From Socca to Foie Gras

My article written for FRANCE ON YOUR OWN newsletter:  

When thinking of the French Riviera, Nice in particular, the senses become engaged: the sight of the azure Mediterranean Sea, the sound of the waves softly lapping the shoreline, the feel of the pebbles underfoot as you walk on the beach, the smell of the salty sea mist in the air, and mostly, the taste of local specialties, such as salade niçoise and socca (a pancake made from chickpea flour and served warm with black pepper). With a Mediterranean climate and average of 300 days of sunshine, the area is indeed attractive and booming.

When thinking of the Dordogne region, Sarlat in particular, the senses become equally engaged: the sight of medieval architecture and castles, the sound of market vendors selling their wares, the feel of cobblestones underfoot as you walk through the historical center, the smell of countryside air, and mostly, the taste of local specialties such as foie gras (duck liver that originated in ancient Egypt around 2500 BC and now is emblematic of French gastronomy) and black truffles (an edible fungus that averages 500-1000€ per kg). With the variety of four distinct climatic seasons, the area is a kaleidoscope of landscape colors.

Both places are famous for their cultural activities that attract tourists from far and wide, especially the outdoor markets promoting local produce and regional specialties: Cours Saleya in Old Nice and Place de la Mairie in the historical center of Sarlat.  Tourism is vital to both: Nice has a population of approximately 340,000 and attracts an average of 5,000,000 visitors a year, while Sarlat’s population is around 10,000 with an average of 1,500,000 visitors per year.  Due to its smaller size, the town of Sarlat has a more drastic decline in visitors than the city of Nice during the winter months, not to mention overall colder temperatures, yet both host cultural events to attract tourists during the low season.

Trivia & Tidbits:

Nice

• the meaning of Nice (Nikaia in Greek) is the Goddess of victory; it became part of France in 1860
• the original name of the Promenade des Anglais was “La Strada del Littorale” and it was originally made of marble
• Albert 1st park is named after a Belgian king and is the oldest garden in Nice
• the Carnaval has been a tradition for 700 years
• the name “Côte d’Azur” was coined by the writer and poet, Stephen Liegeard, in 1888
• the destruction of the castle on Castle Hill was ordered in 1706 by Louis XIV, but this resulted in the city’s growth
• Nice’s traditional flower is the carnation; Nice’s specialty olive is the “caillette”, and tapenade is called the “caviar of Nice”
• candied fruit was a favorite delicacy of Queen Victoria
• Cours Saleya market was named after the sun “soleil” and has been Nice’s main market since the Middle Ages
• Architecturally: Italian colors are ochre and yellow; French colors are beige and white – as seen in Place Massena

Sarlat

• Sarlat-la-Canéda (or simply Sarlat) is located in the Dordogne département of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwestern France
• Inhabited since Gallo-Roman times, Sarlat became prosperous at the end of the 8th century
• The town suffered from the Norman invasions and then from the Hundred Years War, owing to its position as a frontier region between the kings of France and England
• Sarlat, one of the most popular of the Dordogne villages, developed around a large Benedictine abbey of Carolingian origin
• Most of the town has been preserved and is representative of 14th century France with authentic restoration work
• Sarlat’s weekly market has been in existence since the Middle Ages
• Known for its regional specialties of foie gras, duck confit, walnuts, & truffles
• Sarlat’s emblem is the salamander, due to its S shape and also because it once was featured on the coat of arms of the French monarchy
• Host to an annual film festival since 1991

For traveling, you can’t beat the accessibility of the Nice airport and the city’s extensive bus system (except when there is a strike, bien sûr!).  By contrast, the Dordogne’s rural setting and its smaller airports significantly increases overall travel time, resulting in difficulty in getting to and from international destinations, except perhaps to the U.K.

As for ambiance, while living in Nice, I woke up to the cacophony of cars, buses, and pedestrians, inherent with city living and its hustle and bustle of activity.  Compare that setting to Sarlat, where morning birdsong and the sound of an occasional car passing by is the norm – a matter of urban vs. rural setting, each with its pros/cons & sounds:  Chacun à son gout (to each his own)!

After living nine years on the French Riviera, Kim now resides in the Dordogne.
Owner of Manoir Fontaine de l’Amour with its fully-equipped, holiday rental apartment,
she is ready to welcome you to the medieval town of Sarlat.
Visit her 24/7 in France blog  at https://twentyfourseveninfrance.com/

Brand Spanking New: The Gare de Nice Gets a Makeover

The Gare de Nice. Photo: Mary Kay Seales

If you’ve travelled to or from Nice on the train, you may remember the train station there as a rather dismal and somewhat confusing place. People crowding together to get through to the platforms, bumping elbows and closely guarding pockets and purses. Always a “traffic jam” by the entrance to the platform as a horde of travelers tried to navigate through the crowd to stamp their tickets, as required, in the little yellow machines.

