NICE, FRANCE

Nice has circa 350,000 inhabitants and is today's capital of the Alpes-Maritimes département, Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur. It is situated at the Côte d'Azur, or French Riviera, 20 miles or 32 kilometers from the Italian border.

THE HISTORY OF NICE
The city was founded around the year 350 BC by the Greeks, who named it Nikaia. The name might or might not have arrived from the Greek term nike, meaning victory.

The Romans made Nice one of their trading posts in the 1st century AD.

Many counts ruled over Nice throughout the following centuries and the city ended up in the lap of the counts of Savoy in 1388 where it remained until 1860.

With the Treaty of Turin in 1860 Nice became officially French.

THE LANDMARKS OF NICE
The castle of Nice was taken apart in 1706 by Louis XIV.

The 2.5 miles or 4 kilometers long Promenade des Anglais was built by the English in 1822 and is an esplanade along the shore of the Baie des Anges. Queen Victoria liked the city and visited it many times.

The ancient town of Cimiez, now part of Nice, features the ruins of a Roman amphitheater.