Travel

Enjoy the captivating scenery of the French Riviera

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After completing Mechanical Engineering at McMaster University, Canada, four of my roommates and I went on a month long Euro-trip covering Switzerland, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands and Germany. Since we all wanted to have a real backpacking experience, we booked best possible hostels, apartments and rental cars to cover as much of Europe as we possibly could.

When we were travelling through France, we rented an apartment in Nice and went on one of the best road trips of my life from Nice to Monaco.

Nice is a beautiful city on the French Riviera with unique pebbles beaches, breath-taking panoramic views and amazing museums. The city was founded in the 4th century BC by the Greeks. It was originally named “Nike” which means victory in Greek. You can also see traces of Italian heritage in food, art and culture in Nice as it was a part of Italy prior to 1860. If you like carnivals, Nice has been hosting carnivals every year in February since 12th Century.

After driving around the city and exploring local food, art and culture, we ended up on the pebble beach in Nice. I had never seen a beach with only pebbles and no sand. For those who get annoyed by getting sand everywhere while enjoying the beach, Nice pebble beach is your ideal alternative. If you wish to sunbath, you might need something thicker than a beach towel. Although the pebbles are nice and smooth, you might still need a thick beach mat if you want to relax or read a book. And if you want to enjoy a nice long walk, I would definitely suggest bringing appropriate aqua shoes to walk on pebbles.

When we were there, the beach was not very crowded so we got to relax and enjoy the calm beach. If you pay attention, you can clearly hear the unique and fascinating sounds of the waves crashing against the pebbles at the shore. As the water retreats, it drags some of the round pebbles with it and brings them back to the shore on the next wave. You can simply sit there all day and watch this endless cycle.

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