French Riviera: Celebrating Carnival One Last Time

During the first weekend of March, my friends and I bussed 6 hours up to the French Riviera in order to celebrate carnival one last time. We got into Nice early Friday morning. After a much needed nap my friends and I were ready to explore the city. We went on a three hour walking tour of the city. The city is absolutely beautiful. I loved the atmosphere–extremely laid back and easy going. After our tour, we grabbed lunch and some gelato! Then headed on a 30 minute bus ride over to Monaco. Once in Monaco, we walked around and explored the area. We saw the infamous Monte Carlo Casino and then headed back to Nice. 

Saturday morning we walked over to this beautiful waterfall. It was near a park on a hill that overlooked the beach and the city. The view was amazing. It looked like something out of a movie. That afternoon carnival activities began. My friends and I went and watched the flower parade, which reminded me a lot of the Rose Day parade. Each float was intricately made with flowers. The theme of carnival this year was the King of Sport, a reference to the 2012 London Olympics. Because of this, the floats and people in the parade resembled different sports as a way to unify and pay tribute to all the competitions and competitors of the upcoming year! That night there was another celebration — the parade of lights. The float’s in this parade were massive and went through the main streets of Nice. Everyone lined the streets, dressed up as if it were Halloween and partied the night! My friend, Dani, and I both wore neon colored wigs. Even though we looked ridiculous, we had a very fun night!

Wigging out at carnival!

That Sunday we left Nice and headed toward the little beach town of Eze. Once here, we took a tour of Fragonard, a perfumery that still makes their scents through the original process. We spent about an hour or two here, smelling all types of perfumes and colognes. After we grabbed lunch and then headed back to Barcelona!

I've been so busy lately, but I'm going to post soon all about my trips to Amsterdam and Dublin, as well as some adventures I've had through Barcelona!

Ciao.