In an effort to explore more of the fantastic city that I now call my home, I did a lot of research online about ‘off the beaten track’ Nice. The result was a lovely 4hr stroll through the hills of Nice up in the region of Rimiez/Gairaut. Johan and I took the bus up into the hills for about 25mins, and despite getting off at the wrong stop by a random hospital, we found our way pretty quickly to the start of the walk. I’d been told of a nice walk along the Canal de Gairaut, often frequented by joggers and families. I can see why. Not the most picturesque canal (made out of cement, with cement bridges) the view on the other side was amazing! The area is described rather like a balcony over looking Nice, and it’s the perfect description! You could see right over Nice to the ocean, and you could see as far right as the airport, and as far left as the port! Despite the time of day making the air a little hazy, the view was incredible! We walked along the canals for approx 45mins, before it came to a sudden and rather abrupt end. After trying to figure out which way to go next, we asked direction and made our way to the Cascade de Gairaut. This is a man-made waterfall set underneath a rather fake, yet still pretty Swiss Chalet. The view over Nice was even more amazing than before, and we took rather a lot of photos! We saw the Eglise de Gairaut where Jacques and Jean Medecin were buried, before heading down some random woodland path. The view when we emerged at the bottom couldn’t have been more different from that at the top – This time all we could see were ugly tower blocks, the motorway, decrepit houses and dodgy areas. Needless to say, we left there sharpish!
We walked via Parc Chambrun, with its Tour d’Amour – said to be a place for lovers, where you can make a wish that will come true within a year. In reality, the park was overrun with French chavs and annoying little kids, making it not a very pleasant park to be in. It was also surprisingly small and not very well maintained. We continued on our route heading back to the city centre, going down one of the main roads into town. This took us past the old train station, Chemin de Fer a la Provence, which is currently going under restoration work to turn it into the new Hotel de Ville, and past l’Eglise de Sainte Jeanne d’Arc. This I imagined to be quite stunning as the design really is quite unique to ensure a massive interior volume. As it was built using reinforced concrete (a new invention at the time) and painted white…it result in the nickname ‘the meringue’. Although eye-catching to say the least, it was not what I expected. Grey and black patches made it look dirty and unloved, and the building work made it look a little in disrepair. And the fact that everything around it was so close suggested that it really wasn’t as monumental as it was designed to be. It looked utterly forgotten and overlooked.
Back in the town centre, we battled against the many many Saturday shoppers in order to make our way home. On the way, we passed through Place Massena, which recently has erected some rather strange statues that take the form of people sat on top of very high metal poles. I can’t say that I like them…and its really rather annoying that we don’t know why they are there. By the looks of it, they appear to be a new permanent feature of the square…not too happy about that!!
