To get to Nice, France from Andorra I had to go in a small, twelve person van down the much more twisting and car sickening, but scenic, north side of the Pyrennes mountains. There is no direct connection with Nice and I had to connect to a train through Toulouse.
I liked what little I saw in Toulouse; the canal that runs through the city is filled with long, narrow, restaurant/house/hotel/store barges. There is a fascinating series of water locks that I would have loved to see in action. Unfortunately, even though I had seven hours to kill waiting for my train, I only had a couple hours before nightfall and I didn’t want to wander the city in the dark with my backpack.
I splurged for a second class bunk for the eight hour overnight trip and was very glad I did. I have been on twenty-two long distance trains so far and I knew I would be miserable in a regular seat for that long. Besides, I was saving money on accommodations.
Nice is nice. The Mediterranean water is a lovely and inviting light teal. The beaches are composed of tiny pebbles at the water’s edge and larger pebbles in the middle, and then imported sand at the back. It gives you the opportunity to lie on the sand if you want or avoid the tenacious, shoreline abrasive by staying on the pebbles.
As a main vacation destination for hordes of Europeans, the city is regretfully heavily tourist oriented and thus priced accordingly even in the off-season. I did find a reasonably priced room with some effort. There is a reason it is priced low: it is on the sixth floor with an elevator that only reaches the third floor, it is a dorm room with six beds, it is in the attic and the sloped roof is too low for me stand up straight. Even so, I had no legitimate complaints to make. It was a warm bed and I am thankful for the few floors reached by the tiny “French” elevator that is barely big enough for me and my backpack.
Food is too expensive. What little street food is here is about twice the price of anywhere else and restaurants are out of the question if you are trying to travel cheap. I understand the appeal of the south coast, but would rather vacation somewhere more charming and less tourist driven. For me, places like this make me feel like I am always being ripped off because they have me over a barrel, and I do not like it.
