We are back in Nice, the city located in the Côte d'Azur or the “blue coast” area.
We are here in mid-February, beating the heat and crowds. Today we will walk on the streets
of Nice and later walk to Villefranche-sur-Mer. We are going to return to Nice by train from there.
Nice Côte d'Azur Airport is located 6 km
southwest of Nice. Unlike the case with most other big airports where there are no sidewalks
for pedestrians, here one can walk along the Promenade des Anglais from the airport to
the city centre.
We are entering the Old Town, which was once
surrounded by medieval city walls. We walk among the tall, pastel-coloured buildings
with washing lines stretching high above. We will tell you more about the Old Town in
another video.
Promenade des Anglais. It owes its name to
visitors of the resort who liked to spend their winters there. Nice is one of the most
visited cities in France, hosting 4 million tourists each year.
Port Lympia is the principal harbour of Nice. The port has a ferry connection to Corsica.
Now the port is the home for colourful boats and yachts. There are many cafes and restaurants
around the harbour.
The stone lighthouse was built in the end of the 19th century. It was destroyed during
WWII and rebuilt in the 1950s.
It’s only two kilometres to Villefranche-sur-Mer
from here. We are now walking along the Boulevard Carnot.
This is how Nice looks like in February. We are approaching Villefranche.
We are now in Villefranche-sur-Mer. The name Villefranche means “free city” in French.
It was a tax-free area established in the 13th century to attract people to settle there,
The Russian fleet used this harbour from the end of the 18th century. Russia had lost the
right to keep the fleet in the Black Sea in the Crimean War and needed a naval base, which
was established here in mid 19th century and lasted until 1870. During the Second World
War the harbour was used by the Nazis U-boats. The American 6th Fleet occupied the port after
the Allied victory until 1966, when they were asked to leave.
It’s time to find the railway station to return to Nice. It turned out that we had
to walk through the labyrinth of streets of Old Town, and there was no GPS signal there.
The narrow streets are almost completely deserted. Some of them even lack working streetlights.
It’s February, after all!
Eventually we found the station…
Heavily armed policemen welcome passengers at the train station in Nice.
Here’s out hotel. Thank you for watching and I hope you’ve enjoyed our tour and found
it interesting. Until next time. Au revoir. If you liked this video, don’t forget to
subscribe to the TranslatorsCafe.com channel!