16th Installment: Slow Day in the Côte d-Azur

On our last day in Nice we were determined to use our mueum pass to catch a couple more from the list of eligible locations. We also were going to hit the beach probably for the final time on this trip so we were going to keep things close to the water. The first candidate was Villa Masséna, musée d’art et d’histoire, near old town.

Villa Masséna was built in 1898 – 1901 as a pleasure villa for the Masséna family but by 1919 they had ceded it to the city of Nice under the stipulation that it become a public museum, which was agreed to by the government of the day. The museum offers the history of Nice from 1792 – 1939 with maps, portaits, art, and many original musical instruments.

It was an informative time spent investigating the origins of the area and to see how the local aristocracy lived in splendor. We had one more stop at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nice which featured paintings by Monet and sculptures by Rodin, and many other notable artists but after an arduous walk through the heat we landed at 4:00 pm but found through a special circumstance that the museum had to close early at 2:00. It was very disappointing but nothing could be done and we were leaving in the morning so it was our only chance.

That only left one more trip to the downtown beach where we supped on a lovely Côtes du Rhone, with my favorite cheese, an aged Comte, and finished with a pastry from a distinguished pâtisserie that was on our way there. Of course like everyday in Nice we finished our day outdoors in one of the sitting spots to watch the sunset and pack for our travel day tomorrow to Marseilles.