My Tripster

France

Nice

NICE – more than just nice.

Way back in the 18th century, a fashion developed among the English aristocracy and the new class of wealthy merchants and factory owners, to vist Italy and see the great sites of the ancient classical world.
   One of the easiest ways for travellers to get to Italy on their “Grand Tour”, as it was called, was to cross France to Marseilles, then take a boat along the coast. Among the stopping places on this sea journey was the small port of Nice; the coast here had an exceptionally mild climate, and it was not long before some English visitors took to the idea of wintering in this idyllic spot between the Alps and the Mediterranean. In an age when modern central heating had not been invented, It was so much more pleasant to stay in Nice than return to a cold damp English winter. Mediterranean tourism had begun.

By 1820 there was a sizeable British colony in Nice; and in 1822, during a bad winter, the Rev. Lewis Way decided to employ local workmen to build a fine walkway along beside the beach. Locals called it the “Promenade des Anglais” the Promenade of the English, a seaside esplande that was thus, apart from hotels and inns, France’s first custom-built piece of tourism infrastructure. In 1864, the railway arrived, making Nice far more accessible from Paris and northern Europe. And Nice has never looked back.

Since then, Nice, with its wonderful climate, has continued to attract wealthy visitors, and more recently mass tourism, from all over Europe and the world. Russians were among the early visitors, and since the nineteenth century Nice has been home or second home to many Russians. Nice’s Russian Orthodox cathedral, which is now the property of the Russian Federation, is one of the city’s fine buildings, and the largest Russian orthodox cathedral in western Europe.

The number one tourist attraction in Nice is quite clearly the sea. With 7 kilometres of beach along the Promenade des Anglais, Nice has one of the longest and most famous beaches of the French Riviera. It’s worth noting however that the beach is made of small pebbles, not sand – which does not seem to have deterred the millions of bathers who come here each year.

Vieux-Boucau-les-Bains

Vieux-Boucau-les-Bains (in Gascon language “Lo Bocau Vielh”) is a quiet little resort town in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, in the southwest of France. Vieux-Boucau-les-Bains’ exact location is in the Landes de Gascogne area, which is adjacent to the Silver Coast of France.

Vieux-Boucau means “old mouth”. This name is easy to explain. Landes de Gascogne, a vast part of Gascogne, and the “land” word come from the French “landez”, which has one root with the Gallic word “land”, meaning “barren.” This area was called this name in the past, as it stretched for almost 230 km along the Bay of Biscay and was nothing more than vast marshes. They were formed due to the constant water accumulation since the plain between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees has a natural slope.

Landes is separated from the Bay of Biscay coast by sand dunes – the longest in Europe.

Vieux-Boucau-les-Bains has three city beaches and one beach on the lake, whose name can be translated to “Sea Lake of Port Albert” (Lac marin de Port Albret). The lake is located just a few meters from the Atlantic Ocean and borders another resort town – Soustons.