Port limp - sea gates of Nice, is not like a regular port. Moorings here are closed with a beautiful promenade, yacht masts sticking out in front of windows of residential buildings, and the water is clear so that the fisherman with a fishing rod - a familiar figure.

Port of Nice is always needed, and in the XVII century the idea devices sea harbor in the east of the Bay of Angels, on the site of the marshy valley limp. Construction began in 1748, King Charles Emmanuel III, the work lasted almost half a century. During this time, we dug two swimming pools, laid malls, summed up the road from the old town. Water area is constantly expanding. The current size (10 hectares) and the outline of the port took in 1840. In 1862, when Nice was already French, the big mall installed a temporary lighthouse. In 1880 there appeared a stone tower, which was later moved to the very end of the pier. During World War II, the Nazis bombed the lighthouse, in 1952 it was restored. Now its height - 21 meters, the red flashing lights can be seen for 20 nautical miles (37 kilometers).

Moored in the port of larger vessels (up to 190 meters) can be clearly seen from the waterfront This Uni-that's old town. Yellow-white ferries Nice - Bastia go from here to the capital of Corsica (high-speed ferry trip one way takes 2, 5 - 3 hours). Often entering the port luxury cruise ships. After limping as in mainland France, Corsica Manufactured deliver cement there. But the main "population" port - traditional brightly painted fishing boats and yachts of all classes and sizes. For them, there is provided more than five hundred piers.

Along the perimeter of the port is surrounded by the buildings of the XIX century with red and ocher facades with balconies and arcades. Since 1853 there is the church of Notre-Dame-du-Port, also known as the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Architect Joseph Vernier designed its neoclassical facade with four Ionic columns added in 1896, the architect Jules Febvre. The building is topped by a statue of the Virgin Mary. Around - the countless cafes and restaurants. One small embankments is named Cassini, the famous family of mathematicians and astronomers derived from these places. From the square to the road looking Gineme Stone King of Sardinia Charles Felix of Savoy, a few hundred meters away - a monument to the inhabitants of Nice who died in the wars. On the rue Bonaparte, three blocks north of the port, saved the house where in 1794 there was a young general of artillery, yet I suspect that will be the emperor of France.

Here it is good to wander and admire the magnificent yachts huddled closely, watch the scurrying sudёnyshkami and solemnly floating cruise liners. With the Castle Hill port is visible at a glance: a blue rectangle and surrounded by red-tiled roofs, white shells filled with yachts.