Friday, September 9, 2022 @ 9:25 PM in 2022 Germany and France
Day 16
Today was our first real beach day of the trip. We packed up a beach umbrella from the Airbnb, a bunch of water, our swimsuits and towels and then walked over to the train station where we met Kat and John. We wanted to go to Villefranche-sur-mer which is just east of Nice and only about a 7 minute train ride. It's a little town situated on the cliffs with a big harbor and a small beach.
The train was pretty crowded with tourists going to the beach and Monaco (a further stop down the line), but fortunately we didn't need to be on there very long. The train station is pretty close to the beach so we just had to help Kat navigate the stroller down some stairs and then we found a spot on the beach. Kat had a little sun shade canopy that Dakotah hung out in while Rowan stayed mostly in his stroller covered with a big umbrella.
The water felt really nice after getting in and definitely helped cool us down on an otherwise pretty hot day. A few random wind gusts kicked up and blew everyone's umbrellas down so I ended up just hanging out on the beach near Dakotah for a while so he wouldn't get covered in sand or get the shade blown off him.
After another dip in the water we all packed up and started walking into town so we could find some food. Along the way Sam realized she couldn't find her phone so she went running back to our spot on the beach but it wasn't there. Turns out it had fallen to the bottom of our bag and we just didn't see it at first glance. While waiting for Sam to get back from her phone quest, John saw a hot floating in the water and thought it might have been his since he couldn't find it. He jumped in to get it and realized it was a similar hat but not actually his. On his way back to shore Kat ended up actually finding his hat in the bottom of their bag. Tip: make sure to fully check your bags before thinking something is lost, lol.
We ate lunch at a restaurant pretty close to the water. John and I both had a beef stew with ravioli which was really good. Sam had a pasta with sausage and Kat had fish and chips. After eating we walked around town a little bit but it was a little hard at first with the town being so steep with a lot of stairs and trying to navigate a stroller through it all. We did get over to the big citadel then walked through town on the way back to the train station.
While at the train station there was a group of about 10 people who couldn't figure out which platform they needed to be on to go back to Nice, even though everyone kept telling them this was the correct one. Finally a British woman spoke up and said she's been living here for 35 years and yes, this is the correct platform. Thankfully that shut everyone up and we didn't have to hear the bickering about the station.
Back in Nice we said our goodbyes for the day to John and Kat and then came back to our Airbnb to shower and cool off after being outside for most of the day. After I showered I ran down to the market to pick up some snacks and cheese, then went over to a boulangerie and got a fresh baguette for us to eat with the cheese.
Sam saw that there was an artists market in Old Nice starting at 6pm and she really wanted to go in hopes of finding some artwork to take home. We walked over there with the plan to find some artwork then have dinner. Unfortunately there wasn't a single artist there, just some people selling jewelry and other random things. Disappointed, we went to a restaurant that looked like it had good reviews and good food. We ordered the moules frites (mussels with french fries) and a big ceasar salad. The portions of both were gigantic and we weren't actually able to finish it all. The food did taste really good though.
We walked back to the Airbnb and have been trying to figure out what we're going to do tomorrow. It sounds like maybe going to Monaco for the day to check that out. It's supposed to be a little cooler the next two days which will feel good compared to the mid-90's we've been experiencing while here in Nice.
Teaser photos:
Tags: france, villfranche-sur-mer, europe, beach
Posted from: France
