Post WWII Nice: Soldier’s Paradise

Posted on August 25, 2025 by Allison Coe

Last year Nice honored August 28, the 80th anniversary of the WWII Liberation of Nice with a week of parades, balls, expositions and fanfare.  This year not so much…

So what was happening 80 years ago from THIS year? In 1944 Nice liberated itself before the American forces even arrived, but one year later in 1945, the US Army saved Nice in a different way.

A few months after the Nazis fled the city, the US Army inaugurated Nice and Cannes as United States Riviera Recreational Areas (USRRA) offering GIs a week of R&R on the French Riviera.  By summer 1945 Nice was hosting up to 6,000 soldiers and WACs (Women’s Army Corps) each week. These dream vacations were entirely subsidized by the US Army and cost the troops just $2/day for an all-inclusive stay in a luxury hotel, including restaurants, bars, music, dancing, and shows; plus designated spots around town where they could clothes shop for a pittance, go to a private beach, play all kinds of sports, and take sight-seeing tours.  The only rules were a 1am curfew …and no salutes!

After this unforgettable week, many GIs returned home to America, or were redeployed to the on-going fighting in the Pacific.  And thanks to this jump-start, Nice’s tourist industry once again rose from the ashes.

You know what I like best about this map?  After highlighting all the fabulous things the soldiers could do… there was just one thing that was forbidden.  The old town is in red… and the legend says “Old Nice – Off Limits”!

Post WWII Nice R&R Map USRAAClick the map to enlarge.

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Photo credit: Thérèse Bonney, © The Regents of the University of California, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. This work is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

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Thomas Jefferson’s Favorite Wine

Posted on August 7, 2025 by Allison Coe

Thomas Jefferson painted portrait Before becoming America’s 3rd President, Thomas Jefferson visited Nice in 1787 when he was the US Ambassador to France.  His trip was focused on finding agricultural innovations that he could employ back in the US, and as such he toured the vineyards of Bellet.

He loved the wines but absolutely flipped for the wines of Chateau Bellet, calling them the best wines in the world.  From then on and throughout his Presidency, he had 100’s of bottles a year shipped from Chateau Bellet in Nice to his Monticello estate in Virginia.  In a letter from 1819, he wrote that the Bellet wines were still the best he’d ever tasted!

Maybe it’s because the Bellet wine region features two red grape varietals that exist only here: Braquet and Folle-Noir (which means crazy black!), and these must be the principle grapes in all AOC Bellet red or rosé wines.

Want a taste?  Here are 4 ways to sample Nice’s wine region:

Most Economical: Self-guided tour on the city-sponsored Nice Weekend Wine Shuttle! Every Saturday in June and September, and Fridays and Saturdays in July and August, catch the Vignobles de Bellet Navette Wine Shuttle which runs a continuous 80-minute circuit, starting up the street from the Magnan tram stop in Nice.  Each ride is the cost of a normal bus ticket, but since you are getting on and off, it makes the most sense to just get the bus/tram day pass for 7€.  Click the link above for all the details, schedule, tasting prices, and a suggested itinerary.

Mix some Sport with your Wine:  Two local companies offer English-language guided  group e-bike tours through the vines, punctuated with tours and tastings. eBike the Vineyard Tour offers a 5-6 hour trip  including a private Bellet vineyard tour, a wine tasting, and time to picnic amongst the vines.  Domaine de Fologar recommends Bikeandwine.fr.

Most Deluxe: Just book a private car and driver with Friend in France… They’ll make the reservations and liaise with the wineries, and you just taste and tour to your heart’s content …and fill up that trunk with your finds as you go!

Or just kick back and taste your way through the Bellet wines in some of the best wine bars in Nice!

Cheers!

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A new Spark lights up the Old Town dining scene

Posted on December 5, 2024 by Allison Coe

The sparks behind Spark Live Fire Kitchen

Spark Live Fire Kitchen is my new favorite restaurant in Nice: unique, creative, fun, and extremely welcoming and delicious.

The Concept: It’s all about fire: there is no stove… all cooking is done in a custom wood-burning oven, modelled on the ancient communal ovens of Pompeii, and only available in Naples.  The oven is used around the clock with the cooler daytime temperatures used for slow-cooking ribs, and baking their own bread and desserts, so Spark can only be open for dinner.

The Chef:  Michael Webster is a native of Calgary Canada whose travels led through Paris, Chengdu China (where he met his wife Aiqing and ran 4 restaurants), then Bangkok, back to Paris (cooking under a Michelin-starred chef), and finally to Nice, where he’s now doing his own thing, letting his far-flung influences spark his own culinary vision, especially with vegetables, which are his passion.  The last time I was there, a diner came up to the chef to say, “Wow, you just changed my concept of Brussel Sprouts!”

