We arrived in Nice to visit David’s God daughter Aurelie and her boyfriend of 5 years standing on a Saturday just in time for the Promenade des Anglais to be shut to traffic.

Aurelie with David and Valerie on her apartment balcony

We took them out to the Casino restaurant, which gave us a bird’s eye view over the Promenade des Anglais, just closed to the traffic for the evening, to allow various bands to play along the front with a large audience, unhindered by traffic.

The Promenade des Anglais, traffic free for the just twice a year in the month of July.

The effect of only having pedestrians, with many different live bands all along the famous promenade was just magical!

The Hotel Mercure we stayed in, right in front of the sea in the Old town of Nice, next to the Nice Opera house was perfectly positioned, just five minutes walk from Aurelie’s apartment. We shopped in the market and had lunch in her apartment with all the fresh produce from the Marche Aux Fleurs, just behind the Opera house.

 These bikes are rented out for riding around the City, they can be dropped off and left at many other points.  A very cheap and easy way to get around town.