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There was one thing we failed to mention in last week’s post about the Riviera palaces of Nice, probably because it is the most obvious bit: the gardens of these mansions provide wonderful oases of calm within the hustle and bustle of the modern city and are perfect places for short walks and long rests.

Just do it like the locals: stroll around a little and then look for somewhere to sit down for a while with some food and drink, searching out a sunny bench from October to May and a place in the shade during summer.

After such a break in the midst of subtropical lushness and exotic flora, you will, no matter how tired and exhausted you are, feel miraculously renewed.

If you don’t believe me: try it, and you will see.

"About the Riviera Palaces of Nice"

Alternatively, you can also pick two or three of these Riviera palaces and work them into a longer walk – which is what we are going to do today.

Where to Find the Riviera Palaces of Nice

Take a tramway train from the town centre (line T2, the one that connects port and airport) and descend at the stop called Fabron.

After you have strolled through the grounds of the Villa des Cèdres and the park Carol II, return to the coastal boulevard – the Promenade des Anglais – from where you can then walk back all the way to town.

Along this route, we suggest two stopovers.

"About the Riviera Palaces of Nice"

Stop number one is the Musée des Beaux Arts. You will spot it easily on the far side of the street that runs parallel to the Promenade after you have taken a left turn from your route into Rue Paul Valéry and turned right at the first corner.

The mansion was built in 1878 for Prince Leon Kochubey, an adviser of Czar Alexander II, apparently as a near-exact copy of the aristocratic family’s residence in Ukraine.

But while the landscaping architect appears to have been given a little more freedom in the design of the surrounding flowerbeds and plants …

"About the Riviera Palaces of Nice"

… the building itself equally fails to suggest the frozen plains of Eastern Europe.

It seems that the European aristocracy of the 19th century really did speak one language, also architecturally.

This appears to be equally true for the architecture of their garden ornaments.

This universal language did not seem to include a word for polite restraint, neither in reference to style nor to size.

The gardens of the Kochubey property originally stretched all the way to the coast: a distance of well over 200 metres. The grounds of today’s museum are far more modestly sized, ensuring that all the garden’s elements and features are so close together that you never lose sight of any of them, no matter where you sit or stand.

After a short breather, return to the Promenade and turn left. In the far distance, you will already be able to spot the characteristic cupola of what is perhaps the city’s most famous landmark. And as soon as you have passed the building in the street …

… you will have arrived at the second of our stopovers: the Villa Massena.

It is said that the property – which was completed in 1901 as the last of the grand residential palaces of Nice – embodies the two dominant character traits of the family: a love for order and regularity (most of the Massena men served as high-ranking officers in the armies of the two Empires) as well as a love for the arts.

"About the Riviera Palaces of Nice"

This duality finds its architectural expression in the choice of different styles for the front and the back of the building: while the main entrance on Rue de France is grand, severe and classical, the south side – facing the sea and looking towards Italy – features a range of more light-hearted elements.

"About the Riviera Palaces of Nice"

The same duality is also reflected by the landscaping architecture. Orderly, geometric outlines ……

… contrast with a jolly rumble elsewhere.

It seems that even the municipal waste bins cannot resist the temptation of falling in with the rhythms of the latter.

And on top of all that, there is something else to enjoy about the Villa Massena that few other gardens in Nice can match: a panoramic sea view. 

Just like the former Kochubey mansion that we visited earlier, the Villa Massena is today used as a municipal museum, so you can – if you have the time – also step inside and spend the rest of your half-day looking at the interiors.

Alternatively, you can continue for another kilometre or so down the Promenade des Anglais to the old town of Nice or direct your steps inland from the Rue de France into the adjacent Carré d’Or, the city’s poshest shopping district.

No you know where to find the Riviera Palaces of Nice, would they interest you?

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