The mistral is as well known at Nice as it is at Cannes.—Health Resorts, by M. Marcet, M.D.
Nice occupies a plain bounded by the limestone summits of the Maritime Alps, whence descend fertile wooded ridges composed of a reddish conglomerate and a gray-blue clay of the Pleiocene period. Between these ridges are deep vallons, gullies, or furrows, with precipitous sides, scooped out to a great depth by the intermittent action of torrents, the breadth and depth of the valleys depending on the volume of water in the stream and the degree of consistence of the conglomerate. The great vallons have tributary vallons. The pleasant Vallon de Magnan exemplifies both kinds. From the Pont de Magnan (near which a tram stops) the first tributary is nearly a mile up the stream, opening from the right or west side. This vallon is short, the walls nearly perpendicular, and in some parts scarcely 2 ft. apart. Higher up the Magnan, and opening from the left or east side, next a church, is the more beautiful and more extensive tributary vallon, the Madeleine, which high up becomes so narrow and so choked with troublesome brambles as to be almost impassable. The banks are covered with vegetation, and the more level parts with maritime pines and olive trees. At the entrance are beds of clay of immense thickness, of which
fire-bricks are made. The Mantéga Vallon, entered from the Chemin de Mantéga (see plan), has great walls of clay and conglomerate. The softer conglomerate is quarried and broken up for its sandy dolomitic material, which, mixed with lime, makes excellent mortar.
The city of Nice consists of three distinct parts:—1st, the new or fashionable quarter, stretching westwards from the Paillon, containing avenues and gardens, and broad and well-paved streets bordered with large and elegant buildings, of which a large proportion are hotels and “pensions;” 2d, the Old Town, a perfect labyrinth of narrow, dirty, steep streets, radiating from the Cathedral as a sort of centre, and running up the sides of the Château hill, which separates it from, 3d, the Port, with its seafaring population, and about 16 acres of harbour.
During the season, from November to April, Nice is a luxurious city, with the attractions and resources of the great northern capitals. In winter the population may be estimated at 90,000, whereas in summer it is only about 54,000, a diminution in numbers apparent only in the largest and most elegant part of the city. The non-fluctuating population inhabit the crowded tenements in the narrow streets huddled together between the Paillon and the Château hill.
[ Nice: Promenade. Castle. Cemetery.]
The glory of Nice is the Promenade des Anglais, commenced by the English in 1822 to employ the poor during a season of scarcity. This beautiful terraced walk, 85 ft. broad, extends 2 m. along the beach of the Baie des Anges, from the Quai Lunel of the Port to the mouth of the Magnan, whence it will be continued other 3 m. west to the mouth of the river Var, near the Racecourse.
Over the Port rises the [Castlehill], 315 ft., commanding from the platform, in every direction, the most charming views. To the E. are the peninsula of St. Jean and Cape Boron, and rising from it, Fort Montalban, Mt. Vinaigrier, and the Observatory residence and buildings. To the N. is Mt. Chauve; to the E. the roofs of Nice; and in the distance the [Roche-Blanche] (p. 164), the peninsula of Antibes, and the Estérels. This fortress, founded by the early Phœnician colonists, and destroyed and rebuilt at various periods afterwards, was finally razed to the ground in 1706, by order of Louis XIV., by Maréchal Berwick. Now it has become the great park of Nice. A round tower that still remains, over the Hôtel des Princes, called the Tour Bellanda, was probably added to the Castle by Emmanuel Philibert in 1560. On the W. side of the hill (see plan) is the [cemetery] in five stages. At the entrance is the monument to the “Victimes de l’Incendie du Theatre, 23d March 1881.” Towards the E. end, at the wall, is the grave of
Rosa Garibaldi, d. 19th March 1852. The tombstone was placed by her son, General Garibaldi. In the highest terrace is the grave containing Gambetta and his mother. In a terrace by itself in the eastern end is the Protestant cemetery.