Nice, You Are So Nice!

One of my close friends going all the way back to elementary school, Becky, moved to Israel several years ago. We've kept in touch thanks to her roughly annual trips back to the States and the wonders of modern technology, but when I came to France, we took advantage of living that much closer to each other to squeeze in some quality time. She was able to take off a few days over my spring break in April, so we planned to explore southern France before heading back to Lyon for the weekend!

Our first day was all about discovering Nice. After croissants and coffee for breakfast, we spent the rest of the morning wandering through the streets of the old city, stopping in the museum at the Palais Lascaris, and browsing the wares at the giant weekly flea market in Cours Saleya.

Palais Lascaris ‒ totally worth it since we got in free with our student IDs!

The palace has an impressive collection of ancient instruments!

Flea market in Cours Saleya

I left the flea market with a set of six of these plates. They all have types of cheese!!

Live filming of the French version of Top Chef at Cours Saleya!

After lunch on the beach, we strolled along the waterfront promenade, Le Promenade des Anglais, so-named after the English vacationers who used to spend winters on the southern coast of France.

Lunch on the beach!

Our next stop was the Marc Chagall museum. The whole museum was nicely put together, but my favorite part was the room containing five pink-hued paintings illustrating the "Song of Songs" in the Hebrew Bible. The audio guide segment for this room was great ‒ we were serenaded with Bach concertos while we admired the art!

From the museum, we continued our day of sightseeing with a walk up Castle Hill. We had timed it perfectly to get to the top as the sun was starting to set, so we were treated to some beautiful views from the top. It was a bit hazy while we were on the coast, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

Strolling to Castle Hill with some delicious smoothies

View from Castle Hill

View of the port from the other side of Castle Hill

Finally, we ended our night with a great dinner at Acchiardo, a restaurant in the old city. Becky had some fantastic gnocchi in a gorgonzola sauce, while I had ravioli stuffed with meat and swiss chard (swiss chard is used a lot in Niçoise cooking) in a pesto sauce. I also tried a kir, an aperitif made with crème de cassis and white wine. YUM!
 

Delicious dinner in Nice!

On Tuesday, we visited some nearby coastal towns. Crowding onto a packed bus (our line went through Monaco, where a big tennis match was taking place that day!) we headed to our first stop, Villefranche-sur-Mer. We spent a few hours there, walking around a fort down by the water and then doing a short-but-steep hike up to a second fort with sweeping views of the coastline! 

Picnic spot overlooking the water!

From Villefranche-sur-Mer, we caught another bus to continue on to Eze, which markets itself as "a village of art and gastronomy." I can't speak to the food, but the art piece was definitely true! We spent about two hours wandering in and out of artisan shops and taking photos of the quaint town.

Art workshops galore in Eze!

It was pretty late by the time we got back and showered, so we took it easy Tuesday evening. We picked up some fresh provençal tomatoes and some other vegetables to eat with our leftover bread and cheese and called it a night!

On Wednesday, we woke up early to spend a bit more time in Nice and sample more of the local cuisine before catching our afternoon bus to Castellane. Starting at Cours Saleya, we admired the gorgeous bouquets bursting out of each stall at the famous flower market and browsed the stands filled with artisanal soaps, lavender sachets, and other lovely things nearby.

Soaps!

 

Shopping complete, we rounded out our visit by tasting some regional specialties! I tried a tarte au blette sucrée (a sweet swiss chard pastry ‒ it was...unusual), socca (Niçoise-style crepes made from chickpea flour instead of wheat flour ‒ good, but apparently better hot off the griddle), and soupe de poisson (fish soup ‒ I couldn't leave the coast without some kind of seafood!). And just before catching our bus, we stopped for some gelato. It was legit. Nice was basically part of Italy until 1860, when it voted to join France, which explains the very Italian feel of the city and the multitude of gelato shops!

Lunch at a cute restaurant before heading to the bus!

Soupe de poisson

Becky got a salade niçoise. How could we leave Nice without trying one?

With that, it was time to bid goodbye to Nice and move on to the next part of our trip: Castellane and the Verdon Gorges!

Hiking the Cassis Calanques

*I know I promised more details on our engagement (!!!), but I have SO many other things to catch up on from April and May first! I am going to back up and take things in order. Just go with it.*

After getting totally hooked on the idea of hiking the Cassis calanques several months ago, I finally got my chance in April. I'd made plans to explore the French Riviera and the Verdon Gorges with one of my closest friends, Becky, over spring break, but she wasn't getting in until Sunday night. Since I had most of the weekend beforehand free, I planned to head down to Cassis on Saturday to hike, spend the night, and then visit Marseille for a few hours before meeting Becky in Nice.

When I happened to mention the hike to Maria Daniella, a friend I met through the Monday night dinners, she jumped at the idea. She's working on her PhD in composite materials (read: engineering) here in Lyon and spends most of her time in the lab, so I was in charge of organizing our trip.

