Walking Tour of the Old Town of Nice, France, Nice, France

While in Nice, I decided to put together a little walking tour of the Old Town. It’s a route that you can follow to see most of the historic sites (with lots of shops and restaurants along the way).

Nice’s Old Town is where it all started. At one time this was the entire city, and that’s why so much of Nice’s history is concentrated in this small area.

The walking tour is designed to go along with my book, Curious Histories of Nice, France, but, of course, it can be used without it. The book, however, goes into much more detail about the quirky history and characters of the city. At the end of each section, I list the page number in the book for the associated story. Enjoy your walk through the Old Town!

Place Massena is the heart of the city. Just off this plaza, you’ll notice a park with a shallow water feature from which jets of water spring into the air. It’s called the Promenade du Paillon and it’s named after the Paillon River which still flows beneath it.

The Paillon was one of those rivers that was nearly dry most of the time. But when it rained in the mountains, the water would roar down through it and wash away whatever got caught in its path. In 1867 the river was covered and the water feature is a homage to the river below it. Even the paving stones represent the pools of water in the river bed. - Page 15 ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).