HIDDEN GEMS: MOST VISITORS TO Nice are familiar with Cours Saleya, in the Old Town, with its animated, colourful flower and food markets. But venture off the beaten track and you'll discover gems hidden away in the surrounding narrow lanes.
On Rue de la Loge, a champagne bar named Effervescence is a welcome addition to the watering holes of Vieux Nice. It opens at 6pm - perfect for an aperitif before the opera.
Gino Bestagno's tiny corner shop (pictured) on Rue de la Préfécture sells a range of pretty parasols, useful umbrellas and quirky canes.
Past the tiny fish market on Place Saint François, Chez Auguste has a brilliant selection of cheeses. Tucked away on Rue François Zanin is a favourite local bistro, La Table d'Alziari. Madame cooks and Monsieur serves a short menu, chalked up on a blackboard. Nearby is the baroque White Penitents' chapel of the Sainte Croix, with its unusually rich floral decoration on pilasters and friezes. The charitable lay Penitent Brotherhood originated in Mediterranean Europe in the late 13th century, and there are four of its chapels in Nice. The Blue Penitents' chapel of the Saint Sépulcre, on Place Garibaldi, opens for Sunday evening Mass; the other three also open once a week.
At the far end of Cours Saleya you'll find the neoclassical Saint-Suaire Chapel of the Red Penitents.
You'd easily walk right past the unprepossessing exterior of the fourth chapel, the Miséricorde of the Black Penitents. This is the chef d'oeuvreof the Niçois baroque. In the sacristy are two versions of the Vierge de Miséricordepainted by two of the best known pre-Renaissance Niçois primitives, Jean Mirailhet and Louis Bréa. The chapels open only on Tuesday afternoons. If your dates don't include one, change your dates.
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