Carnaval in Nice

We went to Carnaval! 

One afternoon, Jonathan came home and mentioned that Nice has the biggest Carnaval celebration in France and that it might be cool to go. We checked it out online and went back and forth about going and then finally decided to be adventurous and go!

I’m really glad we did. We found a couple of cheap train tickets, a nice enough Airbnb and packed our bags. The train drove us along the southern coast of France for three hours. The coastline was gorgeous and the water was the beautiful, crystal-clear, blue color we’ve come to expect. There were small towns and big mansions. I even saw a community garden with people farming. It was an incredibly relaxing and enjoyable ride and then we were in Nice!

Once we checked into our Airbnb and got settled, we decided to walk around the waterfront. We were going to the light parade for Carnaval that night, but wanted to get a little bit of sightseeing in before it got dark. 

The beach in front of the Old City is all rocks and pebbles and always strange to us compared to the beaches back in the States. One thing we did really like about the rocky beach was the sound the water made as the waves came in and then went back out into the sea. We could hear the water as it drained between the rocks. It was a pretty incredible sound.

We tried touching the water with our hands and were eventually successful. Some of us more than others. I may or may not have gotten one of my shoes soaked in the process. Oh well!

On the boardwalk, we saw some people skateboarding and rollerblading as the sun set. It was a pretty nice way to end the evening before the parade kicked off.

We were standing on the street level for the night parade and it was honestly wild. The floats glided right in front of us. You could reach out and touch them! The people walking in the parade and riding on the floats threw confetti at the folks in the crowd. Kids were running around taking pictures with dancers dressed up as queens or cheerleaders. A giant Godzilla balloon crashed down into the crowd to bite the people and then went back up into the air, only to come flying back down onto its newest “victims.”

There was so much chaos but it was so fun. We got smacked in the face with confetti, brushed by wings and even pushed back by parade staff for some of the wider floats.

The floats were really incredible. Being so close to them really drove home how massive they were, as well as how well they were made. They were really gorgeous. I really liked the woman that was a human representation of Nice and Jonathan liked a purple devil/demon that looked similar to Waluigi.

It was really fun being in the thick of the crowds and being able to feed off the energy and excitement.

The next day we were planning to see the daytime parade so we grabbed an “American” breakfast which was really a French breakfast of pastries, a baguette, jam, butter and Nutella, but also included eggs and bacon so no complaints here. We ate it outside because it was a beautiful and sunny morning. Eating outside at French cafés and restaurants really is one of my favorite things to do here. It’s just such a great atmosphere.

For the second parade, we got seats in the risers, meaning we’d have a higher view. We unfortunately didn’t think about that fact that the sun would be blasting us the entire time, so although it was nice to be up out of the crowd and see the floats from higher up, we eventually made our way back into the crowds for the last few floats. Being up high was interesting because you had a good view of everything, but you sort of lost some of the energy that came from being down in the crowd on the streets. If we ever go again, I would want to stay on the ground and get the full experience. 

Most of the floats were the same, with a few new dancing groups sprinkled here and there. It was nice seeing them in the sunlight though, because at night some details were lost in the crazy lighting. After the parade we finally figured out how to access the ferris wheel and rode that! We were both slightly nervous with the whole height situation, but it was really a beautiful day and we had a good time.

On our last day in Nice before hopping back onto the train we hiked up to Castle Hill and got a good final look at the city. It was a really nice view and we had a fun time just wandering around and exploring. There was a small mishap when a uniformed man ushered us into an elevator and we had no idea where we were going. We then had to turn around and go back up all the stairs to get back up to the top of the hill. Whoops!

After a really delicious lunch, we grabbed our train and went back to Aix. It was a really nice long weekend and I’m really glad we decided to go.