The Nice-Cannes Marathon (42.195 km) begins Sunday, November 9, 2008 at 8:45AM from the Promenade des Anglais in Nice to the Croisette in Cannes. Sunshine is planned all along the coastal run. Some 10,000 runners signed up, from newbie to world-class. Should be a blast, just don't drive anywhere near the race that day!
400,000 ago, visitors to the French Côte d'Azur didn't snack on socca and petits farçis around a colorful flower market.
They came to hunt. They tracked and killed elephants, meadow rhinos, wild boars and other animals that then roamed the region.
Nice was neither Nice nor nice. The Mediterranean Sea was 26 meters higher than it is today. The entire coastal plain where Nice now stands was under water. The Colline du Chateau hill, now a great vista point over the French Riviera, was an island.
In 1966, a group of archaeologists lead by Henry D. Lumley excavated the site of Terra Amata just east of Nice's Colline du Chateau. It took them over 10 years of cautious, detailed work to find and catalog the 28,000 objects found on site and to reconstruct the history these objects told. Today and since 1976, the Terra Amata Museum stands at the very spot where Lumley discovered the prehistoric site.
Although no human bones were found on this site of Terra Amata, the site's coprolites (fossilized human or animal dung) told us about the early humans' lives, about region's weather at the time (warm though slightly colder than today, humid). The science of palynology (study of pollens) established that holm oaks, Aleppo pines and cistus covered the nearby hills around Mont Boron, just as many still do.
While not huge in size when we think of the magnitude of the findings, the Terra Amata Museum brings to life the French Riviera as it existed roughly half a million years ago. It reconstructs the huts hunters built by the Lazaret cave, the hunting scenes, the hearths, the stone weapons they used, the large fire they kept alive with branches and sheltered with pebbles by the beach.
It's a great jolt back in time that gives this region all the more depth.
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Place: Musée de Terra Amata, Nice Location: 25 Bd Carnot, 06300 Nice; Tel: 04 93 55 59 93 Times: Open everyday EXCEPT mondays, 10AM to 6PM with no interruption. Closed on Dec 25, Jan 1, Easter Sunday, May 1. See web site for current access cost. |
When you walk around Cap Martin, that exclusive stretch of land that pokes into the Mediterranean Sea between Monaco and Menton, you'll notice the village of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin high above, the wide-angle views of the Mediterranean Sea below, the elegant villas that dot the cape behind tall fences, the private gardens that brim with the rubbery leaves of century plants, with lemon trees, with olive groves and swimming pools.
What you might not notice is "le cabanon". After all, the "cabanon" cabin is a mere 3.66 square-meter cube tucked under the cape's footpath.
The little house sits behind a carob tree. Dark brown pine logs cover its outside walls and give it the appearance of a mountain shed. Don't let its diminutive looks trick you. This cabin is a castle.
"I have a chateau on the Côte d'Azur, It's for my wife. It's extravagant in comfort and gentleness." -Le Corbusier
The cabin was architect Le Corbusier's holiday hideaway on the Côte d'Azur. The Swiss-born architect, possibly the best-known modern architect of the 20th century, loved the Mediterranean region. He often visited the French Riviera. For a while, he would stay in Eileen Gray's E1027 house on Cap Martin, enjoying the taste of fresh sea urchins at the nearby "Etoile de Mer" restaurant.
"I drew the plans in 45 minutes. They were final. Nothing much changed afterwards." -Le Corbusier
In 1951, on the side of the restaurant's table, Le Corbusier scribbled the plans for a beach-side cottage. They were rough plans, but Le Corbusier liked to say that the core of the cabin's design never changed much from those initial sketches.
“Space and light and order. Those are the things that men need just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep.” - Le Corbusier
Behind the chestnut wood door runs a narrow hallway. It leads to a room that to feels large in comparison. All is laid out functionally within the open room: two beds arranged in a T, a hidden toilet, a large closet, storage space tucked in the ceiling, a table made of walnut wood, shiny and checkered like a chess board. A simple pillar separates the main room from the bathroom. Behind the pillar, a sink and a mirror. Three windows open up to three primal materials. Through the back window, set low to the ground, you see the cliff and its rusty rocks. Through the central window, a postcard view of the Mediterranean Sea and of Monaco comes alive. By the bathroom sink, the carob tree hangs its branches in front of the third window.
"The home should be the treasure chest of living." - Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier was also a painter, in addition to architect and urban planner. The cottage's entrance walls and window shutters are painted with rounded human shapes in yellow, red and blue in a style reminiscent of Picasso's and Miro's. A coat of yellow paint covers the floor planks. The Etoile de Mer restaurant, with which the cottage shares a common wall, sports a painted mural signed by Le Corbusier with his hand and foot prints, set alongside those of restaurant owner and friend, Robert Rébutato.
