Place Masséna and the New Town/City Center

Place Masséna is the main square of the "new" part of Nice's city center. In 2001 I wrote that "This hybrid between a park and a very large square is in my opinion Nice´s most beautiful place. Beautiful sculptures, palms and fountains make this place an oasis in the big city." When I came back in 2008, I found out it had become even more grande, since they have removed the cars from the streets, opened a lightrail system that goes through the square, bordered by red Italian buildings.

We could park our car in northern Nice and take the new lightrail tram to Place Massena. It is extremely expensive to park in Nice daytime.

The fountain at Place Massena.

Red buildings, in an almost pink shade, are surrounding the square.

We visited the department store Galeries Lafayette in one of the red buildings with Italian architecture.

Place Massena extends to the northeast and southwest as a tropical park with sculptures and many palms.

The park extension of Place Massena to the southwest goes all the way to Promenade des Anglais and the sea.

View towards the mountains from Place Massena.

Before 1824 when it was covered, the Paillon River was dividing Place Massena in two parts.

Avenue Jean Médecin starts on the northern part of Place Massena.

These green neon signs can be seen on the many private owned pharmacies in for example like France, Italy and Spain.

A pedestrian street in central Nice.

At the busy Avenue Jean Médecin there are a lot of commercial stores.