Nice Underestimated

Two years ago, or even a year, if you said 'Nice' I'd probably have replied 'Cool, it's between Cannes and Monaco, perfect!' and I could probably have mentioned the theatre where Cannes Film Festival takes place, or Casino in Monaco, but I didn't really know anything about Nice, apart from that it had perfect Cannes&Monaco connections and was at the seaside. And I think many people feel the same way, Nice isn't really well known as a turist atraction, neither for its museums nor for the rest of the stuff. I've heard about Cimiez a few times before, but didn't really know 'de quoi il'sagit'(what is it about) as my French friends love to say. The most popular and recommended places to visit in Nice are Place Massena, Promenade des Anglais, Old Town, The Cathedral, The Opera, Castle Hill and Port; Cimiez is far behind them; such an understatement.

Cimiez is the name of neighborhood in Nice North, about 2-3 km from Massena. It includes Chagalls Museum, Matisse Museum, a park, Universite Valrose with beautiful Chateu d'eau. It is easily accessible from Massena (for instance busses 15,17, 20). We stopped at the very north part of Cimiez, next to Matisse Museum, very famous according to my friend (I haven't heard much about it). The museum is located in the heart of a park, just in front of the Archeologycal Museum and a few minutes walk from the Monastery. This composition all toghether looks absolutely amazing. You have the ancient stones from 1st century B.C., the park, and Matisse's house in the same frame. The building itself stands out the park, it gives the impression of magical mish-mash. 

The museum inside is however slightly disappointing, I must admit. Free entrance for students, 10 euros regular ticket. It's quite small with no significant pieces of art, no stunning paintings, no enormous sculptures, which is funny cause the museum itself adversites as one of the main museums about Matisse. They also want to 'give visitor a chance to enter Matisse's world of inspiration.' Didn't work on me. At all. Before I was instructed absolutely no photos were permitted, I managed to take two. 

Completely under-inspired we went for a walk through park in the direction of Monastery. This is were I found my true inspiration. Petanque! A traditional French game, still quite popular among elderly people in South France. This is the first time I saw people playing in Nice, I used to see them a lot more when I lived in Nimes. What is petanque? Boules game, the same family as bowling. The easiest explanation probably would be: throwing the boules as close to Jack as possible. Doesn't sound like complicated at all and looks really fun, I'll have to try it before leaving Frane for good. 

The Monastery, a bit up the hill, looks quite normal from the outside, the facade is a bit oriental for me, but the inside is really interesting. As my friend said, really dark and overwhelming. Definitely worth entering. One of the best parts of the Monastery is the garden. The orange trees with fruit look just amazing. Quite a nice place for lunch, a few benches to sit on them and breathtaking panoramas of Nice guaranted. To the right from the garden, there is the Cementary of Cimiez, where Matisse and a few notable nicoise citizens are burried. The cementary is really, really old, quite alienated with basically no turists. Thera are lots of those crazy little paths leading to another crazy little paths which for me equals getting lost a thousand times. I'm really happy I was with my friends, definitely don't recommend going there alone. The cementary reminds me a bit of the one in Glasgow, maybe because it's up the hill, but I feel also that the scupltures and style are quite similar and completely opposite to the famous cementaries in Warsaw or in Lviv. We had hard time finding Matisse's memorial, it's separated from the others, you have to follow the signs and then take the stairs down, basically almost leaving the cementary.

On our way out we stopped by the Archologycal Museum, which is just behind Musee de Matisse. IT has the same ticket prices. The exposition is no great piece of art, just a bunch of stones, one could say, but again, it is just a great place for a walk, it looks funny how ancient arenas from 1st century B.C. are juxtaposted with modern buildings or even the Matisse Museum. It looks like they're building a bridge so that it would be possible to walk over the ruins. This is such a part of history. 

Overall, Cimiez is really worth dropping by, and it's a shame it's such an underestimated part of the town. Maybe the museums are not true pices of art, but just going there for a walk or lunch would be a really nice way to spend early afternoon. I really regret not having visited it earlier. I will definitely be back, for a lazy afternoon with a book.

