Southern France, Pt. 1
My wife & I flew into Nice, France, and hopped on the rail to our hotel in the city center.
This was the beginning of a week of travels as we would make our way via public transit (train and bus) from Nice to Marseilles:
Beneath the train station was a bicycle parking lot:
We dropped off our bags at our hotel and walked a loop of the downtown:
The grocery stores had digital signage with pricing, which is more technologically advanced than retail stores in Silicon Valley, California!
We hopped onto the regional rail and rode it east towards the Italian border, and we walked from the Eze station along the Mediterranean sea:
Neat electric golf cart:
We took the train one stop further to Menton which has a nice marina and goes up the hillside to a scenic cemetery:
Pretty neat combination of an electric scooter and a boat:
They are making serious investments in beachfront tourism infrastructure:
Some historicism:
The vehicles are so much smaller here than in the USA:
This last vehicle is what is known as a “quadricycle” which are a special vehicle designation that youth as young as 14 years old are legally permitted to operate.
This is one interesting example of European teenagers being given more independence than in the USA.
Walking up the hill of Menton we were rewarded with a view from a world war cemetery, with a mix of crosses (Christians), stars (Jews) and crescents (Muslims):
Some photos of traffic protection infrastructure (very rare in the USA):
And community public spaces–also uncommon in the USA:
The train back to Nice was packed:
Nice
Nice was nice.
There was a big farmers market on top of a subterranean car parking garage:
Walking along the waterfront, we noticed signage for the upcoming Tour De France.
This year the cycling race finished in Nice instead of Paris due to the Olympics.
The waterfront promenade was insanely walk/bike friendly:
Interesting bikes:
Our walk became a much longer walk, as we ventured up a very steep hill to reach the neighboring town of Villefranche-sur-Mer:
The elevated view back westward towards Nice was gorgeous:
Cyclists were having a blast bombing down the hills:
We rode a quick train ride back to Nice, for a meal at a tourist trap and walked the immense car-free zones:
This one way street isolates pedestrians from drivers by a thick green shrub:
This underpass beneath the train station is 50% reserved for bi-directional bicyclist traffic:
Having spent a dense few days in Nice, we packed our bags for additional traveling.