations) I didn’t get to take pics but it was insanely beautiful with vintage linens, olive beauty products and just so beautifully curated.

Just down from L’Escalinada, was this flower shop. Took me a while to realise they were plastic 🙂

Dinner outdoors at L’Escalinada was just perfect for our first night in Nice – taking in the buzzing narrow streets and surroundings while enjoying deep fried zucchini flowers, herb stuffed sardines, thin crust pizza and homemade pasta.

The next night we stumbled across Tote et Mamie Charlotte also nestled in the old town which we absolutely loved. Great wines by the glass (had a superb glass of champagne), tapas with organic breads and a really tasty, healthy menu.

The building and cafe scene next door and down the road . . .

Walking home, just before reaching the promenade (Promenade des Anglais), Harry enjoyed this charming old merry-go-round.

The Promenade des Anglais is roughly 7km long and makes for a great morning walk or run. I think if you’re staying in Nice for a few days, being on the seafront is a must, but be warned, it is very busy and noisy. (I always travel with earplugs!) We stayed at The Radisson Blu – purely because it was on the beach front with its own private beach and we found a special through secretescapes.com. It also has a rooftop pool with views over Nice – and pools are great when traveling with kids! 🙂

I’m not that into cars, but I did have a bit of appreciate for this lady and her car, as seen from our hotel balcony. It kind of sums up The Côte d’Azur 🙂

A great little morning or afternoon trip, is to the medieval hilltop village of Eze.

Then of course there’s Monaco etc. We only had a day there so we used the red, hop-on-hop-off bus. It’s expensive at 22eu each for an hours loop (20eu each if you have a train ticket – Harry was free) but you can hop on and off saving you time trying to leg-it across Monaco and then stay on and do another loop or two if you want to just sit back, look & listen. It’s worth it if you don’t have much time I thought.

More to come on markets, Provence and beautiful accommodation xx

P.S. Please feel free to leave your travel tips for fellow travelers x

P.S.S.

Thank You Joanna Loveband for my beautiful holiday jewellery & Salt Air Swimwear for my stylish bikini.