Plum of the Cote d’Azur -- Nice

Liz Swiertz Newman

According to my World War II weatherman husband, Lee, only three

places in the world have the year-round climate we enjoy here in

Newport-Mesa: the Southern California coast, the northeastern coast

of New Zealand, and the French and Italian Riviera. For winter and

spring visits to France, forget Paris -- unless your love is there:

The Cote d’Azur is the place to go -- specifically Nice (rhymes with

peace).

Nice has an airport not unlike Orange County’s. You can fly from

Santa Ana, stretch your legs in New York, and after a nice nap, drive

20 minutes to the finest hotel your budget can afford. Traveling as

often as we do, we like to stay at moderately priced hotels.

The three-star Mercure gets our luggage. They have locations

virtually everywhere in France and arrange accommodations for us

wherever we next expect to stop. In Nice, we like their location on

the Promenade des Anglais, at the east end of the crescent bay, right

on the water. East-facing rooms run about $130 a night and offer

views of the greenery of Albert I park, old town Nice and moonlight

on the Mediterranean -- time and tides permitting. Oceanfront rooms

offer a vista of the broad curve of the western Cote, toward

Marseilles.

Nike, goddess of victory, inspired the naming of Nice, and Nice is

a winner in the travel category. It is filled with hotels, from the

charming to the chichi; a spectrum of restaurants from excellent,

inexpensive Italian eateries to the best boites serving the local

specialty, bouillabaisse (at $65 per person); and unusual places to

visit. The most unexpected sight is the exquisite St. Nicholas

Russian Orthodox Cathedral, an onion-domed petit-Kremlin telling a

tender history of Russians in France.

Not to be missed is old town Nice, where the flower market awakens

the senses Tuesdays through Sundays, outdoor dining occurs at all

hours and children take the family jug to the vintner’s spigot for

the week’s wine. Catch the train touristique (tourist tram) on Avenue

des Etats Unis, across from the park for a 40-minute tram ride

through town.

Nice is the plum in a pie of wonders, a pivot point for delightful

daytrips. The first time we visited Nice, we made reservations for

two nights and stayed six, exploring to the west and east.

* To the west: In the mountains, Vence is famous for the Chapelle

du Rosaire, which Matisse designed and illustrated, and St. Paul de

Vence is a pristine walled medieval city, offering spectacular views

and the sensation of being in France centuries ago. While in St.

Paul, enjoy the local delicacy, beignet des fleurs de courgettes

(sweet, batter-fried squash blossoms).

In Antibes, a jam-packed port and walled city, you can enjoy

breakfast en plein air -- at a quarter of the hotel’s price for le

petit dejeuner -- then shop for provincial souvenirs. Cap d’Antibes

was Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald’s old stomping grounds, and nearby

Juan les Pins was the setting for “Tender is the Night.” A bit

farther down the road is Cannes (rhymes with man), the site of the

film festival though not much else. Uphill from Cannes is Grasse, the

perfume capital of the world, a fine place to tour a perfume factory.

* To the east: You can easily travel into Italy on a daytrip -- to

Bordighera and San Remo -- but the prime attraction is Monaco, a

Disney-esque gem of a country. A ride on the tourist tram from

Cousteau’s oceanographic museum, past the Monte Carlo casino, to the

palace will show you all the sights and save you an uphill walk. The

principality, surrounded on all but the ocean side by France, will

revert to France if middle-aged Prince Albert doesn’t marry and bear

a male heir. Attention, Cinderellas! Windex your glass slippers and

go.

Traveling in France is a pleasure. Up pops something different and

wonderful to see, about every two hours -- from Roman ruins to

chateaux to wineries to the caves of troglodytes. France is an easy

country in which to travel by car -- at least, between cities it is.

I cannot lie: within cities, it can be maddening to get from one part

of town to another, due to narrow one-way streets. On the other hand,

each town has a visitor’s center. For information, maps or other

help, look for the blue sign with the lower case I in Centre Ville

(the city center).

We recommend using the toll roads. Though they’re pricey, rest

stops, gas, food and convenience shops appear every five miles or so.

France is a very tourist-friendly country. Everyone speaks English

and -- as we can attest because we just visited there with our

granddaughter -- they love Americans.

* LIZ SWIERTZ NEWMAN is a Corona del Mar resident.

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