Superbly situated on the broad beautiful Bay of Anges, with the
promontories of Ferrat and Antibes jutting out in the far distance on
either side, and sheltered by the lower terraces of the Maritime Alps,
it presents a handsome appearance, with the heights of Cimiez and other
fertile olive-clad hills forming a fitting background. Close to the
sea, in the centre of the town, is the pretty Jardin Public, with its
cascade and cavern of hanging stalactites, and behind is the fine Place
Massena, wherein stands the handsome white Casino Municipal, while along
the coast to the right stretches the world-famed Promenade des Anglais,
a magnificent esplanade bordered by palatial hotels and villas, all
uniformly white, the roadway planted with palms, oranges, cypresses and
aloes, and laid out with beds of sweet-smelling flowers.
Although February, the oranges are ripe, and roses and carnations are
already in full blossom; the Jardin Public is a blaze of brilliant
colour, and as one turns from the Promenade into the clean white streets
the fragrance of violets hawked in huge bunches at four sous by the
flower-girls greets the nostrils at every corner. Nice is indeed a town
of flowers. The garden of each villa is full of them--almost every
person in the street wears a buttonhole or carries violets, the
florists' shops diffuse the odour of mimosa and roses far and near, and
even the confectioners sell dainty little round boxes of violets and
roses crystallised in sugar. In those spring days Nice is verily in
Carnival mood. Her hotels are full, her shops display the daintiest
fabrics possible, and as to hats and sunshades--for both of which the
town is famous--it is doubtful whether such daring feats of millinery,
as fetching as they are audacious, can be found in any city or any clime
the world over. Certainly nowhere else is there a brighter or more
animated scene than that witnessed on the cemented footway of the
Promenade des Anglais on a February morning. Furs have long ago been
discarded, and silk blouses and sunshades testify to the warmth of the
brilliant sun, while the male portion of the visitors are attired in
straw hats and suits of summer tweed. Truly cosmopolitan and polyglot
is that chattering throng. One rubs shoulders with barons, counts and
highnesses of every nationality, and hears every European language
uttered by gay laughing lips; the sibilant French of the dainty
Parisienne, the musical Italian, the guttural German, the rapid English
and the slow Russian, all combine to make a veritable Babel of tongues,
while by the costumes alone, many of them marvellous creations of the
famous men-dressmakers, the race of their wearers may usually be
determined. Fashionable Europe is making happy holiday amid premature
summer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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