"A house is a machine for living in." -Le Corbusier
The architect enjoyed taking his showers outside the little cabin, under the carob tree. He worked on the slick checkered table or under the shade of the tree. He ate with his wife next door at the Etoile de Mer. He walked the cape. He swam off the Cabbé and Buze beaches below.
"Our own epoch is determining, day by day, its own style. Our eyes, unhappily, are unable yet to discern it." - Le Corbusier
In all of its simplicity, the cottage encompasses most of Corbu's core design principles, his five points of modern architecture:
1. a construction supported by reinforced stilts
2. a façade of non-supporting walls that gave architects more design freedom
3. an open interior floor plan
4. windows that pull the exterior into the living space
5. a roof garden, although this principle wasn't applied in the cabanon given given the lush scenery that surrounds the site
"I feel so fine here... this is likely where I will breathe my last breath." -Le Corbusier
On August 27, 1965 Le Corbusier swam off the coast of Roquebrune as he so enjoyed doing. He was found lifeless later that morning on the beach, likely a victim of a heart attack. He is buried alongside his wife in the village of Roquebrune, in a tomb he designed himself after the death of his wife.
Visiting:
Le Corbusier's Cabanon at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin can only be visited through organized groups visits with the town's Tourism Office. Organized tours currently run on Tuesdays and Fridays from 10AM and last about 2 hours. Reservations must be made at the Tourist Information Office at least one day before the visit. See the Tourism Office web site for latest tour schedules, email and phone contacts for reservations.
Latest News:
In January 2008, a collection of 23 of Le Corbusier's architectural and urban works spanning 7 countries were presented to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee for nomination as a World Heritage Site.
Le Corbusier's Cabanon at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin figures among the 23 works presented as a group for consideration.
Learning more:
Le Corbusier, "Toward an Architecture"
introduction by Jean-Louis Cohen, translated by John Goodman,
Los Angeles, Getty Research Institute, 2007, 350 pages.
ISBN 978-0-89236-899-0
Roquebrune-Cap-Martin Tourism Office: (Web site in French, English and Italian)
http://www.roquebrune-cap-martin.com/
La Fondation Le Corbusier (Web site in French and in English):
www.fondationlecorbusier.fr
Rising from the city jumble:
Parc Phoenix, Nice, Cote d'Azur, France
Had you asked me earlier if there's any reason to visit the western side of Nice, I would have said:
"No. Go there to reach and leave the Nice airport and leave. The western tip of town is industrial and ugly."
Last weekend, I visited Parc Phoenix, at the western edge of Nice's Promenade des Anglais, just before the city drops into a confusing jumble of highway on and off ramps.
It's seventeen acres of park-setting, a huge glass-house (the "Diamant Vert", 7000 square meters and 25 meters high) with an assortment of tropical plants stretching their tentacles inside the greenhouse's warm and moist atmosphere. In the glasshouse, you'll walk among a forest of ferns, by water turtles, by iguanas, around rare orchids planted by a wooden gazebo.
Outside, in the park, you'll stroll by bird cages filled with exotic birds, while speakers set low to the ground pump animal sounds from tropical lands.
A great experience to take you away on your next visit. Especially recommended for kids.
Next door, you'll find the The Museum of Asiatic Arts in a building designed by Kenzo Tange...
Brought to you by the publishers of the 26 Gorgeous Hikes series. Click below to see our latest hiking guide: 26 Gorgeous Hikes on the Western Côte d'Azur.
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What: Parc Phoenix, 06200 Nice, Cote d'Azur, France Where: 405 Promenade des Anglais, Nice Details: Phone: +33 4 92 29 77 00 Email: parcphoenix@ville-nice.fr Open: Apr-Sep: 9:30a-7:30p Mon-Sun, Oct-Mar: 9:30a-6:30p Mon-Sun http://www.nice.fr/mairie_nice_919.html |
The Promenade des Anglais is officially delirious.
Flowered chars roll down the town's prom, marquis swivel down the aisle with white wigs and stuffed horses, over-sized masks or "grosses têtes" hang their giant devilish smiles over the crowds. Confettis fly. Sprays spurt greens and pinks everywhere. Trumpets, Brazilian sambas, and an old accordion song mix in a frenzy of imagination released out in the open street.
2008 marks the 124th edition of the Nice Carnaval, dedicated this year to the "Roi des Ratapignatas, Raminagrobis et autres ramassis de rats masqués."
The rat and bat theme is a wink to the Chinese year of the rat we've just begun.
