A ‘nice’ touristy riviera city - Nice, Winter Resort Town of the Riviera 1635; The skills related to perfume in Pays de Grasse: the cultivation of perfume plants, the knowledge and processing of natural raw materials, and the art of perfume composition 01207
What and Why
Nice, with its mild Mediterranean climate became a magnet of the European upper classes and royal family members during the 18th century CE, especially for the English and Russian, who would like to escape from their own frosty winters to enjoy the warmth of the region. The French Riviera (French: Côte d'Azur), literally meaning the blue coast provides an unrivalled holiday sites for countless visitors. This influx also brought cultural enrichment: Nice appeals to lots of writers and painters because of its landscape and as a result it also became an important cultural centre in Europe.
Toponymy
'Nice' derives from the the ancient city Níkaia (Greek: Νίκαια), which in turns came from a familiar name 'Nike (Greek: Νίκη, Nikē)', the goddess of victory, in order to commemorate the local defeated the attack from the neighbouring Ligures (Greek: Λίγυες).
See
Promenade des Anglais
The Promenade des Anglais, literally the English promenade is the jewel of the crown of Nice. The promenade-cum-beach stretches more than 7 km, all the way to the airport. It is one of the main draw of Nice and the reason Nice has become an international tourist city. The name derives from the fact that the beach was frequented by British upper class during the 18th century CE. The other contribution from the British was that it was the British who funded the construction of the pavement stretch along the coastline. This was also intended to turn the large number of foreign beggars around the place to a proper workforce for the city.
Easily one of the most pleasant beaches that I have been, the entire coastline is extremely clean and well-managed and I have the say the people there are very pleasant and nice, living up to its city name-sake.
Castle Hill (Colline de Château)
Once a military school, the Castle Hill (Colline de Château), which sits atop a local rock, is now a must-visit public park in Nice, especially its small waterfall above. The hill offers an exceptional panoramic view of Nice and its coastlines, as the movie shows below.
Place Masséna
The centre of Nice, the iconic checkerboard Place Masséna is the main gathering place of Nice residents and is the spot of many public events like concerts. The buildings surrounding the piazza is conspicuously Italian.
As mentioned below, all the landmarks literally radiates outwards from this square and serves as the transportation hub. All the major shops, brands and department stores are located around the area. Beautiful square.
Musée National Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall (né Moishe Shagal), was the famous artist who stayed near Nice during his later years and was considered one of the greatest modernist avant-garde with infusions from surrealism and cubism. The museum Musée National Marc Chagall holds the largest collection of his work, dedicating to Chagall's works of religious and spiritual inspiration. For some interesting reasons, we were given a free entry during our trip.
Modern and Contemporary Art Museum (Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain)
The Modern and Contemporary Art Museum (Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain), affectionally known as MAMAC, is a world famous modern art museum. Definitely worth a visit, especially it is free. It houses a large array of exhibits and many of them are very interesting to see and are genuinely instagrammable.
Cours Saleya
Cours Saleya is genuinely the heart of Nice and is always hustling and bustling. To me, the market is the really must-visit place of Nice, as it is where locals and tourists mix around the narrow alleys under all the awnings. Cours Saleya is renowned for its markets and in fact there are four separate markets: the flower market (marché aux fleurs) where everything began more than 120 years ago; the vegetable market where most of the tourists gather due to the colourful fresh produces; the flea market which is opened only on Monday; and the night-market which is the pot-pourri of everything, but is open only during the summer.
Hôtel Negresco
Hôtel Negresco is a luxurious hotel along Promenade des Anglais but it is famous for another reason: the owner of the hotel was once a ginger cat called Carmen, whom we came to visit. The cat was often seen loathing near the hotel bar area and the grand staircase, where we actually met her, although she was so famous that photographs were prohibited.
Legends had it that one guest who hated cats booked a suite and wanted Carmen be kept away from her, but the flamboyant owner Jeanne Augier, refused and said it was Carmen’s home and Carmen was the actual owner of the hotel, and so the guest had to leave! Because she was often seen at the bar, the hotel created a cocktail called 'Le Carmen'. Unfortunately Carmen had sadly died in 2019 CE, and there has been no replacement to her famed position.
