Page 59 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SPRING 2025 GRAND VOYAGE
P. 59

he French Riviera has long been the
                                                                     playground of the rich and famous,
                                                              T from Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald to
                                                              Jeff Bezos and Leonardo DiCaprio. But for
                                                              us, the Côte d’Azur once conjured memo-
                                                              ries of crawling traffic and impossible
                                                              parking during a crowded summer visit
                                                              years ago. This time, however, we experi-
                                                              enced it in the off-season, and it was a
                                                              completely different world.
                                                                  Our ship’s shore excursion took us to
                                                              two gems of the Riviera—Nice and Èze.
                                                                  Nice has been an important city for mil-
                                                              lennia. The Greeks founded it in 350 BC,
                                                              naming it Nikaia after Nike, the goddess of
                                                              victory. Over the centuries, it saw Roman
                                                              rule, medieval feuds, and a long tug-of-war
                                                              between Italy and France, before finally
                                                              becoming part of the French Republic in
                                                              the 19th century. Today, Nice is a seamless
                                                              blend of French elegance and Mediter-














































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