It's also another side of the city of Nice. In Nice's bestiary, the Ratapignata is a bat. It's the inverted symbol of Nice's heraldic eagle, the hidden side of the town. On Carnival 2008, ratty bats crawl out of the dark to dance into the streets.
And what about Raminagrobis? Who is this year's Carnaval majesty?
In his fable "Le chat, la belette, et le petit lapin," writer La Fontaine named the story's fat cat character "Raminagrobis", borrowing the name from Rabelais' earlier writings.
On her grand char, Her Majesty Raminagrobis waves her white paws, each larger than a person. In one paw, she holds a mouse and in the other, a golden paw. She wears a crown of caged bats, her pink tongue tip hangs to the side and her golden slanted eyes shine with a naughty glare. She's so large (14 meters long and 8 large) that she spills over her char.
In the great tradition of Nice's Carnival, Raminogrobis parades on the promenade des Anglais, this year from February 16 until March 2nd, when she will head over to her incinerated death at sea.
Other monsters float up and down the Prom during the Nice Carnival: Neoconzilla who eats the statue of liberty, Soccaman, the Socca delivery character who appears on a couple of sundays for lunch, the Big Bad Wolf and many smoking dragon, escaped from Hollywood.
While most of the Carnival takes place on the Promenade des Anglais, between the Opéra and Hotel Méridien, the Jardin Albert 1er hosts quieter activities for kids. Between 11AM and 5:30PM, famous Guignol puppet puts on a show behind his candy red theater box. In the park, kites conceived by Nasser float above the ground, unafraid of the larger brooding masks next door.
When to see it: In 2008, the Nice Carnaval takes place from February 16 to March 2.
For more information, see www.nicecarnaval.com
Whether from the movies, from Grace Kelly's history or from visits to Nice, the Grande Corniche to many is one thing: a road. It's the majestic road that rides the crest line from Nice to west of Menton. It's the elegant one among the three parallel sisters, the one that dominates both the Moyenne Corniche road right below and the coastal Basse Corniche at the foot of the hills.
But the Grande Corniche is also a park with a maze of footpaths, a Maison de la Nature visitors' office and an observation table that details the sites (to reach the observation table, hike up and left at the beginning of Forna path.)
Take a walk along the Parc de la Grande Corniche's footpaths. Looking inland, you see the mountains of the Mercantour scribble faint wave lines across the sky. The Pre-Alps draw more distinct and rounded hills.
Looking out the other direction to the sea, the coastline from San Remo to the peninsula of St Tropez shine in the distance. On a very clear day, you might even spot the island of Corsica to the south east, a dim shape floating on the horizon's curvature.
To bird observers, the Parc de la Grande Corniche offers a chance to spot an occasional eagle, a great horned owl, or another raptorial bird that hovers overhead.
To nature-lovers, the park may soon turn into more than just a pretty 700 hectares of protected land. The department's Conseil Général and the Nicolas Hulot Foundation announced last fall that the Fort of La Revère in the park would become a center dedicated to the promotion of sustainable development. The center will offer educational seminars and expositions on ecological themes across 7 conference rooms, a library, a restaurant and an outdoors amphitheater seating 300 people. A rain water recycling is also planned, in keeping with the future center's philosophy of sustainable operations. Fourteen million Euros have been promised toward the design and construction of the site which is planned to begin in 2010 and complete in 2011.
We look forward to its development! We'll let you in on it as it evolves.
In the meantime, if you're in Nice for a little while and long for a breath of fresh air and surrounding views, consider a hike in the Parc de la Grande Corniche. Combine it with a visit to nearby Eze-village, to La Turbie and its prominent Trophée des Alpes dating back to Roman times (built by Emperor Augustus).
Getting there:
From Nice, take the A8 highway for approximately 15 km and exit at La Turbie, highway exit toll #57 (oui, there's a toll). From there, take the D2564 to the col d'Eze then turn right into the route de la Revère. ViaMichelin.com can give you exact directions from other locations.
NiceLife reminded me of a better option to reach the park, one that's right in line with the plans to encourage environmental awareness: take the 10:45 bus 116 from Nice's Gare Routière up to La Turbie.
More Information:
Find out more about it from the Conseil Général site (in French).
Find out more about the Fondation Nicolas Hulot, France's green foundation (in Français).
The French Riviera and Provence sport three main international airports: Nice, Hyères-Toulon and Marseille.
The Nice Côte d'Azur airport is France's second largest airport after Paris' CDG.
How large? In 2007, 10 million travelers went through its gates. It showed pretty impressive growth over the last few years.
What fueled this growth? The rise of low-cost flights. Seventeen low-fare companies land and take off from Nice; that accounts for one third of Nice's airway traffic.
