To truly grasp the spirit of this unique pathway on the Riviera, it is necessary to witness the magical and daily spectacle of sunrise and sunset.
Depending on the season, it sets the sea, the city, or the hills ablaze. It is only after having experienced this unforgettable moment that you can feel the essence of this magical place, where the ethereal beauty and poetry linger.
It is between November and March, the winter months, that one can best admire the beauty of the place. The arabesques of seagulls dancing and screeching above a pointu or a tartane, the deserted beach with waves licking the shore, polishing the pebbles, themselves a symbol of Nice.
In summer, as Gilbert Bécaud so eloquently sang, this place loses its charm and elegance with the overcrowded beach, annihilating all poetry, despite the aesthetic beauty of half-naked girls basking under a scorching sun. The promenade has been sung about, praised, celebrated, and lauded.
Its history begins with an English pastor who decided to lay out a path by the sea between Paillon and Magnan. The Promenade would change its appearance multiple times, with villas giving way to buildings and luxury hotels. The clientele no longer contented themselves with the municipal casino or the jetty promenade; they demanded an establishment meeting their expectations. A cruise ship to satisfy their taste for extravagance. The Palais de la Méditerranée quickly became the emblematic edifice of the Promenade. Everything was available in this building: gambling, dining, or entertainment with shows.
Its realization was the work of architects, sculptors, and artists including glassmakers and cabinetmakers, all highly renowned. This palace of pleasures and refinement was one of the icons of this Promenade des Anglais, a setting of beauty and luxury. The Jetée Promenade and the palaces of Ruhl and Negresco, pearls and diamonds of this Baie des Anges, echoes of the past, completed the noble and grand character of this stretch of asphalt that extended along the shore illuminated by the lights of the queen’s necklace. The clientele thus wandered according to their whims between the palaces and the casinos, all cruise ships stranded on this god-blessed shore.
Luxury still had meaning, significance. In the evening, the curtain fell on this social scene where sometimes fireworks concluded the carnival veleno or another event. It is an era, alas, long gone.
Ruhl was demolished to make way for a monstrosity of glass and steel. The Palais de la Méditerranée retains only its facade and numerous villas were destroyed to make way for buildings without style and soul. Only Negresco remains from this period, the only hotel still representing the notion of luxury and refinement.
The Promenade has become a kind of highway, and the tram project would have had the advantage of removing cars from it and making this tram line the most beautiful in the world.
Can we dream of a future where the Promenade would be returned to the pedestrians? To replace cars, we could recreate carriages with horses, thus restoring part of its nobility and grandeur to this axis. Dreaming and utopia are the privileges of noble souls, so let us dream.
Thierry Jan
