00:02Hello, my name is Cara Johnson, and I'm a tour guide at Riviera Barcourt Tours.
00:06Today, in this audio, I'm going to talk to you about the history, art, politics, and social life of the
00:12beautiful city of Nice.
00:14We'll be visiting Passe-Mecena, the Opera House, Flower Market, Palais de la Préfecture, Palais de Justice, Old Town, and
00:21the Promenade des Anglais, and finally, we will end at the top of Castle Hill.
00:25Make sure to drink plenty of water to keep you hydrated and happy.
00:28Take the tour at your own pace and enjoy the experience. Let's begin!
00:34Make sure you are standing with the Fontaine Miroir 2, the large water feature, to your right.
00:40You are standing in Passe-Mecena, the historic marketplace at meeting point of Nice.
00:46Make sure to look around and really take it all in.
00:49You are standing in the fifth largest city in France.
00:52We start with Paris, then Lyon, then Marseille, and Toulouse before we get to Nice, the capital of the Alte
00:59-Martin department on the French Riviera.
01:02However, it is the second most expensive city in France after Paris.
01:07If you haven't discovered that yet, just give it some time.
01:09From a cup of coffee to a pint of beer, both will cost you more than you might like.
01:15Nice is also considered the cultural centre of the South, inspiring Picasso, Chagall, Matisse, Aragon, Paganini, and many more.
01:24We will be returning to some of these greats along the tour today.
01:26Once again, after Paris, Nice has the highest concentration of museums and art galleries, with 19 in total,
01:33as well as a collection of artist workshops and illustration houses dotted all over the city.
01:40Looking straight ahead from Passe-Mecena, with the Fontaine Miroir 2 on your right,
01:44you'll see this very colourful group of buildings lining the way to the Avenue Jean-Médecin.
01:49These buildings were built in 1824, and I'm sure you've noticed they don't look particularly French.
01:54In fact, they have a real Italian design to them,
01:58especially inspired by Turin, with its neoclassical, lively form of architecture.
02:03As you explore Nice, you'll notice that Nice has a very strong Italian influence.
02:08In fact, Nice was on the brink of joining Italy as serious nation-building took place in Europe in the
02:131800s,
02:14and I'll explain later why we're stuck speaking French here, even though we're so close to the Italian border.
02:20However, the legacy of Nice's relationship with Italy has left this city
02:24with a large Italian population, as well as significant Italian influence in architecture,
02:29music, cuisine, language, art, and culture.
02:35Returning back to Avenue Jean-Médecin, where you can find many of the famous retail stores,
02:40as well as Nice's shopping centre called Nice-Etoile,
02:43on either side of the avenue there are many more boutiques and independent retailers.
02:47So, if you plan to go shopping during your holiday, this area is perfect for you.
02:53At the end, you can see the Galerie Lafayette, where all of our designer brands live,
02:57like Dior, Chanel, Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Valentino.
03:02If you want to spend a lot of money, very quickly, this is definitely the place for you.
03:08And, if you walk along Jean-Médecin at night-time, you'll see some lights hanging from above.
03:13Contrary to what you may first think, they are not leftover Christmas decorations.
03:18They are actually a poem written in morse code created by the conceptual artist Carousel,
03:23and are part of the Open Sky Art Museum here in Nice.
03:27In front of the Avenue Jean-Médecin, on either side of the tramway,
03:31you can make out seven figures on podiums, just relaxing and soaking up the Nice-Etoile sun.
03:37They are also part of Nice's Open Sky Art Museum, which stretches along the tramline.
03:41They were created by Joanne Palenza, a Catalan artist specialising in monumental art.
03:47These seven characters represent seven continents,
03:50and the communication between the different communities in today's society.
03:53The name of this creation is Conversations in Nice,
03:57and they capture the international character of the city,
04:00where everyone from all over the world is welcome and celebrated.
04:05At night, they are illuminated in bright colours, which change all the time.
04:09They will all be different colours, except for two of them,
04:12resembling a conversation with one another.
04:15In front of all this is the park to your right and left,
04:18also known as the Promenade du Payon.
04:20The park was opened in 2013, and was named after the River Payon,
04:25which still runs a few metres underneath it.
04:27It's a lovely band of green, running for 1.3 kilometres,
04:31between the old town and the new development,
04:33and it is filled with a number of playgrounds, sculptures and water fountains,
04:38including a replica of Michelangelo's David at the very far end.
04:42So, let's speak about one specific installation which you've been standing next to.
04:47The water display on your right is called the Mirror of Water.
04:51120 jets of water spring up from the ground for 5-10 minutes,
04:55at which point the local children will all come out and play in the water.
04:59As the water jets finish, and the water settles,
05:01it creates a fantastic mirror effect on the ground,
05:04which reflects the sky, the buildings and the trees around.
05:09Let's get going.
05:11Turn so that the Mirror of Water is on your left,
05:13and walk away from the shopping district,
05:15towards the fountain you can see in front of you.
05:18The buildings on this side, circling the fountain and statue,
05:21are really beautiful apartments,
05:23but your bank account won't be happy if you live there.
05:26On top of the steep price,
05:28the people living inside also have to follow three specific rules.
05:32Rule 1, no coloured curtains.
05:35Rule 2, nothing can hang out of your window,
05:38or disrupt the overall facade of the building.
05:41Rule 3, there is no nudity allowed at any point within these buildings,
05:46which, as you can imagine, certainly has its drawbacks.
05:49As to how they control this last specific rule, remains unclear.
05:54Equally, the irony of this rule is that just outside,
05:57there is a massive statue of a naked man,
05:59which, to be honest, is pretty difficult to miss.
06:02The residents wake up to the morning sun gleaming,
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