Much like LCU does, UCAV (Universidad Católica de Ávila) has a Fall Break mid-October. So, one early afternoon, everyone rushes from their final class to the train station to take a train to Madrid, where they will fly on to some destination for a week of break.
We were fortunate enough to have Luke come over from Lubbock so we all could spend the break together. We wrestled with where to go—any choice would have been fantastic—but picked Nice, France, which is located on the French Riviera, or Côte d’Azur.
Nice is a town on the Mediterranean Sea in the southeastern part of France, almost to Italy (although Monaco is situated between Nice and Italy). Nice is just up the coast from Cannes. The metropolitan area of Nice is home to nearly around a million people, but the town itself does not feel that large. Nice was founded as a permanent settlement in 350 BCE and most recently was an Italian city until it was re-annexed by France in 1860. There are portions of the town that feel very Italian, which adds to the uniqueness of the city. The town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, having received that distinction in 2021.
One of the main attractions for Nice is a large walkway along the ocean—the Promenade des Anglais—which stretches for 7 kilometers along the Mediterranean. One can walk along watching the beautiful blue water on one side and observe the ocean front buildings on the other. It is a place where people can walk, run, ride bikes, or just sit and watch the water.
The thing that I remember most about Nice was a sort of old world feel and a much slower pace of life. We had French toast for breakfast (we were in France obviously), ice-cream (Fennochio’s is fantastic!), ate pizza on the pebble beach, and generally just relaxed for a few days as family. It was a fantastic vacation!