Vieux Nice France

Photos taken in February 2017

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Vieux Nice is the antique heart of Nice France.  It is also called the Vieille Ville, or Old City.  Vieux Nice was an expansion of the village on the hill above, beginning sometime during the Middle Ages.  The map below shows that Vieux Nice had developed significantly by 1624.

 
I thought Vieux Nice was charming.  It had a theme park atmosphere, with buildings recently painted in rich shades of pink, yellow & orange, as though the city had passed out paint chips.  The streetscape was very appealing to me.  The narrow houses, the street plan that does not conform to a modern grid & the narrow streets that can barely accommodate a car, all create a fantasy landscape that people find intriguingly alien.  How nice it would be, if this were adapted for use in modern cities, a respite from too many cars taking too much space.  I'm thankful places like this still exist & hopeful that similar places may be built now & in the future.  Compare this with other old cities that evolved centuries ago & more modern urban landscapes.