Monastery and Ruins 12-9-25

Today was our last full day in Nice and we determined that we would go up Cimiez to see the monastery and the Roman Ruins. I thought that we were more centered in seeing the ruins but upon arriving as I turned to go to the entrance Deb told me that she thought we should see the monastery church. This is the first time in our three visits to Nice that it has been open while we were here. Did I mention that it also has an outstanding flower garden which may have factored into the equation? Due to our languorous habits in the mornings we never seem to eat breakfast before 10:00am and that handicaps us for the lunch period of noon to about 2:00. Today we decided that we would just go up to Cimiez and then assess our food requirements after we completed our visit.  So we made our way to the terminal stop for the bus and got seats.  By the time we got to the third stop there were people standing in the aisle. We enjoy the ride up because it affords views over most of the western parts of Nice. Upon descending we walked into the park where our itinerary was more minutely dissected.  The walk over to the monastery is through the original olive grove of the monks dating back at least 100 years and likely much longer. It has been turned into a park where people bring their dogs for exercise and the boules players proliferate. 

The church dates from the 15th century on the site of an earlier 9th century church. It has a baroque gothic facade, but inside there are aspects of Romanesque, Gothic, and the Baroque all melded together.  The altar piece is baroque and curiously it covers the front of the choir which is in a niche just behind. Almost screened like a Byzantine or Eastern Orthodox Church except the altar is exposed to the nave. I’m sure it’s not exceptional but it was a new feature to me. It was very dark like most Romanesque churches with small stained glass windows and the vaults in the transept were rounded but above the altar and the nave they were pointed Gothic vaults, so a transitional church I think.

After our visit to the church we walked out on the porch and discovered a passageway that was lined with small crèche dioramas from countries around the world. There was even one from the state of Nebraska where all of the figures were created from corn husks.  Then in the center cloister was a full life sized manger diorama. Curiously the baby was missing from the full sized scene, too early? We wondered how all of the various models came to be represented in this monastery. As we walked in I caught a fleeting glimpse of who I believe possibly was a monk who peered around a column and then disappeared. 

Leaving the ménage of mangers we wandered out into the garden. It truly is a wonder because it sits up on top of a promontory that looks over almost the entire city. When we walked in there were several large beds of roses that were still blooming. Admittedly they were past their peak but they hadn’t dropped all their petals and there were other beds of annual flowers that were also blooming. The garden sits further out on the

promontory and affords great view of the eastern part of Nice from the observatory at the top of the next ridge over all the way to the Mediterranean.  It’s also up here that both Raoul Dufy and Henri Matisse are buried in the cemetery of the monastery.  They were two of the celebrated Fauvist painters. We tried to go to the Matisse grave but luckily the path was cordoned off. It appeared to be quite a long way down multiple ramps and staircases, not the ideal undertaking later in the day. 

These men were playing boules in the park.  I was amused to see one guy who evidently was fed up with how a playing companion threw out the target ball. He walked out picked up the ball and threw it over to a new spot further away. Then he walked back and picked up the circle from which they took turns throwing and moved it over to a new spot as well. He was muttering as he did it and nobody seemed to take offense at his high-handed moves.  We watched for a while and it was clear that they were a very skilled set of players who had played together for quite a long time.

It was nearly 5:00 when we got the bus back down to the city center. The final stop was close enough that we walked over to the Monoprix and got some roast chicken and potatoes along with a small bottle of rose to have for our final meal in Nice. Our visit here has only served to strengthen our regard for the city, especially at this time of year. It is uncrowded (relatively) and there are enough things open to make it a great base from which to explore this whole region of France. 

P.S. We will be traveling tomorrow until very late so an installment may be late in coming.