My daughter Nicola and my grandson Rufus (7) were taking a car trip round Brittany and planning to finish in the St Malo area and Nicola invited me to join them for the last few days. This was partly in memory of my parents as our last holiday with them before Dad died in 2009 […]
It was nearly six years since I’d last been to Nice – September 2019. That time I’d stayed just 4 nights; 5 nights in 2015, but this time I made it a whole week. I decided that it would be nicer to stay in an apartment rather than a hotel for the longer spell and […]
One of the great pleasures of visiting Nice is sampling its wonderful cuisine. With a lifelong interest in food that goes beyond simply eating, from cooking in my family’s pub restaurant in my teens, editing cookery books in my 20s and now writing a food & travel blog, I have to confess that I have […]
My flight home wasn’t until 19:50 so I had most of the day in Nice to continue holidaying. The damp weather of the previous day still hung lightly in the air and I put up my umbrella when leaving the hotel to go out for some breakfast. Breakfast wasn’t included in my deal and the […]
A day of rain had been forecast before I left home but you have to hope when you’re only somewhere for 4 nights – somewhere that’s supposed to be sunny in September – that the weather people have got it wrong. Sadly not. It was only a light rain when I emerged from the hotel […]
I’ve largely given up writing negative reviews. At home I have a personsal rule that I don’t write about disappointing meals unless they’re at some big name place – usually with a big name TV chef attached to it. I consider they’re not likely to suffer any significant loss of diner support because of me. […]
I last went to Musee Matisse in 2006 with my daughter, and as I love Matisse’s work so much, it was definitely time for a revisit. The museum is in Cimiez, about 3km north of Nice. The hotel were very helpful about how to get there, telling me I could take a No.5 bus from […]
The day promised to be the best of my trip weather wise (rain and even thunderstorms forecast later), so I wanted to make the most of it. Hence the bus ride to Éze in the morning, which I wrote about last time, for magnificent views, then a return to Nice where I had an excellent […]
A visit to the medieval town of Éze has been on my ‘to visit’ list for 4 years – since my last trip to Nice. Then, the weather was cloudy so there seemed no point in making a trip to somewhere famous for its views across the Mediterranean. The weather forecast for this trip doesn’t […]
It’s a long weekend break: 4 nights. By travelling out to Nice early this morning, arriving in plenty of time for lunch, and flying home late on Monday, I effectively manage to make it a 5-day trip. I flew British Airways from Heathrow and booked my hotel – Best Western Plus Hotel Massena – through […]