Travel Tips

I love spotting trompe l'oeil in Nice. Some are particularly effective. This one doesn't really 'fool the eye' but it is one of the most well-known, due to its location - on the end wall of a building near the 'Galerie des Ponchettes' betweeen the Old Town and the sea. Start walking towards the Promendae des Anglais from the foot of Castel Hill and you will see it on the right. In need of a touch up job (aren't we all)

...in Place Rossetti, in the very middle of the Old Town, by St Reparate Cathedral, look UP over the pizzeria restaurant - the same side as Fenocchio's ice -cream shop.

The window surrounds are painted to look like stone or plaster. It looks quite realistic I think. The most famous example of window-dressing like this is the Matisse Museum in Cimiez.

You can find this painted street sign, designed to look like carved stone, opposite Le Safari restaurant in the Cours Saleya. Cours Saleya is the name of the square in the Old Town (a long rectangle really), site of the famous flower and food markets of Nice plus several restaurants, cafes and bars. The sign is on a pedestrian entrance to an underground car park (the Nicois do this very well, hiding away their ugly space-consuming car parks underground; I wish we had some in Liverpool)

I wonder if the real signs have all been 'taken' as souvenirs of Nice and have now been replaced with trompe l'oeil. We have the same problem in Liverpool. The road signs for Penny Lane are now painted (though not as beautifully as the Nice signs) Too many were nicked as souvenirs of the eponymous Beatles record.

This tower is at the end of a block of newly-renovated apartments on rue de la Providence in the Old Town. The end tower has real windows and entirely faked, painted windows, shutters and all. The column of four windows on the left are painted; the column of four windows on the right-hand side of the tower are real. I can't tell you how many times we have walked by this building and not noticed. It's my favourite trompe l'oeil in Nice so far.
If you want to see for yourself, it is almost opposite the Church of St Augustin, just off rue Sincaire, close to the Catherine Segaurane monument. Not far from Place Garibaldi.

The entire end wall of this building is painted. It is quite impressive but not a good photo unfortunately as I did not have a zoom camera at the time. More details in my 'must see' tips for Nice.

I spotted it (you can hardly miss it!) on boulevard de Cimiez walking down the boulevard after a trip to the Chagall Museum.

...on the number 400 bus coming back from St Paul de Vence when the daughter spotted this trompe l'oeil from the bus window.

It's on either the Promenade de Anglais or, in a block and parallel to the Prom, avenue de Californie, not far from the airport on your way into Nice, look out to your left.

The man, the steps, the balustrade and the plant are all painted. The Bougainvillea is real though.

...spotted from the express airport bus on the way TO the airport along rue Costes et Bellonte, where the Park Inn Hotel is located. (the former Hotel Arenas and easycar franchises, no longer operating in France for some reason)

Look out on your left. The building is very utilitarian and square, I'm not sure why they bothered, but perhaps the painted column of windows added a bit more visual balance to the structure.

The column of windows to the right of the tree in the photograph is definitely faked. All of the windows on this side of the buiding are possibly painted, it was hard to tell.