Bonjour Nice, France!

Bonjour chéri! 

We're back from the most wonderful trip to Nice, France and I have to admit, I am in love! We managed to get some super cheap flights for a quick getaway and, having always wanted to go to the place with the greatest name ever, I'm super thrilled we got the opportunity for a lovely little mini break. 

Whilst Scotland is still cloudy and cold in April, the weather there - only 2.5 hours away on the plane - is very nice indeed! With such incredible light I took about a million photographs; putting this blog post together has been really challenging as I have so many I'd love to share with you! You've been warned ... but I'll try to resist using lots of of cheesy Nice references!

Unlike Paris, this place is the perfect location for anyone looking to step out from the hustle and bustle of daily life and take time to enjoy some quiet time. We've been so busy running around and working lately that we've been desperate to take some time to stop and smell the roses... In Paris there are too many fabulous places we love to visit and so many things to do; it becomes less of a holiday and more of a whistle stop mission when we get out there! That's definitely not a bad thing, but as I'm not so into the whole 'book on a beach' holiday route, this type of slow paced city break is right up my street and definitely what the doctor ordered... 

Nice is a beautiful small town on the coast of the South of France and with its old winding streets in the old town Vieux Nice, hundreds of outdoor cafes and plenty of people walking their tiny dogs, it's the perfect place to wander around, get lost and people watch.

Being just before summer, it's quiet enough for us to take our time soaking up the view from the top of Castle Hill which is a lovely way to spend the morning. With 360 steps to the summit, on a clear day it feels like you can see Italy from up there!

This small town is chock full of artists and there is an incredible amount of art surrounding you wherever you go; if anything it's a challenge to come here and not leave inspired! I've never discovered so many great galleries in one place before - you could take a good few weeks going round them all properly. I think the quality of the light makes everyone much more creative. Everything looks like a painting just waiting to happen! 

Needless to say, on a short trip my new camera has become my new best friend. I would have loved to spend the time sitting and sketching all the amazing surroundings but there just isn't enough hours in the day. Sometimes the most surprising things come from looking back through your photographs after a trip too - never underestimate its power as a sketchbook!

As you'll probably know from my Paris blog posts, I adore a good market. Nice to have them daily in this town too! On Monday we went to a really incredible antiques / flea market, and the rest of the week it becomes a (world famous!) flower market. I have so many market place pictures it's insane! Had we been staying longer I would have bought as many bouquets as I could have carried. So pretty and such vivid colours! Further up there is also a farmers market... actually theres a really great mixture, we found fruits, veg, floral teas, handmade soaps, paintings, deli goods, breads... oh gosh, my mouth is watering again! 

(the only kind of creative block you can find in this town!)

We took an open top bus tour around the city which let us see much more of the town and gave us some great views of things like this The Square Head; whilst it might just look like a giant block head sculpture, it's actually a 7 storey library - and the first ever monumental habitual sculpture in the world. So impressive!

For one day only we stumbled upon what must be one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Artists had tied hundreds of these foil fish balloons to the main square fountains and it created the most surreal and beautiful art installation. Not only did they look amazing when the fountains were on, but when they got switched to the spray setting the fish hovered above the fog and it became so mysterious. It was great to see all the people interacting with it - if anyone knows who created it and has more information I'd love to hear it!

I think our favourite discovery from our trip has to have been the Indian Lounge restaurant in the old town. We're big fans of curries and never expected to stumble upon such a fabulously exotic location for dinner. It's so kitsch and vibrant! Possibly the most luxurious looking restaurant I've ever clapped eyes on... Whilst all the food in Nice is incredibly nice, this place wins just because it was like being in India for a few hours! Plus the Flying Ganesh cocktails taste as phenomenal as they sound :D I'm definately coming back here!

Whilst coming back home from a holiday is always a downer, I'm really looking forward to making use of all the ideas we came up with on the trip. I hope you found looking through these photos as inspiring as I found taking them... They're all really nice, huh! Keep your eye out for our next blog post - we'll be taking a trip to Monte Carlo and sharing our Top 5 things to do :D

Au revoir 
xox