Nice Pictures
Carnival

See another Nice Carnival photo below

The first - very relaxed though a little chilly - Carnival Parade of several over two and a bit weeks in Nice, February 2007. Go below for another Carnival image, click above for Menton photos or here for more Nice pictures.

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A good time to party in Nice is during the annual carnival February - March [depending on the year]. With a bit of luck the weather will be fine but anyway it's almost certainly going to be better than whatever climatic horrors are happening in north Europe.
The carnival lasts three weeks with THE SAME events happening [at least, in 2007] repeatedly on Saturday [2.30pm Flower Parades] and Sunday afternoons [2.30pm Carnival Parades], Saturday evenings [Parade of lights 9.0pm], Tuesday evenings [Parade of lights 9.0pm] and Wednesday afternoons [2.30pm Flower Parades].i.e. All the Carnival Parades - including Saturday evening's 'Carnival Parade of Lights' are fundamentally the same floats, same people, with the exception of a few very special non-French performers who may head off to other European carnivals as well at some point.
Thus you do not need to see more than one Carnival parade and one Flower parade at the most, per year. The Bugcrew saw four parades - two from the seating area, one from the street, and the Flower parade from over a fence. The best experience was definitely the street view of the Carnival Parade at the start of the two week set when crowds were down and performers enthused.

The last Sunday night also offers a fireworks spectacle at 9.0pm where, typically in France, there was NO information on the firework location but various rumours so all foreigners ended up sitting facing the wrong bloody way until the last minute when there was a stampede to the beach.
Sensibly the fireworks exploded from pontoons 100m off the beach and not from the middle of Jardin Albert 1er as various hotel staffs had suggested [coughollockscough]- which would have taken out half a dozen statues of French dignitaries [OK, maybe not a bad thing], a merry-go-round, a big wheel and several 200 year-old Mediterranean pines in a kaleidoscopic blast of fire.
As it happens the fireworks were something of a damp squib, if truth be told. A few novelties such as the lovely orange flower metamorphosis thingies, but mostly the event was a rather diminuitive and concept-missing collection of fun blasts. Ne! take me back to the Tama River, Hiro..

All events circle around the east end of the Promenade des Anglais [also known as Quai des Etats-Unis].
Tiered seats are set up along the Prom and cost around €25 [low letters are best, e.g. pole position is A; B and C are also good], while standing tickets for the Flower Parades cost €10. We thought the Flower Parades looked disappointing and not worth €10 - though, in truth, we were viewing from outside the pay area.
The Carnival Parades, however, were brilliant, amusing, and imaginative - apart from an excess of political caricatures since 2007 is election year in France.
Regular carnival parades can be seen fairly easily from the street, especially from Jardin Albert 1er and Ave. de Verdun as it leads into The Promenade and since the police have a relaxed attitude to audience mixing with performers and facial blasting with air-propelled plastic string, this seems to the Bugcrew the best way to experience this easygoing spectacle.
And Nice is a busy but terrific, attractive city too; ce n'est pas la guerre ici!

An ambush of superbly articulated velociraptors propelled by some very fit and skilled humans on the Ave. de Verdun. Click on the image for Menton photos or here for more Nice pictures.

The Nice Carnival started in the 13th century and by the end of the 19th century it had become an officially organized event. Now it is one of the biggest and liveliest street festivals in Europe and is regarded as the most authentic carnival in the world.

Nice Carnival images © Julian Loader