I must confess. This was not my best showing in terms of planning. First, I poorly estimated how long it would take us to get to Cassis. (We have to take this 30-minute bus just to get from the train station to the center of town, you say? The shuttle to take us the 7km from the harbor to our auberge de jeunesse doesn't actually exist, you say?) Second, I underestimated how much "roughing it" would be involved at the auberge. (The only way to take a shower would be to crouch in the sink trough and dump buckets of water over our heads, you say? There's no heating at night, you say?)

Combined with a few other oversights on my part (Since the reception desk is closed until later, we should just leave our bags in these cubby holes, you say? We have to pay the auberge association membership fee on top of the price for the dorm beds to stay here, you say? Bedsheets cost extra, you say? What the heck are these trail markers trying to show us?!?), let's just say I'm lucky that Maria Daniella can really go with the flow and was up for an adventure. And despite everything, we ended up having a great time!

Arriving in Cassis in late afternoon, we hiked the 7km from the harbor to the auberge, enjoying the stunning views along the way.

Pretty little harbor town of Cassis!

Far away views of the first calanque on our way to the auberge!

Views of Cap Canaille (the big cliff across the water!) from the trail to the auberge

Auberge de Jeunesse La Fontasse

Once we made it to the auberge, we stashed our bags and headed out to hike the calanques trail. Unfortunately, we'd arrived a few hours later than expected and didn't have time to hike the whole way, but we saw Ein Vau, the prettiest of the three calanques!

???

Coastal cliffs near the third calanque, Ein Vau

Ein Vau from above

Mouth of the Ein Vau calanque

Maria Daniella and me with two women we met and hiked with on the trail. They were so sweet -- they insisted on giving us their numbers in case we needed anything and called the next day to make sure we'd had a good night!

Back at the auberge that evening, we pulled out the food we'd packed along and settled in for a picnic dinner on the front porch.

Spectacular sunset view during dinner at the auberge

Fresh strawberries that some  of the other guests shared with us. Best ones I've ever tasted!

The auberge was pretty rustic, so we basically camped that night (not that this is a bad thing!). Seriously -- the main differences were that instead of games by a campfire, we played dominoes next to the common room hearth, and instead of a sleeping bag in a tent, we slept in a dorm room with bunk beds!

We woke up early the next morning when the sun came up (i.e., camping) and enjoyed breakfast on the front porch. I could have stayed a little longer with such a beautiful view, but both of us really wanted to see more of the calanques before going back to Marseille. Rather than hiking again, we decided to catch a boat cruise from the center of town for a closer look.

Breakfast views from the porch

More breakfast views

Hiking back to the center of town from the auberge

Luckily, a boat was leaving moments after we walked up to the harbor. It's possible to do longer cruises that go to the 5 or even 8 calanques closest to Cassis, but we decided that the 45-minute, 3-calanque cruise was just right. We didn't go as far into each inlet as I'd hoped, but it was still really nice to be out on the water!

Heading into one of the first two calanques (I don't remember which one this was.)

Approaching Ein Vau, the third calanque!

Ein Vau calanque from the boat!

Cap Canaille on the way back to the harbor

Me and Maria Daniella on the boat tour!

Heading back to the Cassis harbor port!

Stepping back onto dry land, we didn't have much time left in Cassis before Maria Daniella's train back to Lyon. Instead of going to a restaurant, we picked up a few things to supplement the leftovers from our picnic dinner the night before and plopped ourselves down by the beach to eat.

Picnic lunch by the Cassis beach!

After lunch, we made our way back to Marseille, where Maria Daniella caught her connecting train home, and I did a little sightseeing. With about two hours free until I had to meet my covoiturage to Nice, I walked to the harbor and then up to the Notre Dame of Marseille, which is like Paris' Sacre Coeur. It was at the top of a super steep hill, but the views were worth it!

Down by the Marseille harbor

It doesn't look like it, but this hill was SO STEEP! Not easy, especially when carrying a week's worth of stuff with me!

Views from the Marseille Notre Dame

"This Wall Bears Marks of the Battle of the Liberation of Marseille, 15-25 August, 1944"

Inside the Notre Dame of Marseille

Wanting to be on time for my ride, I didn't spend much time at the church before turning back to the train station. Just as I arrived back at Gare St. Charles, however, I received a text from my covoiturage saying that they were running late and would be canceling the ride unless I was able to meet them at an exit off the highway. Lesson learned: make sure you aren't booking a ride with a band on their way to a gig!

At that point, exhausted and in desperate need of a shower, I bit the bullet and booked the next train to Nice. Thankfully, it wasn't too expensive, even though I was reserving my seat just 15 minutes before departure. I finally made it to Nice a little after 8pm that night, where I mercifully took off my hiking boots (sorry, feet!) and took one of those showers that makes you eternally grateful to whoever invented hot running water. So fresh and so clean (clean), I settled in and waited for Becky to arrive!