Cities of the French Riviera |
Let's learn French in Nice and discover the French Riviera !
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MORE ABOUT NICE ...
 A bit of history concerning the term Côte d'Azur. The term "Côte d'Azur" has only been used since the end of the 19th century. It was a Bourguignon poet, Stephen Liegeard who introduced the expression "Côte d'Azur" in 1887.
400.000 years ago elephant hunters who were the first inhabitants of Nice, settle on the site of Terra-Amata.
 In 300 BC, the Massaliots founded NIKAIA - a trading market on the sea front, on the slopes of the château. From 13BC, the Romans built a second town, CEMENELUM, next to NIKAIA, situated on the hills of Cimiez. The ruins of the thermal baths and the arenas testify a population of 15.000 to 20.000
NICE places itself under the protection of the Comté de Savoie, Amédée VII. Nice became a real fortress in the centre of the Comtes de Savoie defence plan against the French and their allies.
In 1543, the Turkish fleet is repelled, thanks to the courage of the people of Nice, symbolised by Catherine SEGURANE. This little story says that Catherine Ségurane showed the Turks her bare derrière leading them to retreat because of its ugliness.
 The 17th century Nice is characterised through an explosion of baroque art and concluded through the sieges of 1691 and 1705, at the end of which the French army destroyed the fortifications. Still loyal to the Duke of Savoy, who became King of Sardinia in 1720, Nice is invaded by the French revolutionary army in 1792 and the Alpes Maritimes region was created in 1793.
Kingdom of Sardinia in 1814, NICE and its county was finally reunited with FRANCE in 1860.
 It's the starting point of a new economic development: construction of roads, railway, spectacular expansion of demography and urbanisation allowing it to become a tourist economy. NICE and its region then became the Côte d'Azur, often being painted and photographed.
Nice is proud of its turbulent past. It cultivates its heritage, preserves its language - the nissart, asserts its cookery, and celebrates traditional holidays and festivals such as the Carnival, les Batailles de Fleurs, la Fête des Cougourdons (a kind of pumpkin), la Fête des Mais (corn), la Fête de la Vigne, Saint-Pierre's Day and furthermore Saint Jean's Day.
Points of interest : La vieille ville - La Place Masséna - La Promenade des Anglais - Le marché aux Fleurs (Cours Saleya) - Les musées - Les plages
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