Art and cocktails girl’s weekend in Nice and the Cote d’Azur

I’m just back from the warmth and sunlight of the Cote d’Azur. Only yesterday I was strolling along the seafront in Nice on the Promenade des Anglais with palm trees silhouetted against the turquoise sky. As evening fell the street performers emerged to entertain us, rollerbladers zoomed past us and the dome of the iconic Hotel Negresco was illuminated in the distance. I was in Nice for a couple of days with my daughter and friends, a post exam “Mums and daughters” girlie weekend so here are some of the things we enjoyed about Nice and the Cote d’Azur.

Musee Matisse at Cimiez

Henri Matisse was just one of the many famous artists who worked on the Cote d’Azur through the 1920s, 30s and 40s, so on the afternoon of our arrival we decided to visit the Musee Matisse in the Cimiez area of Nice. We caught the bus up the hill and walked into the Cimiez park full of old olive trees, where we stopped for lunch of a panini at the small outdoor cafe. We entered the museum in the large teracotta villa with sea green shutters, which is close to the apartment where Matisse lived and worked for the last 20 years of his life.

In the first room was a floor to ceiling canvas from 1952 called the Sorrows of the King which demonstrated both the recurring theme of music and technique of paper cut-outs that Matisse often used in his work. When you get close up to many of Matisse’s best known works you realise they are just collages of coloured paper which must have inspired many a cutting and sticking primary school project. Some, like the blue abstract figures are so simple that my first thought was “I could do that!” yet as a whole they make a striking collection of vibrant images that stick in your visual memory. I especially love the colourful Jazz series which were originally published as a book and are some of the artist’s most popular images – you’ve probably seen them on a poster or greeting card.

At the back of the villa is a modern wing with an open ground floor space where we admired the oriental costumes that Matisse designed for the Diaghilev Ballet Russe performance of Le Chant du Rossignol in 1925. In the spirit of more blue and white paper cut-outs, I also enjoyed the room size panels of La Piscine with a white band overlaid with blue swimming motifs, one of the few things I dared to covertly photograph.

As a blogger I found it frustrating that there were No Photo signs everywhere which you disobeyed at your peril, as there were museum staff in every room waiting to pounce and tell you off. I’m not sure why they should be quite so strict, as many museums these days allow you to take photos without flash. In order to give you an impression of the artworks I ended up buying lots of postcards which you can see in the collage below.

Musee Matisse, 164 avenue des Arenes de Cimiez, Nice. Open 10am-6pm closed Tuesday. Entrance €10 including admittance this summer to a number of other museums and galleries with a Matisse connection. Take the No 15 bus from the centre of Nice (ask your hotel to tell you where to start) which takes you up the hill on avenue Cimiez until you reach the bus stop which is clearly marked Musee Matisse. Journey time around 15-20 mins.

Cocktails and dinner in the old quarter

The Old Quarter known as Vieux Nice is the most atmospheric place to have dinner in the evening, especially in summer when all the restaurants spill out into the narrow lanes and squares. One of the best known pedestrian streets is Cours Saleya which runs parallel to the seafront, where there is a flower market in the morning giving way on summer evenings to stalls selling antiques, jewellery and crafts in between the outdoor restaurant terraces. On the same street, I loved the Fragonard shop selling fragrances such as lavender and orange blossom that epitomise the old elegance of the Riviera, as well as soaps, lotions and other gorgeous gifts for the home. If you miss them here, make sure you get a spray of perfume as you pass through Nice airport on your way home.

On both evenings, we enjoyed the buzzing atmosphere as we wandered through the area, deliberating on which of the countless restaurants we might like to eat in. Many offer the pizza and pasta combination, and there are plenty of gelato stalls, as Nice is not so very far from the Italian border. Other restaurants offer “Specialite Nicoise” such as salade nicoise which is typically served as a starter, ratatouille, tapenade, a paste of olives and capers and legumes farcis or vegetables stuffed with meat or vegetarian fillings.

On our first evening we settled into a cafe close to the end of Cours Saleya which was serving strawberry mojitos at happy hour prices of €5 each and then found an inexpensive pizza and pasta restaurant in a narrow lane a few streets away. On our second evening we went back to a restaurant we had spotted called Le Vieux Bistro that did all the Nicoise specialities where I had the €20 set menu and got to try my salade nicoise. (Le Vieux Bistro; 7 Rue Sainte Reparate, Nice)

After dark the street entertainers seemed to be on every available corner, ranging from a Michael Jackson lookalike to groups of break dancers who would each do a turn spinning and flipping on the pavement. Along the Promenade des Anglais, spray can artists were deftly creating futuristic paintings of moonscapes and mountains before our eyes, layering different colours of sprays, with dabs of paint from torn up bits of card rather than paint brushes.

A Day trip to Juan-les-Pins and Antibes

On our second day, we took the train to Juan les Pins, as the girls were in search of a sandy beach to top up their tans. Although it was a stylish resort, I was unimpressed by the beach, probably because I’d enjoyed some lovely unspoiled beaches on our recent holiday in Greece. Almost every part of the narrow beach seemed to be covered by a swanky beach club with restaurant where you could pay €20 for a sun bed, with barely see an inch of sand to be seen and the view was blocked by the roofs of the restaurant. We had to walk quite a way before we finally found a public area of beach where the girls had a swim, although there was barely space to place a towel as it was so crowded.

