Birthday Bash for the Promenade des Anglais

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

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 Gleen 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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The Tour de France Finish in Nice!

Poster for Tour de France finish in Nice 2024

For the first time ever: The Tour de France will Finish in Nice!

Due to the impending Olympic Games, for the first time in the history of the Tour de France, instead of finishing on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, this year it will finish… on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice across from the Old Town!

  • Friday-Sunday, July 19-21 – Come visit the free Fan Park just off Place Massena with lots of animations, demos, workshops, displays… and swag!
  • Saturday July 20 – The action happens at the Nice Port from noon on, for the second-to-last-day festivities leading up to the dramatic shotgun start at 1:35pm as they head up to the mountains.
  • Saturday night July 20 – Party on the eve of the Tour de France finish with a DJ concert in the Fan Park with Ofenbach at 9:15pm, followed by a giant fireworks/drone show with 1500 drones at 10:30pm on the Prom!
  • Sunday July 21 – The final day of the Tour de France starts in Monaco with individual time trials: each rider will climb La Turbie and then the Col d’Eze, then zoom down into Nice to finish on the Nice Promenade des Anglais in less than 45 minutes!  The first rider is expected to hit the finish line on the Prom at around 3:15pm and the last around 7:30pm, as the tension mounts…
  • Sunday evening – The Tour de France Awards Ceremony will be held at Place Massena at 7:45pm, right after the last finisher.  Wow!
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Two Major Hotel Openings that are Quite a Surprise

Anti hotel banners in Old NiceIn medieval times, ancient Convent of the Visitation in Old Nice was an austere abode for pious nuns.  The nuns are long gone and the convent has been boarded up for decades, but nevertheless the locals fought tooth-and-nail to stop its transformation into a lavish 5-star hotel, fearing the introduction of an ostentatious luxury resort would forever alter the feel of the vieille ville.

After years of delays, The luxury 5-star Hotel du Couvent just opened, and what a surprise!  The sprawling complex is so understated and discrete that the entry is practically hidden!  The 88-room hotel is as remarkable for its fidelity to the history and architecture, as much as for its resistance to the typical trappings of many luxury hotels.

It feels like a convent, a spiritual place, an oasis, like a meditation, as if you discovered a secret garden where you instantly feel the history in your bones.

Guest room at Hotel du Couvent NiceIt’s rare to find a hotel with such a sense-of-place: the guestrooms are sober yet elegant, the spa evokes Roman baths, the terraced gardens beg to be strolled, the restaurants serve on antique linens and vintage glassware …and they grow their own herbs, just like the nuns used to do.

With its lack of sea-view and bells-and-whistles, this one-of-a-kind hotel will not be to everyone’s taste, which is what makes its restraint so laudable.  What an impressive addition to Old Nice!

But if bells-and-whistles are more your thing, another major hotel just opened in the Nice Port this month that basically is the polar opposite of Hotel du Couvent…

The reception area for Mama Shelter hotel in NiceMama Shelter Riquier!  Fun and affordable, playful and eccentric, and employing lots of state-of-the-art tech, this cutting-edge 4-star hotel is kind of a whirlwind.  With a décor that riffs wildly on Matisse, its 102 rooms are kitschy, irreverent and innovative, to the point of being over-stimulating.  It’s as if the hotel threw art, humor and cartoons into the cocktail blender to create a big, bold sensory experience that you won’t soon forget.

In fact, after a stay here, you’ll probably need a few days at Hotel du Couvent!

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Nice’s Weekend Winery Bus: The Bellet Shuttle

Grenache grapes on the viteIt’s a conundrum: you want to visit Nice’s Bellet wine region, tour the picturesque wineries and taste lots of wine, but the vineyards are spread out in the backcountry, necessitating a car, and driving the windy roads isn’t exactly compatible with the tasting, sampling, and savoring that is the whole point of the trip…

Nice Weekend Wine Bus to the rescue!

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 from just across from the Magnan tram stop in Nice.

The Chateau Bellet chapel as seen from the vineyardsAfter a scenic 20-minute bus ride up to the hilly vineyards, the first stop is maybe the most famous, Chateau Bellet (pictured).

An hour and 20 minutes later the shuttle passes again, taking you to the Pylones stop, for access to two wineries, Domaine de la Source and Domaine de Vinceline (but both of these are also walkable from Chateau Bellet).

When the shuttle passes again, it’s for a 15-minute drive to the other side of Bellet, to the Tennis de Cremat stop for the Collet de Bovis winery, then a short hop (or both walkable) to the spectacular Chateau de Cremat and then Clos Saint-Vincent from the Raiola stop, which is where the shuttle picks you up (hopefully not from off the floor…!) for the 30-minute drive back into town, and drops you off right where you started, across from the Magnan tram stop.

The cost to take the wine shuttle is just the price of a regular bus/tram ticket (1.70€) but since you need to validate a voyage each time you board, it makes the most sense to just get the bus/tram day pass for 7€.

Here’s all the info in English and timetable…  Pace yourself!

Timetable for Nice Bellet Wine Shuttle circuit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See related page: Best Wine Bars in and around Old Nice

Photo credits: Une grappe de Grenache by Magnetto and Chapelle by Chateau de Bellet, both licensed under Creative Commons

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