Nice and Côte d'Azur, France

Nice is a highlight of the Côte d'Azur with its Alps-to-Mediterranean vistas, seafront promenade and interesting museums. We made it our hub for visits to other areas of the French Riviera. This view from Castle Hill highlights Nice's location on the Baie des Anges and shows the Italian influence on its architecture.
 

We stayed at a hostel in a restored monastery. This was the view from our window.
 

The Place Massena is a grand central square uniting the old town and modern Nice. It is a main centre for events and festivals.
 

The French Riviera beach is pebbly, but has attracted European sun-seekers for decades.

The 7-kilometer Promenade des Anglais was built in 1822 for British aristocrats to walk along the Nice waterfront. It is lined with belle epoque hotels and Victorian gardens.
 

Place Rosetti in  the heart of the Old Town is enclosed and pedestrianised,  with the cathédrale Sainte-Réparate and the fountain in the centre, and filled with buskers and gelato stands.
 

Laundry hangs from the balconies of the typical pink, cream and yellow ochre buildings lining the streets.

 When Marc Chagall lived in Vence, near Nice, he donated his works to a custom-built museum.

Several other art galleries, including The Matisse Museum, the Picasso Museum and the Renoir Museum, are important art sights in the Riviera.
 

Antibes provides several yachting harbours and sights such as Fort Carre, the Bastion St. Andre, and pretty churches and gardens.
 

    

Antibes is also the home of the renowned Picasso Museum housed in an ancient fort.

              

The Riviera towns are influenced by their history of Greek, Roman, Italian and French settlement.

Menton is the nearest point on the French Riviera to Italy. Its old town is a tangle of stepped lanes, pink and ochre houses and tall Italianate churches.
 

Behind Menton rises a line of sheltering mountains and several ancient villages on high ledges, connected by little lanes and footpaths.
 

The region has a sub-tropical Mediterranean climate with hot dry summers and mild wet winters.

The principality of Monaco, a tax haven for the rich and famous, bristles with expensive high rise condos.

The Grimaldi family have been the sovereign rulers of Monaco since 1297. The royal family owns lands and palaces, artwork and antique cars.

The economic hub of Monaco is the Monte Carlo Casino and its surrounding high-end shops. Since 1929, the Grand Prix car races have passed in front of the Casino and around the port.
 

Èze, a charming medieval village that lies between Nice and Monaco, is known for its view of the sea from its hilltop.