Tour de France

By sheer dumb luck, our arrival coincided with the final stage of the Tour de France. We decided that visiting the Tour de France spectator area would be a great way to stay awake on this first day of travel, and so we made our way there after a quick freshening up at our Mister B&B accommodation.

This was the first Tour de France to conclude in Nice; the race usually ends in Paris but the route was changed this year due to the Olympics. Our research indicated that the race would end at the Plaza Messena area, so we made our way there on foot. At Plaza Messena, there was plenty of evidence of Tour de France activity, but none of the expected crowds. We then deduced that Plaza Messena would be the venue for the celebrations after the conclusion of the race, and that the race route itself was along the Promenade des Anglais, which made more sense as that was the scenic route along the coastline. We made our way to Promenade des Anglais via the old city, and sure enough, the crowds were there.

I was expecting to see several waves of riders come in at the same time, but it turned out that this final stage was a time trial from Monaco to Nice, so we got to see individual riders instead of them all arriving together. Each rider was accompanied by a police escort ahead of them, and they were in turn followed by two or three support vehicles. We watched several competitors ride in.

This was a great experience and I am so happy our arrival coincided with it. It certainly helped us stay awake in our quest to manage jetlag.

At the Promenade des Anglais, we caught our first glimpse of the Mediterranean Sea, and we were both surprised to discover that the famed beach at this part of the French Riviera was rocky. There was also a stark contrast between the public beach and the private beach. The private beaches were fenced in and their customers enjoyed deck chairs, umbrellas and bar service.Read more