The ticket office stood off to one side, awkwardly designed so as to require queuing up in a long line to wait for an agent.

Outside and below this office, a lone and uninviting restaurant with few other options nearby.

In fact, I think many would agree that the whole area in and surrounding the Gare de Nice was one to simply get away from as quickly as possible.

Now, dear past and future visitors to Nice, all that has wonderfully changed! This once disheveled building and its environs has had a major facelift.

The main hall with a beautifully restored ceiling. Photo: Mary Kay Seales

The building itself has been lovingly restored. The ornate grillwork over the main entrance has been polished up, and the lovely set of arched doors now enter into a spacious, open and light-filled room. The large square ceiling has been painted like a chapel and the platform doors to the trains are now opened up, giving travellers the freedom to come and go. No more crowds squeezing through a limited area.

The train schedules are projected onto the side of one wall giving it all a clean updated feel, and there are other bright new schedule signs throughout.

And those little yellow machines to stamp the tickets now sit rather sheepishly by the platform doors, still pretty but humbled.

To the left of the main waiting room is a new Relay store for your magazines newspapers and candy; to the right, a shiny new sandwich shop where you can stock up before boarding your train to Paris or Avignon.

The new deli inside the station. Photo: Mary Kay Seales

The far end of the station is now the ticket office, complete with a ‘take-a-number’ machine and bright décor – purple and yellow chairs for waiting and tables where you can plug in a laptop.

All these changes are refreshing and welcome! But there’s more. The exterior of the station has also had a makeover. The huge open plaza in front is now home to a modern tourist office and a Paul boulangerie/patisserie.

These changes to the station have had a larger impact on the entire area near the Gare, with people relaxing at restaurants across the street. From super sketchy to stylish, it is a remarkable transformation!

The overhaul of the Nice Gare is not complete; the work goes on. But already the new look and feel of this busy station on the Côte d’Azur will make landing in this charming city a treat.

The exterior of the Gare de Nice. Photo: Mary Kay Seales

CREDIT/SOURCE: By Mary Kay Seales – FRANCE TODAY

What to see in Nice

 

Nice is glamorous. Let’s be honest, it’s what you picture when you imagine Nice; sauntering along Promenade des Anglais, ogling yachts you (probably) can’t afford (yet), and enjoying a drink outside whilst soaking up the Mediterranean sun.

With all that effort, everyone needs a break now and then, and a break is what these two sites can offer you. If you’re into the hidden, off the beaten track visits then here are places to see in Nice that will showcase the authentic history of this sunny city.

Cimiez

 

Now an upper-class residential area, this small hill-top neighbourhood in the north-east of the city was a favourite destination of Queen Victoria, who regularly stayed at the Regina Palace Hotel, Even further back, the Romans established an arena, amphitheatre, baths and basilica. This was the settlement of Cemenelum, the capital of the Roman province Alpes Maritimae, and was itself a rival to the nearby city of Nice.

 

There’s also a beautiful Franciscan monastery, used since the 16^th century, and definitely worth a moment of quiet contemplation, away from the bustle of the city below. When I visited, there were a few office workers taking advantage of the monastery’s quiet gardens for a moment of calm, and more like me, sauntering along before enjoying a cold drink in the shade around the park’s refreshment kiosk. Whilst you’re up there, to add even more culture into the mix, you can visit the Matisse Museum, devoted to the French painter who lived and worked in Nice from 1917 to 1954.

A lovely oasis of calm although, I would certainly recommend the bus up and down – the hill is particularly steep, and not much fun on a hot day…

Palais Lascaris

 

The Palais Lascaris is a seventeenth century gemstone, cunningly tucked away on rue Droite, and if you didn’t know it was there, it would be easily missed. It’s currently home to a collection of musical instruments. But even if you have no interest in this aspect at all, the décor and architecture of the former aristocratic home are worth the entry fee.

If you are interested, however, then the collection of over 500 musical instruments is one of the finest you’ll encounter, including both the historic and the famously-connected.

The rooms the exhibits are displayed in are restored to their original glory, and give a real insight as to how the nobles of Nice lived in the Old Town’s glory days, before the wealthier families were moved out of what was then a going down-hill area, and into the New Town and countryside beyond.  Talk about grandeur!

