Travel Tips

Monsieur Herve Martinez is the owner and master chef of our local Patisserie and Boulangerie - bread and cake shop. It is a wonderful start to our days in Nice - every morning, two pain au chocolat for the daughter, two croissants for the husband but only one for me :-(

For picnics I have bought the most delightful mini quiches and Pan Bagnats (Nicoise salad in a bun) and the bread here is superb. If you want a bit more than an ordinary bagette, try a 'restaurant' loaf - a chunkier cousin of the bagette. As usual, and most civilised, you can buy a bottle of chilled wine from the fridge - a vital addition to the hamper.

Close to the Port and on the corner of rue Cassini and rue Emmanuel Philibert, his shop window is a work of art reflecting current events or festivals; there were even bags of hand-made chocolate euros in December 2000.

The windows are so attractive I am always trying to capture the latest display with a photograph - the daughter is usually keen to pose and to press her nose against all the goodies.

I am trying to organise some of my photos and will add more as I find them.

I'm not sure whether is was the plethora of father Christmasses or the cakes and chocolates that delighted the daughter more. December can be delightful in Nice and the weather is often sunny with blue skies (unlike the often rather miserable late Autumn and early Spring) There is more information about Christmas in Nice in my 'local customs' tips.

This is a new custom to me - a special cake is made to celebrate Epithany - the visit of the three kings to Bethlehem on the twelth Night.

The special sweet bread, a type of bricoche, is shaped into a round crown (crown - king, get it) and decorated with 'jewels' of candied fruit and sugar. They come in different sizes, we bought a small one for the daughter, you get a free gold cardboard crown to wear and the daughter's happiness was completed on finding a dear little pottery king which had been baked inside the bread. In French this is called a 'feve' which means either a 'bean' or in this case, a 'charm' hidden in a cake for the Twelth Night.

These cakes are called 'Galettes des Rois'

Carnival Time. In the lead up to Lent, there are about 2 weeks of Carnival in Nice culminating in the burning of the King of the Carnival. Every year a theme is chosen and all the floats and displays are designed around it. The theme this year was 'Cloning' For more information please see 'NiceLife's pages and wonderful photos or try the following website: www.nicecarnaval.com.

Mr Martinez did not let us down - there was a superlative display of cakes and chocolates celebrating the King of Cloning - the 'Roi de Clonerie' plus drawings done by local children.

Chocolate Easter chicks and Easter eggs. Yummy. The prices were extremely high. I think the French will happily pay a premium price for one top quality exquisite egg. I wonder if this is why they have such good figures.

Looking a bit more summery now, and that's just the daughter!

May and June's photos were taken a couple of days apart, yet we still couldn't catch Mr Martinez napping.

The window duly changed the first day in June, although to my mind, the rabbits give it a rather Spring/Easter flavour.