Euro-Rail I

It's bloody strange, but I wasn't very impressed with Nice, apart from the pure azure of the sea...the Promenade des Anglais was not the least bit impressive, being just that - a promenade - and not really this strip that attracts the most elegant and chic of them all! As for the hotels down that strip, I'm afraid the less said about their facades, the better! It wasn't all bad though - I'm just exercising my spirit of criticism...the view from Colline du Chateau stole my breath and the Côte D'Azur is gorgeous and merits every compliment it has ever received! Breathtakingly beautiful - the view of the Baie des Anges from the Colline (that I posted earlier) or the Cascades from where you get the view...

Interestingly the apparently chic restaurant close to the Marché des Fleurs was quite a disappointment (mainly due to the snobbery of the waiter) but a simple, very basic restaurant close to our hostel was an absolute delight. At Restaurant du Soleil, run by an old couple I found a warmth that stole into my heart along with the soul-warming food! The monsieur running the place totally made me evening when he complimented my French : "Vous parlez bien en français, mademoiselle...continuez le bon travail!" Goes without saying that I skipped all the way back to the room ;-)

While Nice failed to inspire awe, Eze, a quaint (albeit too postcard-touristy) medieval village a few kilometres from Nice, charmed me completely with its colourful boutiques, narrow winding lanes and steps leading up to the church and the garden with a splendid view of Nice and the Côte d'Azur stretching up to Corsica...it was there that I truly felt I was at the famed French Riviera watching the crème de la crème of automobiles roll smoothly into restaurants way beyond my reach, all driven by chauffeurs that were polished to a shine, just like the cars! ;-) I'm not sure what I liked best about Eze - the drive to and from the village (uphill by bus and downhill in a Merc-cab!) or the breath-taking view from Jardin des Plantes Exotiques, 249 m above sea-level.

Now as I head to Lyon, I'm glad I did visit Nice and the French Riviera...as I leave behind the coast with its pebbly beaches and calcareous, rocky mountains, into a region marked with verdant hills and vineyards on both sides of the tracks I hope Lyon doesn't disappoint me...

(This and the series of posts that shall follow were scribbled hastily, untidily while travelling aboard the various trains that I took to reach my destinations...

The photographs are courtesy K, since I shall only develop mine when I get my bag and thus the many rolls of film inside! )