Nice, France Travel 03: Three Trips to the Same Beach, and Chagall's Saint-Paul-de-Vence

On my first day in Nice, I went to the same pebble beach three times: at 14:12, 15:56 and 19:19. None of it was planned. Wherever I walked in town, the sea was only a few blocks downhill.

In part 2 I spent a day in London. Part three is the south of France: Nice and Saint-Paul-de-Vence.

Nice had the best weather of the whole trip. If I go back, I don't want to just photograph that sea. I want to swim in it.

The route in this post

Date	Where	In a line
Apr 6, morning	London Luton Airport → Nice Côte d'Azur Airport	Dawn easyJet, mountains out the window
Apr 6, daytime	Place Masséna → Promenade des Anglais → pebble beach → Notre-Dame de Nice	First meal, a piano on wheels, pigeons
Apr 6, night	Seafront → Place Masséna	The blue chair, statues lit up
Apr 7	Saint-Paul-de-Vence	Ramparts, a terrace lunch, Chagall's grave, views from outside the village

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April 6: a dawn easyJet, and an airport between the mountains

Departure was London Luton at 06:36. The sky was still bluish, more dawn than morning, when I climbed the easyJet stairs. Most of the photos after takeoff are of the orange engine cowling outside the window.

At 10:33 I photographed an AIR FRANCE jet through the window at Nice airport. It's a seaside city, so I looked for the sea, but what ended up in the frame was the line of mountains behind. Nice sits between the sea and the mountains.

The 12:07 photo from the city center is a different color altogether. Orange walls, yellow arches, pale green shutters. Under the blue sky, it all works.

The first meal in a new country

When I land in a new country, I never skip the first meal. First came a gold-rimmed GRIMBERGEN beer glass, then a red cast-iron pot.

It was mashed potatoes topped with a hunk of meat that looked as if it had been cooked on the bone. A heavy lunch for the day of a dawn flight.

Place Masséna: an afternoon on a checkerboard

At 14:03 I was standing in Place Masséna. A CityTour bike taxi rolled across the black and white checkerboard paving. Even within one square, the walls aren't all the same color: one side is orange, the fountain side is redder.

A white statue stands on top of the fountain. I photographed it again that afternoon.

A pianist on the promenade, and the pebble beach

Down by the water at 14:10, on the Promenade des Anglais, a man was playing a piano near the BEAU RIVAGE sign. The piano had wheels. The poster propped in front advertised a concert on 14/04/2023.

And then, the Mediterranean. Nice's beach is all pebbles, not sand. The water gets deeper in color the further it is from shore. At the water's edge, bottom left, a pigeon.

My first thought looking at this sea was "I want to get in there." That day I only took pictures. I still want to get in.

Back to Place Masséna, and Notre-Dame de Nice

At 16:08 I was back in the square, photographing the fountain from behind. Zoom in and there's a pigeon sitting on top of the statue's head.

At 16:25 I was in front of the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Nice, tipping my head right back to fit it all in. It's only a few blocks from the orange square, and the church is off-white.

The third beach visit, and a blue chair at night

At 19:19, on my third visit, heavy clouds had come down over the beach, and most of the daytime turquoise was gone. The same sea, a different color depending on the sky.

Coming out of dinner at 21:02, there was a huge blue chair on the seafront. The sign says La chaise de SAB. It leans at an angle and stands on a white plinth, too high for anyone to sit on.

Walking back at 21:10, Place Masséna looked nothing like it had in the afternoon. The figures sitting on top of the tall poles were lit up pink and blue. I hadn't even noticed them in my daytime photos.

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April 7: Saint-Paul-de-Vence, the walled village on the hill

The next day I went to Saint-Paul-de-Vence, just outside Nice. It's a walled village on a hill. I only saw the whole village once I'd left it.

At 11:50, at the entrance, there was a small white chapel with a stone statue in front of it. It's a round shape that looks like faces stacked on top of each other. The sky behind was dark, but the statue was in the sun.

A few steps from the entrance, the view opens up over the stone wall. The 11:59 photo fits the houses down the slope and the distant valley into a single frame. Blue sky came and went between the clouds.

