Rocco's Riviera Rambling: Carnival

It seems that as soon as the city was stripped of it's Christmas decor, preparations for carnival were underway. Place Massena and Promenade des Anglais were transformed into outdoor stadiums with seats rising along the perimeter in preparation for the 2 week celebration. This year's theme was Carnaval de Roi de la Mediterranee.

The opening night kick off was a lively celebration featuring giant, helium filled balloons, music and a Disney like parade of floats throughout the main square. Spectators came in costumes armed with silly string and confetti to add to the fun. One of the highlights of carnival is la Bataille des Fleurs, a parade of floats decorated in bright yellow mimosas and many other beautiful flowers.

Huge fresh flower floats glided across the Promenade des Anglais, as the flowers were plucked and thrown into the crowds of people. By the end of the parade, the floats were completely devoid of flowers and everyone in the crowd seemed to have received their own bouquet to take home.

Lemon & Orange float in Menton

The town of Menton, 30 minutes away celebrates carnival with la fête des citrons which celebrates the abundant lemons and oranges that grow in this area. This year's theme was ‘les Grandes Civilisations’ and it was amazing to see how local artists were able to create magnificent floats depicting symbols of Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Chinese civilizations using oranges and lemons.

As Simona described in a previous post, we were lucky enough to spend two days in Venice during carnival this year. The costumes were numerous and very elaborate and it definitely inspired the girls and I and to take part in the disguise of carnival. In fact it seemed like we couldn't pass by a shop that wasn't selling a costume. The kids enjoyed taking their time to find their perfect mask and posing for pictures with various disguised characters.

The burning of the Roi

Mardi Gras marks the end of carnival and traditionally the closing of carnival here in Nice is marked by the "incineration" du Roi. We were treated to an evening of songs and festivities in Place Massena, followed by a walk down to the beach to watch the burning of the king of carnaval. As the crowds gathered on the shores of the rocky beach we watched as a giant cardboard king out on a boat was set ablaze and crumbled into the ocean. This was followed by the most spectacular firework show we had ever seen. A forty five minute light show that seemed to never end, leaving us in awe.