Trip to Nice
This summer, I found paradise: it’s an island of the coast of Cannes, France. Two weekends ago, I traveled to Nice to visit a friend of mine from MIT. The trip took 12 hours, and I only stayed for 26 hours, before another 9 hour journey back, but it was one of the best trips I’ve ever taken!
After work, that Friday, a friend from work drove me to Milan, where we had dinner and walked around the city for a few hours. She is from Milan, and I had never been before, so she showed me some of her favourite places. Then at 11 PM, I took a 6 hour bus from a sketchy bus station in downtown Milan to the Aéroport (Airport) Côte d’Azur in Nice, where my MIT friend picked me up. She had stayed up the whole night to make sure she’d be awake when I got to Nice, and my bus driver had played really bass heavy music the whole ride, so I hadn’t slept much either, and we both crashed when we got to her apartment.
We woke up to the noise of little kids playing in the swimming pool below her balcony. I took a much needed shower, got dressed, and then we had breakfast on her balcony. Part way through we were joined by another friend of ours from MIT (who is working at the same company as my friend for the summer, and lives in the apartment across from her), and his sister who was visiting. We listened to music, while eating and planning the day. After some time, we packed our bags and headed to the grocery store to buy our picnic lunch: baguettes, prosciutto, brie, goat cheese, emental, and cherries.
A bus took us from the apartments to Antibes, and a train from Antibes to Cannes. Once there, we immediately headed to the docks, where we took a small boat to get from the mainland to an island just off the coast of Cannes. This island (I don’t even know what it’s called) is heaven on earth. It is apparently not very well known, so there were very few people around. There is a beautiful palace and greenery everywhere. The water is crystal clear and the perfect temperature. Words cannot describe how beautiful the island is.
We found a set of big rocks placed to function like a table and chairs, on the edge of a small cliff by one of the beaches, and had our picnic lunch there. It was covered by trees with very spread out branches, so we had the perfect middle ground of shade and sun. We had a view over the sea, and the food was great. We spent the rest of the afternoons swimming in the water, jumping off cliffs and rocks formations into the water, and sunbathing on small rock formations that we just a bit off the shore. I can emphasize enough how clear and wonderful the water. It was absolutely perfect.
The last boat back to Cannes was at 6 PM, so we had dinner in Cannes. Cannes is a really interesting city, because its main attraction is the Cannes International Film Festival. There are really expensive stores and hotels on the water front, clearly only there because of the film festival, and all the graffiti is related to the festival. Even the bus stops had posters of different famous actors and actresses who had come to the Cannes International Film Festival over the years. On the other hand, though, the further away from the shore you get, the city because much more quaint. There are small winding streets and lots of restaurants with terraces.
The last thing we did before heading back to my friend’s apartment, was climb the small hill that the city’s church stands on. From there we had an amazing view over the city, with all its small streets, the shore front, with all its attractions, the harbour, with all its yachts, and the ocean. There was even a musical festival going on that night right in front of the harbour, which you could faintly hear from the hill. We stayed there until the sun started to set, and we say the lights of the city turn on. It was so peaceful and nice.
Back at the apartment, my friend and I watched some Gossip Girl and talked a bit before going to sleep. At 6 AM the next day, my alarm went off, and I set out to the bus station, to take the bus to the central train station of Nice, where I took a train back to Milan. I traveled a total of 21 hours to get from Ispra to Nice and from Nice back to Gavirate, but it was completely and absolutely 100% worth it.
One day, when I’m older and can afford it, I will buy a yacht that I will dock in Cannes, and spend every holiday I have around the island we went to. Like I said, I don’t think I can accurately describe how amazing it was.