Museums in Nice: Beaux Artes

Le Musee des Beaux Artes is situated in Magnan, west part of the town, just a few minutes from the seaside and the law college (Campus Trotabas). Easily accessible by whole bunch of busses (bus stop: Rosa Bonheur or Grosso Cum). How is it like?
Well, as I've already mentioned, Nice isn't well known from its museums. I kind of agree with that, but then, on the other hand... The building itself is very interesting and it reminds me of Woody Allen's last film- 'Magic in Moonlight'. It has this meditteranean charm of French Riviera.

There are only two flors and the whol tour took me about 40 minutes. The museum is quite small, which doesn't make the visit too long and boring. I think about 45 minutes is perfectly enough time to accually see everything and spend time with our favourite pices, no need to rush in order to see everythin like in The British Museum, for instance.

Because the museum is so small, the amount of the information is just perfect and during the visit I found my two new favourite artists: Moise Kisling and Jules-Henri Lengrand. Some of their works that are in the museum; they obviously are more impressing live than on bad quality photos. In general, I think Le Musee des Beaux Artes is a nice way to rest from beach and sun in Nice.

One hill stand

Taking advantage of really great bus connections in Les Alpes Maritimes, I went to Saint Paul de Vence. No, seriously, I don't think I've ever been to an area with such a complex public transport. For 1,5 euro you can easily get from Nice to Cannes, Monaco, Menton, Antibes, Grasse, Cagne sur Mer and Saint Paul, among others. All the possible connections are available at Conseil General of Alpes Maritimes. Saint Paul is about 19 km kind of North-West from Nice. It takes about 45-55 min by bus number 400.
Is Saint Paul special at all? Yes, yes yes!!! It is a great example of typical provence village. The hill sticks out from far away. It really looks adorable, because down the hill the properties are rather spatious, with gardens and pools, not so close to each other, and up the hill everything is squeezed up to the maximum, you realize that walking those tiny streets.
There isn't a lot to see in Saint Paul. Marc Chagall lived there and he is burried at the local cementary, there is also a chapel, a monument and a museum. Saint Paul is more about the atmosphere and breathtaking views. It's still not high season and I guess Saint Paul isn't that well known, so there weren't many turists, in fact not many people at all, and it was just so calm and peaceful. All the beautiful streets, the views, typical rustic houses. The essence of Provance, definitely, one of those places I've been dreaming about from time to time. Tiny local population, no noise, mindblowing views, small, traditional cafees. What I didn't know about Saint Paul, and certainly what I did not expect, were numerous small art shops and art galleries, with some very nice stuff.
Places like Saint Paul make me realize how much I accually love South France and how hard it will be to move on in just a few more months. Wish I could take a part of Departement 06 with me.

Milan Part 3: Final Countdown

Before my train to Nice, the morning and the afternoon day three were very productive. I found another favourite place in Milan: 'The Hipster Area' with vintage shops, organic cafees, nice atmosphere and fancy people. Shame, we didn't have enough time to stop and enter. My friend (yes, you, pretty little liar) promised me we would be back, but since we were speed touring, there was no time for come backs. Use it or loose it, as one of my professors says. I feel I've kind of lost this one. Visiting places like that makes me regret I don't have real house, so I can't buy any object potentialy problematic in terms of transportation. Hard to guess I'm a huge fan of Audrey.

 

After running through The Hipster Area, we rushed towards The Skyscrapers Area- Unicredit Tower, Palazzo Lombardia and Gae Aulenti. This is completely different part of the city,  different in terms of architecture and climate of Piazza Duomo and Central Station, which are just on the palm of a hand. I really like the idea of colorfull sculptures which make the cold and moder skyscrapers appear more human and lively. If only not the fog, we could  probably have enjoy the panorama of the city.

Confetti here, confetti there, confetti everywhere. Confetti even in The Skyscraper Area. Inevitable sign of the carnival.

I finished my more-than-72-hours in Milan at the Central Station, which itself is a monument. Despite everything I really enjoyed Milan. It is a city full of contrasts. Everything you want, will be there. And I will be back. I just wish they didn't speak Italian. Ha. Ha. Ha.