Back to Europe we go for a sun soaked summer!
We flew Qantas, Sydney through to Nice, France via Dubai. Matt was a platinum member, so we had all the benefits of First Class without the First Class seats. We lived it up with lounge access with free food in wine, both in Sydney and Dubai. Stop over showers are amazing.
We had prebooked a transfer through Viator, so we had a breezy time when we landed, and was taken straight to our hotel; the Mercure Nice Promenade des Angles hotel. We like to stay at Accor hotels to help build our status. We don’t really get any benefits from the European Accor affiliated hotels, but we get the points to use for when we travel the Asia-Pacific area.
I’m not sure how, but I somehow booked a loft room… It was interesting. A pain in the butt when you had to get up to wee at night.
First thing was to get to the beach, which was directly across the road from the hotel. Ideal location!
It was already late in the day, so we went to Wayne’s Sports Bar to watch the Socceroos FIFA World Cup game. I honestly can’t remember if they won or lost.
Afterwards we went out for dinner. I was so keen to tuck into some French food. Matt fell asleep at the table immediately after we ate, so I gathered us up to get some sleep and kick some jet lag butt.
The next day we did a bike tour from Viator (which if you’ve been following closely is our favourite thing to do). We cruised through Promenade des Anglais, Hotel Negresco, Place Massena, Nice Old Town and Market, and Place Garibaldi, just to name a few.
We spent the rest of the day cruising around town, and checking out the scenery.
The next day we got up reasonably early to get in some exercise. We had a deluded notion that this is something that we would do quite regularly throughout our trip. We picked a pretty place to run up some stairs and do some body work.
After a shower we took a stroll and gathered everything we needed for a picnic. Cheese for breakfast? Yes please! We love any and all farmers markets in Europe. Such glorious food. We then went on a search for the Matisse Museum. We walked FOREVER. All we saw was crazy car parking. Seriously bad parking. No wonder the cars in Europe are so banged up.
We gave up on the museum search and headed back to the water to have a swim in the ocean. The water was real cold. I chickened out. Matt took it on!
The afternoon was spent searching for local foods. We sampled some super fresh strawberries, pissaladiere (onion tart), creme brulee, some lovely apple pastry dessert… but the icing on the cake (zing) was afternoon tea at Hotel Negresco. We sat in La Rotonde with cafe negresco with dainties. So beautifully presented.
That night we were surprised with Nice Jazz Festival! We didn’t realise it was on, and were delighted to find the streets filled with people, bands and good tunes! The perfect last night at the seaside town.
The next stop; Juan le Pins!
