Nice, Monaco & Menton - Provence and the Cote d'Azur - page 122

only). The city of Nice still uses the ground-floor rooms for official occasions so it can
sometimes close at short notice.

Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain

GALLERY

(Mamac; www.mamac-nice.org ; Promenade des Arts; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun)
European and American avant-garde works from the 1950s to the present are the focus of
this museum. Highlights include many works by Nice's New Realists, Christo, César, Ar-
man, Yves Klein and Niki de Saint-Phalle. The building's rooftop also works as an exhibi-
tion space (with panoramas of Nice to boot).
Smartphone users will be able to access audio commentary thanks to flashcodes.

Port Lympia
Offline map Google map
Nice's Port Lympia, with its beautiful Venetian-coloured buildings, is often overlooked,
but a stroll along its quays is lovely, as is the walk to get here: come down through Parc
du Château or follow quai Rauba Capeu, where a massive war memorial hewn from the
rock commemorates the 4000 Niçois who died in both world wars.

ARCHITECTURE

Cathédrale Orthodoxe Russe St-Nicolas
(Av Nicolas II) Built between 1902 and 1912 to provide a big enough church for the grow-
ing Russian community, this cathedral, with its colourful onion domes and rich, ornate in-
terior, is the biggest Russian Orthodox church outside Russia. The interior was closed to
the public at the time of writing.

CATHEDRAL

Beaches
Nice's beaches are all pebbly; sensitive behinds should therefore opt for a comfy mattress
at one of its 14 private beaches (€15 to €20 per day). Out of the free public sections of
beach (with lifeguards, first-aid posts and cold showers), Plage Publique des
Ponchettes , opposite Vieux Nice, is the most popular (and don't worry about your bot-
tom, many hotels lend you mats!).
Most beaches also offer a raft of activities, from beach volleyball to jet skis and ped-
alos.

BEACHES