139

.

l

e

v

.

) is the —

ra 4 , plus ). es T 11 m ) used to i 10 T ay d > n ). Check). the Su 12

) is spellbinding in both from its six international

9 series, an angelic sea-blue sea-blue angelic an series, focuses on his Message october 2018 fame) and Henri Cartier-Bresson Cartier-Bresson Henri and fame) neplus ultra of photography galleries. Recent retrospectives include Steve McCurry (of the green-eyed Afghan Girl (the street photographer who snapped 20th-century in war and romance ). Look out for the 19th-century shots from Charles Nègre, who captured the washerwomen and street urchins of pre-tourism to visits l Hush-hush after-hours art night-time museums, major pop-up exhibitions and walks that’s how Botoxs, a contemporary art foundation, shakes up the city’s art scene for in-the-know tourists. Its in previews details page Facebook offbeat galleries andinside artists’ apartments. Many events take place at the seafront Galerie de la Marine (59 Quai des Etats-Unis; ongoing creations in metalwork, metalwork, in creations ongoing and art digital woodcuts, glass, elsemuch artists in residence. l The sprawling red mansion that is Villa Arson has represented the cutting edge of Nice’s contemporary art scene since 1972. It’s an art thriving a alongside university gallery space and magical gardens Liégeard; Stephen Avenue (20 villa-arson.org; be just that. Now the starkly city’s slaughterhouse hosts capacious artist workshops of dozens schedule. exhibition enviable an Expect vast installations over its hall, main square-metre 2,000 with a focus on plastics, metals sculpture. urban and l The Théâtre de la Photographie et de l’Image (1 Place Pierre Gautier; museephotographie.nice.fr; l Of the must-see art museums in Chagall Musée (musee-chagall.Nice, £8.50;fr; individuality and scope. The first first The scope. and individuality French national museum to be designed by the artist it represents, it was styled by Chagall to best present purpose-built The works. ethereal his space Biblique walls the fills that dreamscape l Les Abattoirs (50 Boulevard Vérany; Jean-Baptiste

s o 10 21 instant escapes

sc vibe CHic 22 Jacob’s Jacob’s 1 23 400m The Musée at the Arabesque 6 Outside, it’s Outside, Chagall is in is Chagall Street to the Musée Nice’s ritziest Nice’s mansions andmansions 20 11 AL fre AL N ARTY NICE pavement cafe cafe pavement villas as you go out the Norman the out

area. After your central. Grab an Grab central. 8 visit, walk uphill walk visit, usée d’Art usée Chagall usée oderne; oderne; I cream and settle

down for a spot of people-watching espresso or an ice Nice view: looking out over the city’s Baie des Anges and promenade; the Calder below, the at sculpture M M Dream M Matisse and check 0 13 7 2 4 17

. 27

. 9

26

, the ) for on 16 . 1 15 2 7 4 24 NICE . Gain access and the 3 19 ), was), feted 5 . The £9 ticket 18 14 & do (the collection features features collection (the 25 5 ) for vintage globes and ee 6 ) for first-edition art books. S l The Musée d’Art Moderne 28 8 3 Every major player, including 12 also gives you entryto every municipal art museum in town for hours, 24 including the Musée Matisse as Nice’s artsy matriarch Pablo by Picasso and Salvador Dalí to her art-filled ‘museum ’ by taking tea at Le Relais bar, or dine at its two-Michelin-starred Chantecler Le Head past the reception into the Salon Versailles to spy Hyacinthe Rigaud’s portrait of Louis XIV, one of three in the world. The original is in the Louvre; the other copy by Rigaud is at Versailles. l Rue Défly is the street to stroll high-end for looking you’re if along antiquaries and ateliers galleries, (at No. 2; And happily, it connects MAMAC with the chic pavement cafes of Place Edmond Monsieur Try Garibaldi. et d’Art Contemporain (MAMAC, Place mamac-nice.org; Klein; Yves ceramics, and Librairie Rabelais (at (at Rabelais Librairie and ceramics, No. 4; Madame Augier, the nonagenarian nonagenarian the Augier, l Madame proprietor of Hotel Negresco on the (hotel- Anglais des Promenade negresco-nice.com; carpets, Line Lischa (at No. 5; map) is Nice’s temple to 20th-century art. Warhol Andy his sad rejection letters from New York’s MoMA), across exhibited is salons light-filled 10 Musée des Beaux-Arts CUT-OUT-AND-GO GUIDE CUT-OUT-AND-GO ✂ Théâtre de la Photographie