Credit/Source:  Posted by The Good Life France

 

Ten things you definitely didn’t know about Nice

Photo: Lee Carson/Flickr

Published: 06 Apr 2016 by Le Local

1. It should really be in Italy   

Nice has only been part of France since 1860, when Italy reluctantly gave her up to repay France for helping defend itself from the Austrians. The Mayor’s office likes to say that ‘Nice chose France’, but the truth is that the famous ‘vote’ was rigged: there were no ‘non’ ballots printed! This mixed heritage gives Nice its fabulous melange of French and Italian, as seen in its architecture, colours, cuisine and lifestyle.

2. The original Nike Town 

During the Greek Empire in 500BC, the hill above the Old Town was named Nike, which is Greek for ‘victory’, making Nice the original Nike-Town. During its multi-century Italian period it was called Nizza, and since becoming French just 150 years ago, it is called Nice. The people of Nice are Niçoise, like the famous salad, and have their own dialect called Nissart.

3. A tourist hub for 400,000 years

Yes, it’s true. An archaeological dig (which is now a museum) on the hill above the Nice Port found that Nice’s earliest tourists arrived almost 400,000 years ago, and were transient cave-dwellers that came to Nice once a year to hunt woolly mammoths. And tourists have hardly stopped flocking (though the mammoths are a lot harder to find).

Riviera view: Photo: Michel Riallant/Flickr

4. The Heroine Laundry Lady of Nice   

In 1506, this town of only 3,000 inhabitants was attacked by a flotilla of 20,000 Franco-Turks. After weeks under siege the town was still hanging on, and the attackers once again tried to scale the walls. With very few soldiers left to mount a defense, washer-woman Catherine Segurane climbed up on the walls herself and tried to beat back the attackers with her laundry bat. Incredibly, her blow killed a warrior, whereupon she impulsively grabbed his flag, lifted her skirt, and made a gesture like she was wiping her behind with it.

The attacking soldiers were humiliated; and the next day, weary and demoralized, the army gave up and Nice was saved. Segurane is considered emblematic of the Nice spirit, and there are small monuments to her throughout the old town including a cannonball from the siege suspended on the corner of rue Droit and rue de la Loge.

5. Secret passageways for Jews

In the Middle Ages, the town’s Jewish community was forced by law to reside on one gated street called Street of the Jews, where they were locked in each night. In response, the non-Jewish townspeople, having lived harmoniously with their Jewish neighbours up to that point, tunneled a network of passageways under the buildings with secret doors back out to the village.

You can still see the Street of the Jews (Carriera de la Juderia, between rue Rossetti and rue de la Loge), but it is now called rue Benoît Bunico, named after the Italian statesman who pushed through the legislation, 200 years later, giving equal rights to Jewish citizens.

6. Famous Brits on the “English” promenade

The Promenade des Anglais takes its name from these uppercrust English (Anglais) tourists, who would promenade along the sea with their parasols… a strange sight to the working-class Niçoise.  Among the celebrated Brits were Queen Victoria, Winston Churchill, and dancer Isadora Duncan, whose dramatic decapitation took place in front of the Hotel Negresco, when her long scarf caught in one of the wheels of her convertible.

Sitting down in Nice. Photo: samtup40/Flickr

7. Lunch with a bang!

In 1860, Sir Thomas Coventry and his easily-distracted wife were living in Nice.  Having become increasing frustrated by his wife’s lack of punctuality in presenting the noonday meal, he approached the Mayor’s office to propose a daily noon cannon shot, like back in his home village in Scotland, and offered to foot the bill.

Some years later, Sir Coventry returned to Scotland and took his little cannon with him, but by that time the locals were so used to their midday alarm that they petitioned the city to carry on the tradition, and it continues today.

8. Elton John calls it home (and he’s not alone)

Modern celebrities include part-time resident Elton John, whose yellow hilltop villa above the Port can be seen from the top of the Chateau. Other notable Riviera Rock Stars include Tina Turner, Keith Richards and Bono… see photos of their digs here.

Story continues below…

Photo: AFP

9. The Monster’s Lair

After the war Nice, like the rest of Europe, was in bad shape. The Old Town was so run-down and poverty stricken that it was referred to as the “Babazouk” or The Monster’s Lair. Even in the 60’s most families in the Old Town didn’t have refrigeration and still bought ice chipped off the ice man’s cart. Laundry was still washed by hand in communal tubs and garbage was dropped from the windows into the rat-infested streets below.

10. The Great Nice Sewer Heist

In the 70s, a man named Spaggiare dug through sewage tunnels for months before robbing the Societe Generale Bank on avenue Jean Medecin of the equivalent of 29 million euros in cash and jewels.