What is the most popular low-cost carrier to Nice? Sterling Airlines, the low-fare airline based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Sterling flies from Copenhagen, Billund, Aalborg, Oslo, Malmö, Gothenburg and Stockholm. Among the other sixteen low-fare carriers to Nice are EasyJet (based in London), Blu Express (based in Rome) and two new ones for 2007: Vueling and RyanAir.
Marseille's airport isn't small either, with 7 million visitors in 2007. Because it's further west from Toulon, it caters to folks visiting the heart of Provence, especially those coming in from Europe. It sports a terminal entirely dedicated to low-fare carriers (le MP2), with Ryanair being king here among low-fare carriers. In 2007, Ryanair commanded 80% of all low-fare flights.
Smaller, but growing, is Hyères-Toulon's airport with 650,000 visitors for 2007. If you're headed for St Tropez, the golden islands of Hyères, you might want to consider it. It's low-fare carrier choices are far more restricted than Nice's, at least for the time being. JetairFly flies to and from Brussels and Brest; Ryanair links to London; FlyNordic offers seasonal flights to Bordeaux and Stockholm and Transavia.com (owned 60% by Air France and 40% by Dutch transavia) flies to and from Rotterdam (NL) to Toulon. The Travel Park program for long-term (1 to 16 days) parking is interesting (make sure to get your Travel Park ticket early with your travel agent, before you arrive at the parking lot as it requires proof of ticket purchase).
So Nice remains a favorite and its top 3 destinations are:
1/ Paris -- 3.24 million passengers
2/ London -- 1.33 million passengers
3/ Amsterdam -- 310,000 passengers
Once you've landed, enjoy a hike with the new guidebook:
Looking for a stroll in nature on the Côte d'Azur, with waves of mountains (the Mercantour, the pre-Alps and Alps) to the North and the coastline from San Remo to St Tropez to the South and West? Here's a good choice: Le Parc de la Grande Corniche.
With its 660 hectares of protected land, the park sits on a mountain top beyond Nice, a couple of miles from La Turbie. The park's nature guide (Marie) claims that on a clear, very clear day, you can see Corsica like a bump in the seaside horizon.
What you will definitely see on a clear day are hills and mountains bouncing against the horizon, the city of Nice, its airport and barren landing strips poking into the sea, the Estérel way West. You'll hike among varied vegetation (450 species grow here). Though you're unlikely to see them, rabbits, foxes, wild boars and owls often visit as well. You'll meet joggers, a few happy strollers walking their dogs and a handful of hikers enjoying the sites. Bring a picnic - wooden tables are plentiful.
The Parc offer three main hiking areas: Plateau de la Justice, Le Revère and La Forna.
Try the following 1 hour walk: Park at the Parking du Mont Fourche and loop around the Plateau de la Justice.
Getting there:
From the A8 highway from Nice, exit at La Turbie and continue towards La Turbie. Take the Grande Corniche road (D2564) to the Col d'Eze and make a right on the route de la Justice, by the Hermitage du Col d'Eze 3-starred hotel.
Or take the Grande Corniche road all the way to the Col d'Eze.
From the top of the Mont Vinaigrier, the small park of Le Vinaigrier overlooks the seaside metropolis of Nice, the Bay of Villefranche-sur-Mer, the Baie des Anges.
On the southern flank of the Vinaigrier mountain, men carved terraces and propped them up with short walls of limestone rocks hauled from the fields. To irrigate the terraces, they built an elaborate system of water funnels, fountains and underground connecting canals. Then on the leveled fields, they planted olive and almond trees, patches of tomato plants and vines that grew over a trellis over the Mediterranean.
Today, the little park is owned by the Conservatoire du Littoral and managed by the Département. You can visit and walk around the open park freely during the day.
Follow the winding footpath down the hill among olive and almond trees. On your gentle hike, you'll find a handful of stone wells on the southern side of Mont Vinaigrier.
From its rustic footpaths, to the west and below, you peer into the bustling city of Nice and its jumble of highways below. To the west, the promenade des Anglais, the sea 
with its patches of fluorescent blues, the bay of Cannes, the Estérel.
"Le Vinaigrier, c'est un poumon pour la ville de Nice et tous ceux qui y habitent," said the enthusiastic nature guide I met on the trails this weekend - The Vinaigrier is a puff of fresh air for a bustling city of Nice.
Another little detour to remind us that the region is not only rich in history and culture, but in natural beauty as well.
Getting there:
From Nice, take the Grande Corniche road (D 2564). Notice the Observatoire de Nice, on your right, after the restaurant La Foret. Immediately after the road that leads to the Observatory, take the Rue de Brès. Continue a few meters beyond the public school to the trailhead.
