Richard has a bit of a cold & got up early as he was awake & starting to sniffle. After breakfast I headed out for a coffee at the Indies coffee shop & then we headed off intending to visit the Russian Cathedral. We went through Place Ganbaldi with its yellow buildings on all four sides (we noticed today the windows surrounds are actually painted on, very clever & the same at the museum) to find the tram stop & ticket machine ready for tomorrow & then headed to what we thought was the railway station. Once we’d crossed under the main road I checked the map & realised we were further “right” on the map than I’d intended, near the acropolis, I had wanted to visit the Roman ruins & this was where we were heading. They are located in Cimiez on top of a hill so again a day of climbing stairs. It started to rain lightly when we reached the top of the hill, we saw a beautiful monastery & went in for a look around, no photos allowed but the ceiling was beautifully painted. The monastery also had an Italian style garden. We then headed across towards the museum & ruins, by this time it was lightly drizzling. The Romans colonised southern France & this was the capital with a city similar in size to Pompeii for over 400 years, from the 1st to the 4 th century. The ruins are of a spa / bath complex & of the amphitheater. Richard did question the taller structure at the sight commenting that he didn’t think the Romans built two stories, also not sure if some renovations have taken place as some of the walls had mortar. The ruins are in lovely gardens with a cafe & lots of dogs, mostly sitting at the tables of the cafe with their owners, either on laps or chairs of their own. The garden also has an olive orchard which is over 500 years old.
We headed back down the hill & found a post office & I posted Lynne’s Birthday card - lets hope this one is there on time!!
We headed towards back towards the train station & then the Russian Cathedral, St Nicholas, it’s now belongs to Russia & is the largest orthodox cathedral in Western Europe. The cathedral was initially built in memory of Nicholas Alexandrovich who died in Nice. The cathedral is beautiful, there were two rabbits in the grounds, enjoying the grass but I can’t seem to find out why. The insides were very ornate, again no photos allowed, also no pews, just seats around a couple of pillars, both wooden, the pillars with ornate carving & again a beautifully painted ceiling. By the time we left the cathedral it was raining heavier, we headed towards the sea & then towards old Nice. Richard headed into our apartment & I headed to the supermarket to buy lunch, I found a pain de raisin & some buerre avec sel, yum.