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Historic
sites to see:
Nice
has a long and eventful
History . Already the ancient Greeks and Romans
appreciated its "douceur de vivre"! The prehistoric sites
of Lazaret
and Terra Amata, the Opera, the Russian Orthodox church...
Museums, excursions:
Modern
Art Museum, Art and History Museum, Musée de
Malacologie (seashells). Musée
Matisse, Palais Lascaris, Musée des Beaux
Arts, Musée d'Art Naif and more...
Le
Vieux Nice, Villefranche
sur Mer (5km), Beaulieu
(7km), St
Jean Cap Ferrat (10km), St
Paul de Vence (24km)
This
beautiful city and its surroundings attracted and continue
to attract people from all over the world. It started
about 400 000 years ago (Terra Amata, Vall¨e des Merveilles)
when the
first visitors decided to settle down in
this godblessed region.
Activities:
Theater,
Opera, night clubs, casinos, water sports, swimming
pool, Horseback riding golf, tennis, squash, ice skating,
hang gliding, ULM flying, shopping..
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Don't
miss:
Huge
panels illustrating the Carnival
theme are raised all around Place
Massena. In the past they were set against the
fašades of buildings around the square, but today they
are mounted on posts so they can be removed in the event
of high winds. As with the garlands on avenue Jean MŹdecin,
thousands of multicoloured lights begin twinkling as
soon as night falls, a dazzling spectacle in themselves.
As Carnival
burns on the evening of Mardi Gras, the Castle
Hill will light up too with countless Bengal
lights magnifying the splendour of the fireworks over
the sea.
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The
first Flower Parade ("Bataille de Fleurs") was organised
on the sea front, or "Promenade
des Anglais" in 1876. Soon, the timid exchanges
of bouquets of flowers between the rich winter visitors'
decorated carriages developed into a prestigious show
that is now an integral part of Carnival.
Today,
Flower parades are true parades of some twenty floats,
all decorated with fresh flowers. Four to five thousand
stems are needed to cover these floats which are 7 metres
long, 2 metres wide and 6 metres high. Their design
and preparation is a long meticulous task, each flower
individually placed in a magnificent perfumed mosaic.
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way
from the beach, and east of the 
Many
people's favourite attraction is the cours Saleya
. It's a marketplace, bursting with colour, where
you'll find an abundance of flowers, a Niçois
green sprout salad speciality known as mesclun
, and the best of the local fish catches. (Look out
for Stockfish on your restaurant's carte in the evening
- you probably saw it in the market earlier in the day.)
There's
activity all around. Watch out for the delivery boys
arriving with hot socca . It's a chickpea crêpe
which has been deep fried in a batter - almost as satisfying
as the old town itself. As
you wander down its narrow Italianate streets
,
the Baroque churches compete with the hanging washing
and chic snooker parlours. This is no informal grid
of streets as found a little further west. Vieux Nice
is small and perfectly formed. Take some time to linger
with the locals at the Chapon Fin on rue Moulin and
you'll soon find out for yourself.
Though