OCTOBER2018 l

e Nice v ra es T

m i

T ay

d

n Su

instant escapes 138 This glamorous city razzles and dazzles, with art at its very heart A century ago, Nice’s fabled 300 days of sun a year bedazzled sun MatisseA century a year of days 300 fabled ago, Nice’s and Chagall. Pals, including in take and Picasso to stopped Dufy, by the scene. Theirthe scene. legacy a thriving is hub contemporary of galleries and ateliers, mention to not more museums than city any French outside . It’s the picture-perfect Rutherford Tristan By weekend… Arty ✂ instant escapes

CUT-OUT-AND-GO GUIDE I ARTY NICE

Eat rooftop bars l Local specialities l Panoramic pours Lu Fran Calin (Mains about £9) Aqua Bar Because: Chef Daniel Silvetti’s local Because: Nothing shouts South of dishes include the likes of chickpea France like a bottle of wine in a rooftop chips with pistou dip. Travel’s tip: locale. One of the best places to do it Silvetti recently submitted a dossier to here is the amazing Aqua Bar, atop the Unesco to protect salade Niçoise and Hotel Aston. Travel’s tip: Its £4 slugs 90 other regional recipes. Ask and he’ll of pastis come with Niçois nibbles. point you to the 19 Cuisine Nissarde There’s a tiny plunge pool, too. restaurants across town. 5 Rue Francis 12 Ave Felix Faure; 17 . Gallo; 00 33 4 9380 8181; 13 . l Rosé-tinted views l Med with a Japanese twist La Terrasse L’Ecole dE Nice (Mains all £15) Because: For more sip-in-the-sky Because: Japanese chef Keisuke action, take a lift from the first-floor Matsushima won the Légion d’honneur al fresco lobby of Le Méridien up to La Terrasse. Films for his painstaking interpretations of La Terrasse has its Travel’s tip: Grab a bottle of Château Niçois cuisine. Travel’s tip: All main own rooftop Sainte Roseline, a superb Côtes de courses cost £15, so the £24 set dinner, cinema with Provence rosé, and watch the jets deckchairs with a wow-factor entrée and dessert, and wireless glide into the airport. 1 Promenades is great value. 16 Rue de la Buffa; 00 33 headphones. des Anglais; 18 . 4 9381 3930, lecoledenice.com; 14 . Recent showings included the l Red hot rooftop Bardot classic l Gourmet bargain Et Dieu Créa Terrasse du Plaza Luna Rossa (Mains about £21) la Femme Because: The Terrasse du Plaza at the Because: In a rarefied salon adorned Boscolo Hotel serves smoked salmon with graffiti canvases, expect modern wraps (£12) with Divines Restanques Italo-Niçois cuisine such as creamy white wine (£5). Travel’s tip: Go for macaroni with white truffles. Travel’s the rooftop lunchtime special — two tip: Regular 20%-off deals appear courses for £25. 12 Ave de Verdun; 19 . online on sites such as thefork.com. 3 Rue Chauvain; 00 33 4 9385 5566; 15 . Stay l Matisse’s seaside escape l Royal approval Get me there l Space-age fine dining ASK THE l Hip hostel Hotel Beau Rivage (Doubles Hotel Negresco (Doubles GO INDEPENDENT Flaveur (Three courses from £79) LOCAL Villa St ExupEry Beach (Doubles from £68, B&B) from £178, room-only) BA flies from four London airports plus Because: The Tourteaux brothers, Gaël Julie Thébaut works from £45, room-only) Because: Henri Matisse checked in here Because: The Queen, the Beatles Manchester to Nice from £56 return. and Mickaël, scooped their restaurant’s at the Oreva France Because: Each communal dorm and at Christmas in 1917. These days, the and the Shah of Iran have all SNCF (voyages-sncf.com) runs trains travel agency second Michelin star for artful dishes, private double room is dedicated to a Beau Rivage offers pillow menus beach stayed here; the hotel has 117 art- from London St Pancras to Nice, with a bargain such as Tobiko flying-fish eggs on painter, with lashings of art on the walls. plus lobby art from Niçoise designer Beau Rivage splashed rooms. Travel’s tip: Don’t quick change in Paris, from £130 return; a seaweed ‘crisp’. Travel’s tip: The This award-winning hostel sits opposite Stéphanie Marin. Travel’s tip: Staying Plage is one of miss the 16,309-crystal Baccarat the journey takes 9hr 30min. menu is fixed, but don’t worry. Go Rue Droite is where Niçois the city-central department store three nights or more? The Beau Rivage Nice’s hippest chandelier in the Royal Lounge. It was beach clubs. Hotel hungry and enjoy — you’re in safe artists have their ateliers. Galeries Lafayette. Travel’s tip: Take now rents sea-view apartments where commissioned by Tsar Nicholas II, who GO PACKAGED guests can bag hands. 25 Rue Gubernatis; 00 33 4 Each is like an interactive art gallery its free walking tour, which calls at the Matisse painted and stayed, from £116 a a lounger and was executed before he could take Escorted rail tour specialist Great Rail 9362 5395, restaurant-flaveur.com; 16 . where you can meet the painter Bernar Venet sculpture on Promenade night. 24 Rue Saint-François de Paule; parasol for a delivery. 37 Promenade des Anglais; Journeys (greatrail.com) has a luxurious I C discounted £18 WRITER’S at work. Sylvie T (14 Rue Droite; 20) des Anglais, plus Matisse’s ochre hotelnicebeaurivage.com; 26. hotel-negresco-nice.com; 5 . seven-day trip to Nice and the Côte FOODIE tip l Two-Michelin-starred delight Just up the road at creates beautiful watercolours of mansion on the Cours Saleya. 6 Rue d’Azur, including first-class trains from Le Chantecler (Four-course No. 5 Rue Droite, the Old Town. Modern-art lovers Sacha Guitry; villahostels.com; 24. l Arty bargain l Slice of the city London St Pancras, from £1,535pp. Or menu from £115) you’ll find Nice’s should head to Nice Port. This Hotel SEIZE (Doubles from Nice Pebbles (Apartments for two BA Holidays (ba.com) has two nights in kookiest, most Because: Virginie Basselot took super-cool area hosts street cafes l Living gallery £75, B&B) from £240 a night, or £385 a week) the Beau Rivage from £119pp, including authentic DENHEAD CARTOGRAPH Grand design: over Le Chantecler earlier this year. restaurant, Chez and galleries, including Patrick Fréga Hotel Windsor (Doubles from Because: The Seize has collaborated Because: Nice’s premier holiday-letting return flights from Gatwick. : MA I : clockwise from top Her avant-garde creations are Palmyre (three (3 Rue Martin Seytour; 21 ), who makes £59, room-only) with a local art school to spice up its agency manages 140 apartments from

