Socca and Canyoning in the Cote d’Azur
Nice, France:
Ah yes, the French Riviera. Just the mention of the name conjures up images of sun-washed beaches framed by gorgeous mountains, thoroughly-tanned locals, vacationing celebrities and high-rollers, and a seemingly endless supply of sunshine. All of these stereotypes are, in fact, quite true, but alas, my intention of spending 5 days lying on the beach like a sack of potatoes was foiled by the lack of sandy beaches where I was staying (see pictures below) — though they are available if you don’t mind a short train ride. Regardless, the Cote d’Azur region of France is still one of the most beautiful places that I’ve had the pleasure of visiting, and given the relative proximity to a plethora of sites, towns, and points of interest, it is also a day-trippers dream. I made Nice my home base for exploring the region, so we’ll go ahead and start there:
The
Monument aux Morts, wedged into a hillsides (at the top of which is
Place du Chateau) dividing the main beaches from the port
The
grains of sand on the beaches in Nice were a little larger than I had
expected, making it a bit uncomfortable to simply throw a towel down and
lay out. If you were willing to spend a few euro’s, there are private
beaches alternating with the public sections in which you could rent a
chair, otherwise, you’ll best bet is to take a train to the Cap d’Ail
beach just southeast of Nice
A
finished portion of Socca can be seen on the bottom right, alongside a
few other tasty treats I had to try. After putting in this order,
however, the server brought out two plates, two sets of silverware, and
two wine glasses, assuming that there must be a second person waiting to
help me out based on the amount of food ordered. Apparently he hasn’t
been keeping up with my blog…
Though
not specific to Nice, I can’t get enough of these mini-croissants
stuffed with a variety of flavors. Seen here, a chocolate, pistachio,
and lemon croissant
Various dried and ground spices and herbs (including, of course, the still omni-present Herbs de Provence)
As mentioned above, when exploring the Cote d’Azur, there are quite a few options in front of you as far as day trips. When I was growing tired of Nice after a few days, the first trip I put together was a dual trip to the medieval hillside village of Eze, followed up by a quick jaunt over to Monaco (the uber-rich sovereignty that is technically the 2nd smallest conutry in the world by population). And considering that the bus rides only cost 1 euro per leg and last only 20 minutes, there is plenty of time left for exploring and plenty of money left for food and drinks.
If
you can find your way to the top (hint: always take whatever path heads
uphill), you’ll first have to wander through a garden of cactii and
aloe plants (which, unfortunately cost 5 euro)…
If you happen to have a multi-million dollar yacht sitting around, the Monaco harbor seems to be THE place to park it
No
visit to Monaco would be complete without swinging by the world-famous
Monte Carlo casino, seen at the end of the lane over the fountains
The sport of canyoning has been described as white water rafting without the raft, though from my recent experience, it involves quite a bit more rappelling down waterfalls, sliding down blind chutes within the river, and cliff diving into fast-moving pools of water — so all in all, a great time was had. I wasn’t able to bring my non-waterproof and non-shockproof camera, so all I have at the moment to show you is the opening picture of our group decked out in our wetsuits, but I’m hoping that a few of the others who bought special cameras will forward along a few more pictures, of which I’ll subsequently post:
This was our group shortly before sustaining massive, life-threatening injuries (just kidding, we all made it out alive – ha ha)
Our
chef/instructor showing us some initial basics. And as you can see, I
was the only guy in the class, but that is a situation that I’m
certainly not going to complain about
Me
piping some of the almond meal and egg white batter onto the cookie
sheet — though I promise that the uneven dollops already on the tray
were there before I started…honest…
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