Nice, France by Jillian Gray

On one of the free weekends of the trip, there was an optional excursion to Nice, France. Nice is in the south of France, extremely close in proximity to Italy. Nice was previously an Italian city so the city holds both the charm of Italian and French architecture. The city is also right on the coast of France with some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. We took the train from Paris to Nice, which in total took approximately 7 hours. I figured I would sleep on the train to be ready to hit the ground running in Nice, but I was unable to sleep. I was too mesmerized by the beauty of France. The first half of the journey had perfect views of rural France. We passed by so many gorgeous cottages, fields, and vineyards. The second half of the journey had views of the south of France. We could see the gorgeous blue waters as we passed Marseille, Toulon, Cannes, and finally Nice. I got off the train so excited to explore Nice. Our hotel was right in the heart of Old Ville, which was where all of the life of the city was. The Old Ville was filled with restaurants, shops, and cafes. But above all else, it had an amazing view of the beautiful blue water.

On the first day in Nice, we woke up early to take a bus to Éze. Éze is a nearby town that has an extremely high elevation, indicating it had some of the best views of the south of France. Éze had windy roads and the bus dropped us off at the bottom. We hiked through the beautiful side streets until we finally reached the top. The view was truly breathtaking. Words cannot describe how beautiful the view was. After exploring Éze, we returned to Nice to spend the day at the beach. To our surprise, the beaches had no sand but were composed of rocks. It was unlike any other beach I had ever been to in my entire life. The water was cool but so refreshing on the hot summer’s day. I spent nearly all day in the water, just floating and enjoying the Mediterranean.

The view from the top of Éze
Swimming in the Mediterranean

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