Wow! That is the best word to describe my experience of Nice.
I arrived in the afternoon by train from Marseilles, and the first thing I did was walk down to the beach. An easy 15min walk and I was having ice cream on the beach in Nice! That evening I found out that the kitchen was where the party was at. I met a few of my fellow hostel-mates there and we all went out for a drink. The Americans wanted to go to a bar called Waynes (if you’ve been to Nice, I think you would have been there, it’s the young tourist bar). We found out that it was an American bar that was full of Contiki and Top Deck, was expensive and really crowded! After one drink a few of us left and found a smaller bar outside that was half the price and we could actually talk. I swear I’m not getting old, but why would you want to go to Nice to go to an American bar? But this way, I got to meet Rachel from Canada and Michael from America… we had a great time anyway. ☺
The next day Michael and I made our way down to the beach (managing to find a couple of mats in the hostel that were definitely needed to lie on the pebbles). Found some great markets on the way and got some great fruit for lunch. The beach was great. The water clear and not too cold (definitely not as cold as Marseilles!) We had fun soaking up the sun and making pebble castles. I wasn’t very successful at it, so when mine fell over I threw a rock at Michael’s so he didn’t have one either. Haha. I think he was shocked that I would do something like that! When we’d decided that we should probably get out of the sun, we made our way back.
By that time Victor from South Africa was feeling less sorry for himself (a bad hangover is what you get if you stay at Wayne’s), and so even though I’d just got back, we made out way back down to the beach, wandering through Old Town. We found some great break-dancers and an full orchestra playing in the park, so we got our culture fix for the day. Had a great time having a wine on the beach watching the world go by, that one wine turned into two and a beer (turns out I like Heineken). Eventually we started on our way back, and found Socca on the way – a local dish, it’s like a big chickpea crepe that is cut up and thrown on a plate, doesn’t look appetising, but it was really quite good. For 2.50euro, it filled me up!
Back at the hostel, we found a crowd gathering outside, they were all heading out (to the beach if you can guess) for drinks. I was like… I just got back!!! But down we went again, and I’m glad we did. I got another wine and we had a great group on the beach drinking and watching the sun set. We made it back quite late, when we were all quite happy from lots of wine, and someone dared Michael to get into the fountain and ride the horse that was in it… and he did! It was hilarious, and he got so wet… he was lucky too, because the police walked past about 30secs after he’d got out… that would have been interesting! So we had a “quiet Sunday night”.
Monday, a group of us made a day trip out to Monaco (not Morocco like I kept getting it confused with). We walked the promenade, checking out the town and the boys were excited about the main road (the grand prix is held right through town). We found some great gardens, and the Casino, but we were too early to get in, so we made our way back and got a picnic lunch at the other Casino – a brand of supermarket in France. We found a nice little park for our lunch, and then made our way up the hill to the Palace. Monaco is its own country (I’m not sure the right wording for it), like the Vatican in Rome. It was over-thrown by a guy with henchmen that were disguised as monks. The view from the palace was beautiful, and we found some markets in the old town that we walked through. Heading back down, we went back to the casino where we had to hand in our camera’s (so sorry, no photos). We could get into the lobby and a little room with a few Pokies in it… and unless you wanted to pay 10euro, that was as far as you could go! Victor put 5euro in… and was having no luck but in the few goes I had I managed to win 2euros!! Which we quickly lost again. Haha.
We then finally made it to the beach (saved the best till last) and enjoyed the cool water. It was more gravel-like stones for a beach, but the water was beautiful and Craig and I swam out past the nets and out towards the pontoons. As I was swimming I felt a sharp sting on my chest and was like… what the hell? Then there were a few people on the pontoon and they said “jellyfish”… then I panicked a little and got out of that water as soon as I could. Sure enough, on the pontoon, we spotted a jellyfish. Its head was about the circumference of a tennis ball and the tentacles were about 15cm long… so I must have swam straight over the top of it. I got a nice little burn from it on the top of my boob (nice) and it took a while before the sting settled down. I thought it was hilarious that Australia has so many blue bottles and other jellyfish and I’ve never been stung before until I get to the Mediterranean. What is that about?
It was so beautiful on the pontoons, watching the fish (and jellyfish) in the water, but I think the sting made me a bit nauseous and the rocking of the pontoon didn’t help, so just as Victor came out to join us (sorry Victor), we headed back with a couple of Aussies that we met on the pontoon. The aussie guy was our jellyfish spotter and we swam in single file, it would have looked pretty funny, but it was worth it, we saw and dodged three on the way back to the rocks. So we found out what those nets were for!!! After we enjoyed icecream, watching Craig bury himself in the “sand” and had a light conversation about history (random I know), we headed back to the bus stop, and home to Nice.
I was supposed to meet up with the Brazilian guys I met in Marseilles that day for the trip, but they didn’t make it. I got back to find a note on the door saying they were staying there also, and to meet up with them after. So when they got back (they went to Monaco too, we missed them by 15mins!) I hung out with them for the evening which was fun – even though Yuri is the only one that speaks English… he was translating the Portuguese for me. It was cool to see someone that you’d met again, a little familiarity was nice.
The next day I met up with the Brazilians again and Yuri managed to find another Brazilian girl at reception, so she came too (lucky she spoke English), and we took a train to a SANDY beach about 40mins away. It was a lovely little town, and it was great to not be in pain when you laid on the beach! We found a great little café for lunch and had a fantastic baguette. When we ordered, she showed us the English menu, and it looked like it was 50cents dearer on the English side… so Yuri asked her, “why is it more expensive in English?” and she laughed and said that the price was smudged, and it was the same… lucky for her!
After we got sick of the sun, we headed back to Nice and back to the beach for the afternoon. I now understood what it was like for Flavio the other day (he was on the beach hike) and everyone speaking English, because that day I was the odd one out, everyone spoke Portuguese and even though Yuri and Joanna translated some stuff for me, you couldn’t really be involved in the conversation, so I was a bit quiet that day. We went back to the hostel and got dinner, and then headed back down to the beach with a wine and beer. The beach is the happening spot, there was so many groups drinking, playing music… we walked past a guy playing amazing bongo’s so we sat down with them and enjoyed it for a while. Another guy in their group turned up with an accordion, and the two of them played together… not something you’d ever think you would hear, but it was cool (see the video).
We walked down further and there was an amazing group of African’s playing traditional instruments, so we went down to that group too and sung and danced with them… the dancing didn’t quite work on the pebbles, but we gave it a go! We eventually found a fantastic spot on the end of the beach on some rocks overlooking the whole scene, and spent the rest of the night there until we realised it was 3am, and we should probably go home.
So that brings me to today. I got up and did laundry today (I lasted as long as I could, I’ve only been doing undies in the sink so far) which was really exciting and then got to the train station to dump my stuff and book the train. It was 4 hours away, so it gave me time to get the bus and go out to see the roman ruins just out of town. I’m really glad I got to do the trip, it was amazing. There is a whole little village that they have recovered underground, and you can walk around to see it… for free even!
So now I’m on the train (again) heading for Carcassonne – the longest train so far… over 6 hours, and I don’t get into town till 10.30pm, but I have a hostel, so its all good.
I’m quite stoked… my blog has caught the attention of the world nomads site, and they have just featured one of my stories for the second time in two weeks… so thanks world nomads and hello to anyone that has found my blog… I hope you’re enjoying it!
xoxo
photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020933&id=219300161&l=4fa11ee761