Musée International de la Parfumerie
Approximately an hour drive away from Nice is the modest town of Grasse, which unknown to most people, is the world capital of perfume. Grasse has been the world perfume centre since the 16th century CE as Grasse produces over two-thirds of France's natural aromas, for both perfume and food flavourings. Grasse is also a major flower-producing region, in particular jasmine, and all this adds up to its important status. Most of the important perfume brands, not the fashion brands, but the real perfumeries like Galimard and Fragonard are headquartered here.
One could easily drive around many of the flower fields but unfortunately during the time, it was their harvest season and hence most fields were quite barren, similar to our earlier blogged visit to the lavender fields near Avignon.
Perfume manufacturing has hence established itself as a main cultural identity of Grasse and recently this is incorporated as an ICH itself. Clearly Grasse is very proud of this trade and has established the Musée International de la Parfumerie for everyone to visit.
Eat and Drink
Nicoise Salad (Salade Niçoise)
Nicoise Salad (Salade Niçoise) really does come from Nice, and derives its ingredients from the Mediterranean produce of tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, Niçoise olives, anchovies and dressed with either a vinaigrette or olive oil. It is highly inspired by the Mediterranean diet, and was originally a dish for the poor. The locals have a strong attachment to the original recipe that many associations and critics protest against deviation from traditional local recipes. We had our first serving of the famed salad in the Michelin-starred L'Univers de Christian Plumail, which was since closed.
Socca
The local food of Nice is really the pancake socca, which is a snack made from chickpea flour. Served as a snack or a staple everywhere. To be honest, not my palate.
Glacier Fenocchio
In Cours Saleya, one cannot help but notice the queue leading to the ice-creamery Glacier Fenocchio, which is one of the institutions in the ice-cream scene. It offers more than 100 flavours of all kinds of colours and nothing can top this. As an ice-cream afficionado, I have to put up hands-down, one of the best I ever had.
Stay
We stayed in the European chain Mercure Nice Centre Grimaldi. Basic, good, affordable and walkable to every landmarks.
Getting There and Around
All the sites listed above, apart from Grasse, are within walking distance to each other. The bearing to take is to put the centre at Place Masséna, and literally everything radiates from there. The entrance fee to the museum is EUR 4€. The city centre is just about 30 minutes away from the airport and is well served by buses. Spend at least three to four days in Nice.
UNESCO Inscriptions
Nice, located on the Mediterranean, at the foot of the Alps, near the Italian border, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, reflects the development of a city devoted to winter tourism, making the most of its mild climate and its coastal situation, between sea and mountains. From the mid-18th century, the site attracted growing numbers of aristocratic and upper-class families, mainly British, who developed the habit of spending their winters there. In 1832, Nice, then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, set up the “Consiglio d’Ornato” which drew up a city planning scheme and architectural requirements designed to make the city attractive to foreigners. Thus, the “Camin dei Ingles”, a modest path which had been created along the coastline by British winter visitors in 1824, subsequently became the prestigious Promenade des Anglais. After the city was ceded to France in 1860, and thanks to its connection to the European rail network, an increasing number of winter visitors from all countries flocked to the city. This led to successive phases of development of new districts beyond the medieval old town. The diverse cultural influences of the winter visitors and the desire to make the most of the weather conditions and the coastal landscape have shaped the urban development and eclectic architectural styles of these districts, contributing to Nice’s reputation as a cosmopolitan winter resort.
The skills related to perfume in Pays de Grasse cover three different aspects: the cultivation of perfume plants; the knowledge and processing of natural raw materials; and the art of perfume composition. The practice involves a wide range of communities and groups, brought together under the Association du Patrimoine Vivant du Pays de Grasse (Living Heritage Association of the Region of Grasse). Since at least the sixteenth century, the practices of growing and processing perfume plants and creating fragrant blends have been developed in Pays de Grasse, in a craft industry long dominated by leather tanning. Perfume plant cultivation involves a wide range of skills and knowledge, for instance pertaining to nature, soil, weather, biology, plant physiology and horticultural practices, as well as specific techniques such as extraction and hydraulic distillation methods. The inhabitants of Grasse have made these techniques their own and helped improve them. In addition to technical skills, however, the art also calls for imagination, memory and creativity. Perfume forges social bonds and provides an important source of seasonal labour. Related knowledge is mostly transmitted informally through a long learning process that still takes place primarily in perfumeries. In recent decades, however, there has been a growing interest in standardizing learning through formalized teaching.
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