Nice Travel Forum

i will arrive in monte carlo by cruise ship this summer i have about 9 hours to get to the matisse museum from there what is the best way to go from the port in monte carlo to te museum what else can we see in that time and still be back by 5

The Matisse museum is in Cimiez, the very old and wealthy district up the hil from the centre of Nice. Next door to the Matisse museum is the Roman amphitheatre, as well as the archaeological museum which contains a large Roman bath complex. The Matisse museum adjoins a park with a very pleasant olive grove. There's a cafe there - you could have kunch. Not fancy stuff, just French cafe food. Get this - the guy who looks after the public conveniences in the park runs his own art gallery there. There's also a monastery (no longer occupied) with church (still working) and gardens with a view over Mt Boron to the east. The national museum that displays Chagall's Biblical Message is downhill from the Matisse museum.

You can get a frequent local train from Monaco to Nice. See www.sncf.com for times. If I recall correctly, the no. 22 bus will get you to Cimiez from the centre of Nice. http://www.lignedazur.com/index.asp will give you details of buses in Nice.

Cimiez is indeed a fine area and Matisse chose to live there until his death. Other excellent museums in Nice include the Museum of Modern & Contemporary Art (MAMAC -400 works illustrating the key role of Nice in the development of groundbreaking movements from 1960s), the Fine Arts Museum (13th to 20th -Dufy, Fragonard, Rodin, etc.) and the beautiful Palais Lascaris in teh Old Town (rue Droite), a palatial home which will soon become one of the largest museums of musical instruments in the world.