Rainy weather in Nice

The weather was pretty bad, but we were determined to use our hot tub and pool. Marco, Ricardo, Giovanni and I went out about 8:30 to sit in the hot tub, in the rain. The water was nice and warm. We were pelted with raindrops though, but still tried to enjoy the experience. Ricardo and I took a dip in the pool afterward. Now we can say we enjoyed the special features of our house.

The indoor pool is behind those doors on the left. The building was made to look like a cave inside. The steps lead to the hot tub, with a view out to the Med

Our outdoor seating area at Villa Boron. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate, so we never used it.

Sitting in the hot tub, just to say we did it! Raindrops were falling on our heads! The view was great though.

We decided to take the bus into town and do the Hop-On-Hop-Off  bus ride around town. The #100 bus went right by our place, and dropped us down at the port, where we looked around, and finally found the tour bus. We rode around for a few hours, seeing every building in Nice, and got off down by the old part of town to find lunch. The tour buses can't go into the old part of town, so unfortunately you miss lots of the charm of the city.

On the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus tour of Nice. There have been lots of notable residents of the city, and I think we went by every house or apartment they lived in.

Seems like sometimes the highly rated restaurants on TripAdvisor aren’t restaurants at all, but only lunch counters. We needed to find a place with indoor seating, to warm up. The first place we walked into, the hostess took one look at our motley crew and asked if we’d like to see a menu. Good thing, because the prices were high. I thanked her, and indicated that yes, this might be a little fancy for us. She told us a place across the street had good food and was more moderately priced. It was still pricey at the other place though! 

Le Comptoir de Nicole was a nice place, full of locals. We had a few socca pancakes as a starter, and they were pretty refined compared to the socca I’ve had on the street. Socca is flour made from ground garbanzos, and savory pancakes made from it are a traditional dish in Nice. Another traditional dish is Salade Niçoise, with tuna, which some of us had.   

Some of the group at lunch in Nice

Salade Niçoise with tuna, egg, tomato, olives and anchovies

We had several different pasta dishes, and some pretty pricey wine. Without dessert, the bill was 395 euros.

We hopped back on the tour bus, and convinced the driver to let us off at our house. It wasn't one of his stops, but the bus went right by our place, so he very nicely pulled over and let us off.

We had hors d'oeuvres and drinks on the balcony again, and stayed home for dinner. Our home-cooked meals are super economical, and help balance some of our splurges in restaurants.