At 12:01, a metal plaque on an ivy-draped stone wall read LES REMPARTS, French for "the ramparts." The old stone walls are still standing.

A slow lunch on a stone-walled terrace

Lunch was on a stone-walled terrace. Chairs with pale blue cushions, and the valley right on the other side of the wall. On the 12:32 table: a glass bottle of evian and a pink water glass. The terrace photo from 12:13 and the view from 13:40 were taken around the same spot, so lunch was a slow one.

At 14:01 I sat on the stone wall in front of that view myself. Big clouds were spread out behind me.

Chagall's grave, covered in pebbles

At 14:06 I went to the cemetery at the edge of the village. Look closely at the low gravestone under the pebbles and you can read MARC CHAGALL 1887 1985, and below it VAVA CHAGALL 1905 1993. The painter Marc Chagall lived in this village from 1966 to 1985 and is buried in its cemetery.

Small stones left by visitors cover the slab, and there's a heart-shaped dish holding coins. No railing, just a pile of pebbles. It's a modest grave.

At 14:21, I looked down from beside a round tower on the ramparts. Right outside the rough stone wall is a hillside dotted with cypresses and houses.

To really see the village, you have to leave it

On the way out, I looked back. At 14:28 the village sat on top of a distant hill, with the church tower in the middle. For the first time I could see the whole thing: houses stacked in layers on top of the ramparts. You can't see it like that from inside.

At 14:47 I sat on a wooden fence with the village at my back and took one more. The blue sky came out, and dandelions were blooming at my feet.

At 15:06 the village shows small between the cypresses lined up along the road. Each tree leans a little differently. At the far right, a sliver of horizon.

The 16:00 photo is a train platform. Behind the 2A sign stand a big cypress and some palm trees. The sky stayed blue to the end.

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Visitor information

📍 Place Masséna · Promenade des Anglais · Nice, France

• 🚶 Getting around: the beach is a short walk from Place Masséna. My photos have the square at 14:03 and the beach at 14:12, so pair them up.
• 🌙 Timing: Place Masséna looks completely different by day and by night. If you can, go twice.
• 🗺️ Maps: Place Masséna, Promenade des Anglais, Notre-Dame de Nice

📍 Saint-Paul-de-Vence · Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France

• 🪦 Chagall's grave: in the cemetery at the far end of the village. The slab is so covered in stones that you have to get close to read the names.
• 🍽️ Lunch: look for the stone-walled terraces. The valley view starts right past your table.
• 🗺️ Maps: Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Saint-Paul-de-Vence cemetery

How to get lost a little less

• 🪨 Nice's beach is pebbles, not sand. Know that going in if you plan to walk barefoot or lie down.
• 📸 You see Saint-Paul-de-Vence as a whole from outside it. Build the views from the road out into your plan.
• ⏳ Give Saint-Paul-de-Vence time. There are so many viewpoints on the walls and along the road that you'll stop more often than you expect.
• 🗓️ Staying three days or more in Nice? Give one to Saint-Paul-de-Vence. It's close enough to do in half a day.

Jayden's verdict

The best weather of the whole trip was in Nice. Next time I'm going to swim, not just take pictures.

• Nice: from anywhere in town, the sea is a few blocks away.
• Saint-Paul-de-Vence: the lanes inside and the views outside, good twice over.
• Would I go back?: Yes. Next time I want to swim in the sea at Nice.
• Tip: Nice's beach is pebbles. In Saint-Paul-de-Vence, look back at the village on your way out.

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Next up, I cross the border into Italy: Milan's Duomo and San Siro. Italy was the best country of this trip.

19 Days After Quitting series

1. The UK, part 1: via Dubai, back to my Bournemouth homestay
2. The UK, part 2: a day in London, from Big Ben to a Soho pub
3. France: Nice and Saint-Paul-de-Vence (you are here)
4. Italy, part 1: Milan's Duomo and San Siro
5. Italy, part 2: Venice, San Giorgio and Burano
6. Italy, part 3: Florence, Pompeii and Positano
7. Egypt: Escaping the rain to Sharm El Sheikh
8. Rome again: Italian food and the way home