The view inland over the Alps and far away to the snows is superb. To
the left are Vence and Les Gorges du Loup, together with the town of St.
Jeannet placed at the foot of that mighty precipice, the Baou de St.
Jeannet, which attaining, as it does, a height of 2,736 feet is the
great landmark of the country round. Almost facing the spectator are
Mont Chauve de Tourette (2,365 feet) and Mont Macaron. The former is to
be recognised by the fort on its summit. They are distant about five
miles. To the right is Mont Agel with its familiar scar of bare stones.
Some two kilometres beyond Eze the Capitaine is reached, the point at
which the Corniche Road attains its greatest height, that of 1,777 feet.
The track now very slowly descends. When La Turbie (1,574 feet) is
passed a splendid view is opened up of Monaco and Monte Carlo, of the
Pointe de la Vieille, of Cap Martin, and of the coast of Italy as far as
Bordighera. Roquebrune—which can be seen at its best from the
Corniche—is passed below the town, and almost at once the road joins
the sober highway that leads to Mentone and ends its romantic career on
a tramline.
III
NICE: THE PROMENADE DES ANGLAIS
NICE is a somewhat gross, modern seaside town which is beautiful in its
situation but in little else. It lies at the mouth of a majestic valley
and on the shores of a generous bay, open to the sun, but exposed at the
same time to every villainous wind that blows. It is an unimaginative
town with most excellent shops and a complete, if noisy, tramway system.
It is crowded, and apparently for that reason popular. It is proud of
its fine sea front and of the bright and ambitious buildings which are
ranged there, as if for inspection and to show Nice at its best.
The body of the town is made up of a vast collection of houses and
streets of a standard French pattern and little individuality. Viewed
from any one of the heights that rise above it, Nice is picturesque and
makes a glorious, widely diffused display of colour; but as it is
approached the charm diminishes, the dull suburbs damp enthusiasm, and
the bustling, noisy, central streets complete the disillusion. On its
outskirts is a crescent of pretty villas and luxuriant gardens which
encircle it as a garland may surround a plain, prosaic face. The country
in the neighbourhood of this capital of the Alpes Maritimes is
singularly charming, and, therefore, the abiding desire of the visitor
to Nice is to get out of it.
Along the sea front is the much-photographed Promenade des Anglais with
its line of palm trees. It is marked with a star and with capital
letters in the guide books and it is quite worthy of this distinction.
It appears to have been founded just one hundred years ago to provide
work for the unemployed. To judge from the crowd that frequents it, it
is still the Promenade of the Unemployed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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