Our final day in Nice

Fri. Apr. 8: Our last day in Nice was unplanned except for a few foods we all wanted to try before leaving. So we walked over to the Market at 10:00 and found Teresά’s stand, where she was warming and serving her socca, a crepe made of olive oil, flour, and ground chickpeas. It is served very hot and sprinkled with pepper and was the traditional breakfast for fisherman before they set off. It was delicious with a small cup of espresso. Next we wandered the streets a bit and found the Church of Réparate open so we looked around there for a while. More wandering and strolling and we came upon a patisserie where we each had a decadent pastry. On a whim, with plenty of time left to our day, we decided to ride the bus to Vance and St. Paul de Vance two of the so-called “perched villages” in the hills surrounding Nice. Coming around the curves as we approached them, it was immediately apparent why they are called “perched”. The ancient walled towns seem to hang from the hill side overlooking deep valleys. Most of the afternoon was spent in Vance, where they have a self-guided walking tour that takes the visitor to explanatory plaques which include an English translation. The villages with towering walls seem both self-sufficient and impenetrable and it is possible to imagine why they have lasted for 2000 years and linked with other equally ancient towns since the Romans set them up along their roads that stretched along the valuable coastline. What is harder to imagine is what life would be like in a town where the “roads” needed to be only wide enough for a hand pulled cart and sometimes went up and down the hills with steps. We had pizza for lunch on a quiet main square before leaving Vance for nearby St. Paul de Vance. St. Paul is much more tourist-y and was much busier so we made quick work of it. But we did enjoy the magnificent views from its ramparts and visiting the grave of Chagall. After walking about halfway around the walls of the city we cut back through the central plazas on the main road before getting back on the bus and returning to Nice. We used up wine and other food for a light dinner and began to pack up to leave Saturday morning. Heidi and Kris had an 8:30 plane to catch, which meant they were taking a cab at 5:30 to the airport. Marv and I could take the 98 bus to the airport to catch our plane to Paris at 11:30 to continue our adventure. Nice had been everything we could have hoped for and more!