28/03/2023 | Partner: Regione Valle d'Aosta
Nice from prehistory to today
A walk in the sun takes us to visit the main attractions of the fifth city of France.
The promenade, the characteristic historic center and its beautiful main square are just some of the most beloved attractions.
Let’s start from Place Masséna, the heart of Nice. It is a large square flooded with light where you can see 7 poles with 7 works of modern art by the artist Jaume Plensa. They symbolize the seven continents in dialogue with each other. Very close to it, towards the north, there is a particular site: the archaeological crypt. It is an opportunity to visit the city from its basements through a room of 2,000 m² located under the Boulevard Jean-Jaurès and the Place Garibaldi, along the Paillon River. Inside are the remains of the fortifications that were part of the lower city and were meant to defend the county of Nice. It is one of the rare pieces of evidence of Nice’s military past, in the heart of the city.
A walk along Promenade du Pampillon welcomes us with the water features of the floor fountains, up to Fontaine du Soleil. From here we proceed to the Sainte Reparate Cathedral in the Baroque style.
We enter the old town, a network of characteristic narrow streets and alleys where we can stop to buy local crafts or taste street food like the typical socca, a kind of chickpea flour with a more delicate taste.
We head to Cours Saleya, the liveliest part of the neighborhood, where it is worth walking among the colorful and fragrant counters of the Marché Aux Fleurs.
We proceed towards the promenade to Plage des Ponchettes, it is a pretty pebbled town beach, very popular in summer for its proximity to the old town.
Regenerated from a pleasant bath or from a break in the sun, we walk towards the Terra Amata Museum of Prehistory. A small museum space suitable in particular for families with children where they discover the remote origins of the city through a path made of reconstructions and videos that tell the life of the first men, who settled with their huts on a beach and hunted elephants, rhinos, and deers. It is perfect to combine this visit with the Lazaret Cave where there are prehistoric vestiges that allow us to retrace the evolution of man who has lived there from 190,000 to 120,000 BC and look back over more than 70,000 years of human history.
To complete the tour, we climb to the highest point of the city: Fort du Mont Alban. This defensive structure of the 16th century dominates the entire Côte d’Azur, offering an exceptional view from the Bordighera cape to the Estérel massif, passing through Cap d’Ail, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Baie des Anges.
Partner: Regione Valle d'Aosta
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