The Menu:  It’s subject to change on Michael’s whim, but a recent menu featured 10 vegetables (8-12€) including Maple Lime Butter Sweet Potato, Sichuan Cauliflower, Citrus Glazed Fennel with Burrata (and of course the famous Pancetta Brussel Sprouts); along with 4 succulent meat choices plus specials ranging from 12-25€ (the Sticky Ribs with Maple Bourbon Glaze are killer!)   The dishes come out one at a time to be shared, vegetables first, and I recommend sitting at the bar where you can watch it all happen.

The Welcome: Aiqing is the service side of the duo, and she couldn’t be more charming and bubbly.  She speaks English but not much French yet, so extra fun for expats, and her eyes light up when talking about the food, their shared vision, and the rocky road to make it a reality!

The restaurant is tiny, so call ahead for your reservation at +33 7 60 92 51 32 or reserve on their website www.sparklivefire.com.   Open for dinner Tues-Saturday, 3 rue Centrale just off Place Rossetti (around the corner from Fenocchio), and right across the street from the newest Old Nice jazz spot Bistrot Rossetti with early live jazz Wed-Sunday from 7pm-10pm, so make a night of it!  Tram stop Cathedrale

See related pages: Best Restaurants in Nice, Best Vegetarian Restaurants in Nice, and more for Foodies in Nice.

Photos: Best of Nice

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Birthday Bash for the Promenade des Anglais

Posted on August 30, 2024 by Allison Coe

200 years ago, the wealthy British tourists that flocked here every winter, insisted on an upgrade of the potholed dirt road running along the beach, so they could stroll along the seaside without getting their finery soiled with dust and dirt.  The working-class Niçois didn’t really see the point, so the industrious English (Anglais) community just got to it and organized and financed the paving of what is now called the Promenade des Anglais (and now you know why!)

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of its inauguration in 1824, the Ville de Nice is throwing a birthday party of sorts, and you are invited.  All weekend, Saturday and Sunday, Aug 31-Sept 1, the Prom will be punctuated with fanciful animations, music and surprises; mostly centered around the Jardin Albert 1ere, but also all along the ‘English Walk’ including vintage photos under the pergolas.

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80 years ago: Nice Freed From Nazi Occupiers

Posted on August 24, 2024 by Allison Coe

WWII liberation of NiceLast June marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day: the storming of the beaches of Normandy. But that was just the start, as battles raged all summer, including the storming of Toulon/Var beaches on August 15th.  Town by town the Nazi occupiers were eradicated and villages liberated, each at tremendous cost.

But Nice… Nice was a different story.  The American Forces had their hands full fighting in the Var, and the enraged Nazi regime holding Nice was extracting increasingly brutal retribution.  In desperation, and sensing the Americans would not get here in time, on the early morning of August 28, 1944, a ragtag band of townsfolk risked all with a surprise coordinated uprising.  The guerilla fighting went on all day, many lost their lives, but against all odds, by the end of the day, the SS was fleeing …and Nice had liberated itself.  Click here for more on  WWII: How Nice Liberated Itself.

To mark this dramatic 80-year anniversary, the city is throwing a week-long series of free parties, conferences, parades and expositions.

Saturday Aug 24th: Giant free 40’s style big band retro dance ball, 6pm-midnight, Theatre de Verdure. The American tanks arrived in Nice two days later, and that elation is the theme of tonight’s American-style 40’s swing celebration. Costumes encouraged, food trucks on site.

Monday, Aug. 26th: Free outdoor cinema in front of the Gare du Sud (tramstop Liberation), showing the film La Bataille du Rail (in French), with festivities starting at 8pm.

Tuesday, Aug. 27th: 6pm in the port (2 Quai Entrecasteaux, tramstop Port Lympia) Pop up exposition Les Alpes-Maritimes Liberees followed by a street-fest with music by Glen Big Band Memories.

As night falls, walk around to the other side of the port to the the Monument aux Morts for a concert, story-telling, and musical reenactment of the liberation of Nice at 8:30pm, finishing at 10pm with a torchlit vigil.

Wednesday, Aug, 28th:  Retro Military Parade with 50 WWII era military vehicles from jeeps to tanks, classic cars, vintage costumes, and all accompanied by New Orleans Jazz Orchestra.   The parade starts in Saint Laurent du Var, rolls into Nice via the Prom (10:30ish?), then up Gambetta, past the train station, back down avenue Jean Medecin (11ish), finishing around 11:30am at Place Massena where they’ll be on display all afternoon.

5pm Place Garibaldi unveils an open-air photo exhibition of never-before-shown photos from the occupation and liberation of Nice.

6pm Fly-over of  vintage WWII aircraft!

6:30pm Official ceremony at the Monument aux Morts.

See related posts:

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