A short stay in Nice

Short stay by Rita and Ferny Forner

Travel by train

Accommodation: Hotel Elvetique, a 2-star near Place Massena, the city's best-known square. Cost for 5 nights 309 euros, in a double room, medium-sized and equipped with all services (satellite TV, safe, full bathroom with bidet); I consider the quality-price ratio excellent. Meals: we particularly remember the restaurant Acchiardo, in the old town, a rustic setting with a typical Nicoise menu, unchanged for years. Voyageur-Nissart, a youthful and modern setting, slightly creative Nicoise cuisine. In both restaurants you eat for around 12-18 euros a head.

What we particularly liked: Christmas lights and decorations Place Massena with the magnificent works of art by Jaume Plensa: the Fontaine du Soleil with its statues, and the Conversation in Nice, a work of 7 statues mounted at about 6 metres high, representing the continents of the earth, lit from within by lights of different colours that pass from one to another to symbolise the transmission of culture between the peoples of the earth; the paving and the marble benches are also remarkable. Walking along the Promenade des Anglais and lying in the sun on the pebbly beach. Visiting the baroque churches of Vieux Nice; in particular we note the church of Santa Reparata. Wandering around the market of Cours Saleya (marche aux fleurs) and Place Garibaldi.

Visiting the Russian church of St Nicholas, one of the most important and beautiful Orthodox churches built (in 1903) outside Russia, partly imitating St Basil's Cathedral on Red Square in Moscow. Visiting the exhibition of works by Salvador Dali in the Hotel Negresco, a historic hotel in Nice. A visit to the Roman amphitheatre on the hill of Cimiez.

Visiting the magnificent Chagall Museum, also in Cimiez; the museum displays the biblical works and the Song of Songs; it is the largest exhibition in the world of this great artist, unmissable. We did not go to the Matisse Museum because we had seen it on other occasions; this one is also not to be missed.

Visiting in Vallauris (25 km from Nice, bus 1 euro a head) the castle housing the Picasso Museum with the magnificent monumental work of the Chapel of War and Peace inside a reconstructed Roman chapel, more than 120 sq m); in the square in front of the museum stands the magnificent and famous bronze statue by Picasso, L'Homme au mouton; also in the castle there are ceramic works by Picasso, the Magnelli Museum, the famous abstract painter from Florence, and also an interesting temporary exhibition of azulejos and zelliges, "Le sourire du chat", famous decorative ceramic tiles, widespread in Spain and Portugal; if you go before 9 March consider it not to be missed, it is a shame photos were not allowed. Doing a complete trip on the single tram line.

Visiting the church of Notre-Dame and the gardens of the monastery of St Francis in Cimiez; particularly interesting are the works of the painter Luis Brea (1500), and the gardens are very beautiful and spacious, with a view over Nice. Visiting the Museum of Human Palaeontology Terra Amata, whose special feature is that it stands in the very places where the archaeological remains were found; of great interest is the temporary exhibition of stamps, issued by all the states of the world and featuring the great themes of prehistory and archaeology. Ferny Forner