The spectacular heist saw the bankers finally get into their vault, only to find the words: “Without hate, without arms, without violence”. Spaggiare made a “clean” getaway, too (well, as clean as possible considering the sewage”.

 The Local (news.france@thelocal.com)

Annual Events Calendar

There’s always a lot of activity on the French Riviera, not to mention Old Town, the Promenade des Anglais, and the Promenade du Paillon park areas of Nice – come join the fun!

SOME ANNUAL EVENTS ON THE FRENCH RIVIERA:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Credit: Riviera Reporter

French Riviera Travel Savings

To help tourists diversify their holidays, and experience as much of the French Riviera as possible, the Comité Régional  du Tourisme Riviera Côte d’Azur has launched a new pass called the Côte d’Azur Card: a prepaid electronic passport that provides access to over 110 activities in the region- from the coast to the mountains – museums, nature parks, water sports activities, excursions, and tours. There’s something for everyone and every interest, so check it out!

Priced at €39 for a three-day adult pass, the Côte d’Azur Card is also a great value. According to the Côte d’Azur Tourism Office, an adult pass has the cash value of nearly €1,000, and a child pass corresponds to a cash value of nearly €560. The card can be purchased online or at local tourist offices.

Source/credit:  France Today

Fragola Restaurant in Old Nice

The fish market in Place St. François:

“Comprising a few rows of trestle tables set out around the square’s central fountain, this busy, noisy fish market is best visited early on in the day, when the catch is fresh in from the trawlers. Then, you’ll find a glistening tableau of sea life spread out over jewel-like beds of ice. Come later and the ice has melted, all but a few morsels have been sold and the gulls are gathering on the surrounding rooftops.” (Credit: TimeOut Nice)

Just beside this square at #5 is the lovely restaurant, Fragola, where I recently enjoyed a lobster dinner – a fitting meal considering its location, n’est-ce pas?

I asked for a some melted butter, since I like to dip my bites of lobster into it (à la Américaine), but was served the lobster with apparently some butter drizzled on top of it by the chef.  I had to equate my request to the concept of escargots/snails soaking in their garlic butter to get the point across of needing a dish of melted butter. It was finally served, although there may have been some puzzled head shaking by the server and/or the chef at this bizarre request!

It was deliciously delectable, as we were seated by the window in a delightful, charming setting – the best table in the restaurant in my opinion.  I couldn’t take a photo of the exterior, as there was scaffolding in place – Definitely a place to return to!

Lobster

Entrance door

 

 

 

Café Bianco & New friends

One great thing gained from blogging is a sense of community, and so it was that I met up with blogger and author, Lynn McBride of Southern Fried French, for an apero during her stay near Nice.  It was such a delightful evening that I ended up eating dinner with her and her husband and their friends from the U.S.

We shared stories, tips about our blogs, self-publishing woes, & ongoing marketing of our individual books (see photo/link below), over a nice dinner accompanied, of course, with un bon verre de vin.

Café Bianco (9 Rue Chauvain) was the perfect setting for establishing comraderie and new friendships, and not far from the center of Old Town. A nice evening with nice people and new friends in Nice!

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Be sure to also check out Lynn’s book, available on Amazon HERE

Kids Riviera – Sun & Fun Travel Focus

Now available in paperback !

Kid-focused sites on the French Riviera, so that the whole family can enjoy the sun and sea, and experience the savoir-faire that the area has to offer.

CURRENTLY Available on Amazon  HERE

Review:

The author’s love of France shines through in this remarkable travel book, and so does her comprehensive knowledge of the riviera. When you think of the south of France, you don’t automatically link it with a holiday for children, but this book certainly breaks down that barrier. As well as a valuable resource for parents, the book has also whetted my appetite, and Kim has sold the region to my wife and I. We’re all going on a summer holiday! – C.B.

 

Victoria Restaurant in Vieux Nice

 

I found a charming restaurant on one of the narrow streets in Old Nice, not far from the Cathedrale St. Reparate. I was enjoying my lunch so much that I had forgotten to take a before photo of my steak & fries! But, it was the bread to die for – so much so, that I asked where they source it and after lunch, went to the nearby boulangerie to buy some. Generally, the bread served in a restaurant is a sign (to me) of the overall quality of the restaurant and their attention to detail. The service was polite and efficient; the chef also came into the dining room to ask if all was OK with everyone. A great find!

salt & pepper shakers

Ravioli aux fromages

Steak frites

Ile flottante