French Riviera–A Day in Nice, Eze and Villefranche-Sur-Mer

After driving along the lower Cornisch and taking in the gorgeous views of Villefranche-Sur-Mer, we parked in Nice and made our way straight to the Promenade des Anglais – a four mile long seafront promenade.  Once there,  the kids headed straight to the enticing waters of the Mediterranean. 

Megan and Josh… good buddies.

Megan found the perfect heart shaped rock and we carried it around with us the whole day.  Megan’s souvenir from the French Riviera.

We headed down the Promenade towards the Bellandra Tower and took in the views from the point.

Castle Hill in Nice

Up the elevator to the top of CASTLE HILL for some more great views.  With our previous couple days being cloudy and cool, we welcomed the sun, the blue skies and the warmth.  Feels more like Spring Break!

Johnson Family

Chugg Family

A view from the East side of Castle Hill into Nice’s Port.

The kids played at the playground on Castle Hill and we enjoyed the sunshine before we hooked up with the Aaron, Monae, Brianna and Austin and the Chuggs headed off to adventure on their own for the afternoon.  It was our last day with the Starbuck Family and we were intent on enjoying every last minute.  Throughout the day Ryan, Austin, Brianna and Katie made every attempt to stretch out the vacation and beg for an additional day together.  So fun seeing them reconnect and have so much fun together.

The Beautiful streets of Nice

One more stop at a great view point before heading down to wander the streets of Nice.

The girls picking out French berets.  Katie and Emily bought their berets with their own money as their French Riviera souvenir.

Little kids being silly waiting for big girls to pick out berets.

After roaming the streets and playing by the fountain we decided to SQUISH everyone into the van to drive the couple miles to the Russian Orthodox Cathedral.

The Russian Orthodox Cathedral

Five hundred rich Russian families wintered in Nice in the late 19th  century and needed a worthy Orthodox house of worship.  Czar Nicholas II gave this church to the Russian community in 1912. – Rick Steves    We’ll take some Russian architecture wherever we can get it… it’s fantastic, and reminds us so much of our trip to St. Petersburg, Russia.  We wandered around the property and then inside for a bit before heading on.

Late Lunch in Eze

Cathedral gazing makes you hungry, and instead of wander around Nice and find something we decided to head back over to our favorite little hilltop town, EZE, and grab some delicious crepes in the most picturesque of places.

The Crepe Restaurant was a unique mountain cave.  Very fun.

Port de la Darse of Villefranche

As a few scattered clouds started to move in we grabbed our jackets and decided to spend our late afternoon by the Citadel and Port de la Darse of Villefranche-sur-Mer.  Very low key sightseers we are today, and we’re loving it.

Guess what everyone is pointing to?  We made the coolest discovery and were pretty excited about it for quite some time.

An octopus!

Villefranche Streets

Leaving the Port we headed up into the cobbled pedestrian-only alley ways of Villefranche.

Fountain Fun

I don’t know where these crazy kids came up with it but soon enough they were drinking from the public water fountain in one of the piazza’s and turning into water-spouting statues or the like.  Fun times.

Winding down on our time together… so sad.

For a late dinner we decided to get pizzas from the same place we ate the night before and head back to the park.  We do this.  If it works, why change it.  The kids ran to the playground and we devoured 4 cheese pizzas and hung out on the steps and talked until it was skies were dark.

We pulled the teens away from their constant conversation, squished in the van again, and drove Aaron, Monae, Brianna and Austin back to their hotel by the airport.  It was SO MUCH FUN to see them again, show them our home in Germany, show them some of our favorite cities nearby and then head on a tour of France together. So much fun to be with you, Monae!!  Fun memories that we’ll remember forever.  Saying goodbye was hard and there may have been some tears shed.  Miss you, friends!