We took the bus back to Antibes and were happy to spend the rest of the day there wandering through the old town and soaking up the atmosphere. Near the covered market which had finished for the day, and the Town Hall where a succession of weddings were in progress, we found the severe stone Grimaldi castle looming up on the hill, which now houses the Musee Picasso.

Picasso was invited in 1946 by the curator of the museum to use part of the space as a studio, and although he only stayed a couple of months it was a happy and creative time for him in the company of his younger lover, the painter Francoise Gilot. After he left Picasso donated most of the paintings and drawings he had created there to the museum which were later supplemented by a collection of his ceramics and other gifts.

At first we were disappointed to find that the lower floors are taken up with artworks from other artists, thinking that it would be entirely about Picasso. However, on the upper floors we found all the Picasso works including a series of photos of him working in the castle. There are a few big canvases and a series of black ink line drawings of a faun and nymph – I couldn’t help that the faun was Picasso watching the naked sleeping nymph, his younger muse Francoise Gilot.

The museum has a wonderful terrace overlooking the sweep of the bay – with sculptures on the walls, silhouetted against the sea and sky. If it had been England this would have been the perfect place to position the cafe, but of course the French take their art rather seriously and don’t believe in mixing great art with coffee and cake, hence no cafe at all.

After our visit we walked along the sea wall towards the port where we got sight of a lovely sandy beach that would have been a much better option than Juan-le-Pins, had we only known. We walked back through the old town, had a relaxing drink in the square to watch the world go by and then made our way back to the station for our train back to Antibes.

Musee Picasso, Chateau Grimaldi, Place Mariejol, Antibes. Open daily except Mondays, 10am-12pm and 2-6pm. The train from Nice to Antibes runs 3 times an hour and the journey takes around 30 mins, costs around €10 return (reductions with a student card), timetables available at the ticket desk.

Staying at Hotel Windsor

We were delighted with our choice of Hotel Windsor, an artistic hotel that is well located in a side street, a couple of blocks or a 10 minute walk behind the seafront and an easy 10-15 mins walk to the train station. The hotel has a lush, jungly garden with tables set in the shade where breakfast and dinner is served in summer. They even manage to fit in a swimming pool to cool off after a day’s sightseeing and at night the painted moon on the wall glowed in the dark looking like a real moon reflecting on the water.

Our twin room was the cheapest in the hotel so I wasn’t expecting too much but it was perfect for us. The white walled bedroom had paintings and artworks, with a wide desk area below the windows overlooking the street and a white tiled shower room with funky touches like the orange sink and fragrant orange blossom toiletries (my favourite scent from the Cote d’Azur). Each of the rooms is individually deigned by a different artist, so you can’t be quite sure if it will be to your taste, and the girls were in a similar twin room but found the artwork a little dark and spooky.

The reception area included a large seating space with art installations and we enjoyed an early evening cocktail in the bar which was filled with ethereal Marilyn Monroe photos. The whole place was full of artistic touches, from the rocket in the lift which started playing a recorded space shuttle count-down as you ascended to your room, to the Tintin posters all the way up the stairs. For a girls’ getaway in Nice, this could just be the perfect artistic base to venture out for your sightseeing and return to a calm, cool haven in the evening.

Hotel Windsor, 11 Rue Dalpozzo, 06000 Nice. Our twin room was booked a few months ahead and cost €128 per night for the room only plus €1.50 per person per night Tax de Sejours. The published room rates range from €102-240 depending on the room size and season. Buffet breakfast served in the garden in summer costs and additional €13.50 per person or €6 for express breakfast of coffee and pastries at the bar.

I loved our little taste of Nice, Antibes and the Cote d’Azur, but inevitably a couple of days was just too short. The schedule was determined by my daughter’s busy summer itinerary but now I have a wish list of things to do when I return;

Next time on the Cote d’Azur I’d love to…

Walk around Cap d’ Antibes – the peninsular of land that separates Antibes and Juan-les-Pins is wooded and full of millionnaires villas. I’d love to take a walk on the path that skirts part of the headland, stop for a drink at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc and wander around shady lanes with sea views.

Try out the Velo Bleu scheme – All around Nice we spotted the blue bikes parked at different locations – at only 1€ per day to hire a bike this must be the biggest bargain in a town that can otherwise be expensive. Perhaps a ride along the Promenade des Anglais from one end to the other would be a fun thing to do in the early evening. Website: Velobleu.org

Visit the hill-top villages inland from Nice – I picked up a leaflet that talked about the “route of the perched villages” which makes then sound like birds! There seem to be countless medieval villages, abbeys, artistic chapels, oil and wine producers to be explored. I’m already imagining the views from these limestone crags, perhaps a bit of hiking followed by a lazy lunch!

Follow the artists who came to paint here – Not only Picasso and Matisse but Renoir, Chagall, Renoir and many others were seduced by the light and vibrant colours of the Cote d’Azur and there are many places you can visit to discover these great artists and the places they painted.

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com

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