Nice was full of friendly,positive and helpful people. I remembered many instances where strangers had voluntarily helped us without us asking for help. There was this one man who looked at us thinking that we looked lost and didn’t know where we were going. He came up to us even though he wasn’t that fluent in English and asked, “Are you lost? Do you need directions to anywhere?”

I was seriously touched.

There was another instance when we were asking this lady for directions to the bus stop with the airport bus shuttle. She was unsure of it herself but took the initiative to ask strangers nearby in French and thanks to her, we successfully managed to find it!

Another moment was when we were eating a meal at this halal food shop, the owner personally came up to us while we were eating to ask whether the food was good and to our liking, and had a conversation with us. He just kept smiling while talking to us and even said nice things about Singapore, “Singapore is a very beautiful city. Very clean. It is the jewel of Asia.”

Seriously impressed by the overall energy that I got from this place. And one of the nicest place to PEOPLE-WATCH! There was this coffee shop in the city centre, where everyone sits outside and their chairs are all facing out, which is a pretty nice concept that you rarely see in Singapore.(Slowly realizing Singaporeans are a pretty unfriendly bunch to strangers.)

Credits: google.com

Accommodation

9 Avenue Notre-Dame Nice, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur

From Cinque Terre, we took an evening train to Nice, and arrived in Nice at 12am. The train into France was another new experience, for me at least. We had to change trains as we were going to cross into the French borders. Initially, it felt a bit tense as we were entering France as there were people who got on the same train and looked somewhat..nervous and trying their best to stay as low-profile as possible. They were sitting and trying to crouch as low was they can go into their seats.

Honestly, I thought they were muggers or were up to something no good. (But i was wrong guys, this was totally not what happened) While the train was moving, the police came up to check the people’s passports or identification forms on the train (including us). It’s like the police knew exactly where these people were hiding. They caught them, and had to get off the train at the next stop.

We found the reason for this from some of the french that were sitting near us (see they were nice enough to explain to us lost tourists the situation!) The people who were caught  are actually refugees/ illegal immigrants from Libya due to the war. They sailed on boats to try to enter either Italy or France at the borders. In one week about 1500 people are deported back to Libya. Shocking to see that many refugees all in one place at the train station. I really hope they find shelter and safety.

So back to the accommodation. It was in the city centre/attractions, so we did not take any buses or trams to travel anywhere except to the museum.

The house is very, very…quirky. It was at the highest floor with an attic roof, and we could see the night sky through the small window on the roof above our bed and when you open it, the cool night breeze enters the whole house, which was a real good feeling. Except that the 3 big fat cats in the house are too comfortable with strangers and just laid on our bed, and left little room for us.

Transport

We basically walked everywhere because all the main attractions were nearby. It was a 10 minutes walk to the BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL SEA.

On the last day, we took the airport bus shuttle. We underestimated the timing, and screwed up in those 2 short hours. We almost couldn’t find the bus stop, the bus came late, and left really late at each stop, because everyone had to pay the driver, coupled with slow traffic. We reached 5 minutes late and ran all the way in. Then I got delayed as they confiscated my sunblock and I had to sign some paper to acknowledge it.

Proof we got on the flight

BUT THE PLANE WAS DELAYED TOO OH MY. So it was all good.Thank our lucky stars.

Attractions

(Nice felt so amazing till I was so convinced for a minute that I thought for a minute that Nice was the capital of France. And Cherrybelly recorded it on video. SIGH)

Castle Hill was good. There were some ruins up there and it boasts a pretty view. There was a park on top of the hill too, and everyone was so relaxed and enjoying the sun and playing with their groups of friends and families. I felt like this was one of the places that I definitely want to bring my family to visit.

Place Massena was their main plaza where most of the shopping is done.

This was near the yachts area.

There is also a long stretch which is a modern art park.

PINK HOUSE!

We also visited the Yachts area.

We also took a stroll though Old Nice and the Beaches. There were like 10 different beaches all in one stretch?! And only some parts of the beach are nude beaches while some areas have access to parasols. The waves are definitely a force to be reckoned with. VERY STRONG WAVES, but it was fun trying to get past the waves. Cherrybelly couldn’t get past any wave at all. We really just chilled, played with the sun, sand and sea.

We also visited their Museum. We entered an area but then it was locked 10 mins after we were in the area, and couldn’t get out (because that area closes early on a Sunday). Thankfully, we met a pair of friends that helped us get out. Always have to be careful on weekends in Europe.

The roller skates hanging on top actually shows that is gonna be a popular hangout place at night for some dealers. haha. interesting.

I definitely recommend the free walking tour here. Really learnt a lot, like how it was invaded by Romans then Italians then finally the French, and how they had walls around Old Nice, and because of the increasing population they decided to expand to the new Nice they have now. Also discovered about the badass guy who stole 4 million euros in a vault here in Nice and was never caught and ran away to Argentina. And the reason why a canon would sound off at the plaza at exactly 12 noon.

Food & Shopping

Nice has a lot of halal places but most of them are not open on Sundays. We also visited this stretch where they had a flea market with handmade goods, and a stretch of expensive looking restaurants (which we probably couldn’t afford oh well).

On that lovely Sunday, we ate bagels and waffles with salmon. The owner of that shop was a woman studying international law and is a French who can speak Chinese (?!) and she’ll be going to Taiwan to further her studies. How cool is that.

Scented soaps are pretty much their souvenirs here, and it was really difficult to choose because there were so many scents to choose from! We also tried this pancake that is made of flowers which was super cool.

The pancake made of flowerssss

They could be found in the marketplace near the Plaza, and their greens looks so amazingly fresh, I’m jealous.

Most Photo credits goes to:  Cherrybelly