Bon jour, Nice

The train arrived right on time at Gare Nice-Ville, and we took a ten-minute, 24 euro cab ride to the Cours Saleya, a long, pedestrian-only food, flower and trinket market lined along the street on both sides by restaurants.

Our landlord Silvio had left instructions that if the cab could not get right to Rue Barillerie, which is too small for cars, then we could get off and walk through the market about 20 meters to the apartment. It was more like 200 meters.

We found our street and had no problem identifying our host. Silvio was standing right there in front to welcome us with a bottle of chilled Prosecco, offer us fresh oranges on the table, meet his wife Francesca, familiarize us with the apartment, tour the neighborhood, then jump in their car to drive back home in Turin, Italy. A most gracious European welcome.

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Silvio departed quickly for Turin, but not before a gracious kiss of the hand for Lynn.

Once again, by sheer luck, we have hit the jackpot of neighborhoods. Our apartment is in Vieux Nice, a warren of tiny streets, the longitudinal Cours Saleya market, inumerable restaurants and bars, and the Mediterranean two blocks away.

For dinner, we stumbled into a little place called Chat Noir/Chat Blanc. It was the closest and enjoyed a number of rave reviews on Trip Advisor. It’s not just next door–it has the same address as our apartment.

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Chat Noir/Blanc is part of our building at 20 rue de la Barillerie in Vieux Ville Nice.

Georgio the owner was working solo this evening, because he said it is low season. The only other patrons were a couple from Cologne and another couple from the neighborhood who walked in as we were finishing dinner.

Food was so different from Paris but no less excellent. Lynn’s turbot was prepared perfectly, crispy skin side up and served on a bed of potatoes  and cabbage with just a touch of chorizo. My own dinner was grilled shrimp over a bed of green pasta infused with fish stock, which added a richness that was hard to define but easy to appreciate. It was equally delicious.

Georgio was quite garrulous, and we struck up a conversation about his time working in restaurants in Denver. He offered to meet us at the restaurant the next day at 6 p.m. for his own personal tour of the neighborhood. We plan to take him up on the offer.

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