Scenes From Old Nice

It took us several tries to finish the Old Nice walk. Too many distractions: exotic/historic cars, the flower market, the antiques/brocante market, the best gelato shoppe ever, so far, old and famous shoppes selling olive oil, chocolates, and such, a great Nicean lunch, curiosities everywhere. In fact, the distractions were better than the "official" walk itself, which is often the case. 

Beach side of the opera

Honoring US entry into WWI

Street scene, old Nice, which dates mostly from the 17th-18th centuries

Hotel de Ville: city hall

In the Alziari oil store

Church of St. Francis de Paul

City side of opera

It's almost Easter, and we are looking at chocolate
Easter eggs and bunnies everywhere...here, in the very
famous Maison Auer

Thus

The Cours Saleya run several blocks and hosts various
markets on various days; Matisse painted from rooms in the
yellow building...

In the flower market

Passing by over-sized macaroons at Angea's

Market in the forecourt of the Palais of Justice

Now in the very large Monday antiques/brocante market

Approaching a Turkish restaurant?

Street scene

Nice cathedral...closed for lunch

Studying the menu at the main Fenocchio's--we treated ourselves twice
at the small outpost a few blocks away, enjoying the largest selection of
gelatos, etc., ever...to be addressed in a forthcoming "Nice Eats" post

Tie shop...note bow ties on right

Street scene looking toward the Colline du Chateau,
the old fortress on the hill, which we visited in 2019

Another sight from a previous visit...the shutters fold out to become
tables

Nice Cars, 2

Another day, April 12th, we set forth, again, for a hike on the seaside Promenade, but only got as far as the staging area for another car exposition, the 2025 Tour Auto. They were still arriving, unloading, when we gave up on the hike and headed back home. Okay, I promise no more cars, at least until we get to Monaco.

More information here...

Entirely oldies...the race prescribes only certain models

Austin Minis, but of course...

Beautiful old Porsches

1966 Porsche 906...among the first of the "Batmobiles"

Studebaker?!

Ferrari Dino

Another...I counted five before we left

Not your typical MG

Closest thing to my old 911SC

Still processing....

A VW camper...for the TV crew

Porsche 550 Spyder...the model that James Dean was driving...scroll way
down here to see the Heaven Tree where he died

So much for another walk in Nice

Next day, Vicki's masterful shot of the Chiquita Porsche...Top Banana!

Nice Cars, 1

Our plan for exploring Nice and the Cote d'Azur was in part to use the Rough Guides' Walks and Tours: Nice and the French Riviera, seeing things on foot as much as possible and also in utilizing the excellent public transportation system to get to such places as Menton, Monaco, Cannes, Grasse, and so forth. We thought we'd start with the nearby walks in Vieux Nice and the Promenade des Anglais, and we began both, more than once, but got distracted, twice, by car shows, one on the Jardin Albert and one on the Promenade itself. The first was mostly exotic/historic vehicles apparently for sale, and the second was actually a stage of a race (rally?) for oldies, a revival of the 1899 Tour Auto, the first automobile race. At least that was my take on it all. I won't try to label each photo but will comment on vehicles of special or personal interest.

Lots of Ferraris

Berliet BD 40 CV, Grand Sport, 1908; capable of 90mph

1949 Riley

Many supercars

1954 Corvette

There were scores of historic motorcycles and some crotch rockets too

Show stopper for me...a 60s Ferrari 330 GT 2+2

Family version of the legendary 330 P4; we briefly considered one
in Dallas, c. 1988, but decided a) the V12 engine was more valves 
than I could adjust, and b) it just didn't fit my job description; opted
for a 911SC instead

Speaking of legendary...

Boat tail

Memories of Wayne and Garth

1957 Maserati 250F

Vicki's favorite; we considered renting one of these tent-
on-the-roof jobs in 1979, but went with a Opel GT and a
umbrella-style pop-up tent instead; our first European trip

Ugliest car award winner

Cobra: what a mid-century sports car is supposed to look like

In his best Marty McFly pose