"Nice - Warts and all - The altern ..." a Nice Travel Page by drgrcook

See my wife's VT guide and her website for the good news.

Welcome to Nice, home of dog poo, graffiti, beggars, parking offences, unsilenced motorcycles and poor service.

Don't get me wrong, I love Nice, so much so that my wife and I own a studio there and visit as often as possible.

I hope that my comments can help to improve which in the past was one of (if not the) finest tourist locations in the world.

DOGS

The scourge of the pedestrian is covered in my local customs.

GRAFFITI

A terrible scar on every building although recently there has been a civic effort to correct the disfigurement. An army of workers, armed with crude brushes and buckets of paint to match the wall that they are painting, can now be seen attempting to cover the vandals mess as soon as it appears. The initial results are most promising but appear to be restricted to the more upmarket, or tourist areas. Unfortunately, only the walls are painted and doorways and other embellishments are left.

This is not just a Nice problem and I was horrified to see the ancient woodwork of the Rialto Bridge in Venice disfigured by graffiti. The woodwork is deeply engrained with natural grooves caused by the shrinkage of the wood over several hundred years and the paint is almost impossible to remove.

Similarly in the old town of Nice the 400 year old stone where it is unrendered is often indelibly marked.

I suggest that the perpetrators of this damage should be tattooed acroos the forehead with copies of their work as a punishment.

BEGGARS

I have already mentioned one modus operandi, the dog, another being more obvious, a baby. It is sickening to see a mother and infant on the pavement, often all day long, the mother holding out her hand and supplicating with a pained expression. Either the State is ignoring the problem, which is shameful or they are being exploited by others.

The convenient gap between beggars and the occasional sight of money being given to strong looking young men makes me suspicious. Those suspicions were fortified recently when there was an altercation which looked as if the beggar (a youth of about 19) argued with his minder and received a good kicking.

Another irritation is shaking a tin of money in ones face, I wonder what would happen if I took it and said 'merci'

PARKING

Cars are a major problem and I sympathise with the residents who need or want a car. However, the total disregard for the law and the risk to pedestrians is inexcusable.

Double parking is accepted but leads to long blasts on the horn at any time of the day or night when a car owner is trapped on the inside.

Cars are left on the pavement and on crossings and often it is impossible to manoeuver a trolly or push chair across the road. I have never tried a wheelchair and have never seen one being used, presumably there are no disabled residents in Nice. The access for the disabled is non existent either on the streets or in the shops or restaurants. The beaches are reached by steps only and if I were a wheelchair user I would not visit Nice!

Take care when crossing the road , drivers appear to regard traffic signals as optional, including lane markings and bus-ways, one-way signs, speed limits and those pretty red lights. Parking tickets are an excuse to add to the daily litterfest.