MAP left, an apartment courses for £15). NG wonderfully rich — try the Bresse monumental sculptures. Try also Because: For 16 years, hotel owner Odile I 34 rooms. Expect splashes of colour from Nice Pebbles; the boho Port to the Promenade and all FURTHER INFORMATION It’s a bargain! chicken infused with girolles in a Franck Michel (28 Rue Ségurane; 22), Payen-Redolfi has allowed two artists inspired by the likes of Roy Lichtenstein, exterior of the Hotel are bookable from one night to one The Nice Tourisme website (nice parsley mousseline. Travel’s tip: which exhibits local artists, such as each year to decorate a room. She now plus local modern artist Ben. Travel’s Windsor; La month. Travel’s tip: If you’re in a group, tourisme.com) has excellent museum Terrasse, the cool You’ll want to Instagram the wood- Arman, Ben, and Sacha Sosno, who all has 27 far-out bedrooms, including one tip: Around the corner sit seven its higher-end properties make sense. and gallery guides. It’s worth getting the , ROBERT HARD ROBERT , rooftop bar at Le Y panelling — resist, as snapping on have work on show at MAMAC. Best of set in pure gold by Claudio Parmiggiani. figurines on 10 metre-high pedestals Méridien hotel; Palais Lacourt, between the Negresco Côte d’Azur Card (cotedazur-card.com; phones is frowned upon. And chaps all is the GCA Gallery, which specialises Travel’s tip: The hotel doesn’t advertise by Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa. Take fine dining at Le hotel and the Palais Masséna museum, £40 for three days) — it gives free Chantecler; one of will need to wear a tie. 37 Promenade in street art (16 Rue Ségurane; 23). it, but head to the attic, which has a gym a wander — at night each one glows sleeps six in luxury from £145pp a night. access to more than 100 museums, the artist-designed des Anglais; 00 33 4 9316 6400, and an erudite mini-library. 11 Rue a different colour. 16 Rue Chauvain; rooms at the Palais Lacourt Apartment, Rue de activities and tours on the French

hotel-negresco-nice.com; 5 . Dalpozzo; hotelwindsornice.com; 25. ALAM PHOTOGRAPHS: le-seize.nicehotels365.com; 27 . Hotel Windsor Rivoli; nicepebbles.com; 28. Riviera, including the Chagall in Nice.

140 Sunday Times Travel october 2018 OCTOBER 2018 Sunday Times Travel 141