France
Nice
Italianate backstreets above a market where socca sizzles on copper pans the size of tables.
The copper pan is as big as a table and the socca comes off it in torn, blistered sheets — chickpea flour, olive oil and heat, nothing else. Nice, on France's Riviera, runs on this kind of simplicity: Italianate backstreets with laundry overhead, a market that sells flowers and olives from first light, and a curve of blue bay that justified an entire artistic movement. The light is the real currency here.
Nice lies on the Baie des Anges between the last hills of the Alps and the sea, and it was Italian for longer than it has been French — the old town, with its ochre and terracotta façades, Baroque churches and tall shuttered houses, was Sardinian until 1860. The Cours Saleya market fills it on market mornings with flowers, olives, tomatoes and the socca stalls; the Promenade des Anglais, laid out by the English wintering colony two centuries ago, follows the bay for kilometres of sea-front walking; and the Matisse and Chagall museums sit in the gardens of the Cimiez hill above the city, where the Romans built their town. Nice's winter-resort architecture is now a World Heritage listing. The beaches are pebble, the sea is clear, and the old town eats late.
Solo
The old town backstreets in early morning — socca from the market, coffee at a zinc bar, the Baroque churches echoing. Nice reveals its Italianate character to the walker who ignores the Promenade and dives inland.
Couple
The Cours Saleya market for flowers and olives, the Matisse Museum for the cut-outs, the Promenade at dusk when the Baie des Anges turns copper. Nice layers culture into coastal warmth without ever feeling heavy.
Friends
Socca and rosé at the market, a swim from the beach, aperitifs on the Promenade, dinner in the old town. Nice has the pulse of a Mediterranean city and the ease of a resort — the mix works for a group.
- The Cours Saleya market fills the old town with flowers, olives and socca cooked on copper pans the size of tables.
- The Promenade des Anglais curves along the Baie des Anges — the blue of the water here has its own name.
- The old town's Italianate backstreets are a maze of Baroque churches, ochre façades and laundry lines overhead.
- The Matisse and Chagall museums sit in the Cimiez gardens above the city — art collections with a view.
Socca — the chickpea-flour pancake scraped hot off huge copper pans at the Cours Saleya market — eaten with pepper from a paper cone.
Salade niçoise made the local way — no lettuce, raw vegetables, oil-packed tuna and anchovies.
Busan
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The Ring Road
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