A Nice experience

This post is a continuation of “5 days in Italy” and the fourth part of my backpacking trip. 

After 5 amazing days in Italy, the trip went towards Nice in Southern France.  To get to Nice, I had to take the train from Naples at 9.46 pm and would arrive in Nice the next day at 10.30 am, which meant another night on the go. 
Just like in Naples and Rome, I had found my hostel to stay in Nice. This hostel was a 15 minutes walk from the train station, Nice-Ville. I decided to walk the 1.3km since it would give me a chance to explore the city (and save money) and on the way to the hostel, I saw Nice’s version of the Notre Dame church (Notre-Dame de l’Assomption Basilica). 
12 hours on a train can be quite exhausting, even if you aren’t doing more than sitting and walking around a bit, so after checking in at the hostel, I chose to relax for a bit and check the hostel out. 

Hostel detail:
Villa Saint Exupery Beach,
6 Rue Sacha Guitry,

Nice is a city known for its beaches, so that would definitely also be where I would spend most of my time. When I arrived at the beach was to check out (almost) the thing. During this, I saw a few Watersport spots, eg. Parasailing, waterskiing etc. Parasailing was a thing I just had to try, so I went to the stand for it and booked a trip for 1 person alone. Apparently, I didn’t dare to bring my phone and I didn’t have any waterproof cameras, so I didn’t get any footages in the air (will do this next time for sure). To be honest, I have no idea how long it took, but sure felt like only a few minutes which I’m sure it wasn’t, but it was really an unforgettable experience, with a lot of adrenaline kick. 

Parasailing detail
Nikaia Water sport
Parasailing 1 Person solo: €60
http://www.nikaiaglisse.com/en/

So after flying 50m in the air, I found a place on the beach to lay down and relax. 
While laying on the beach, I started researching for some other water sports experiences near the beach/harbour in Nice. Here I found the link for a scuba dive centre called Nice Diving. I knew I wouldn’t probably get the chance to scuba dive again AND this would also be the chance to cross off another thing on my bucket list (with the parasailing). I saw that the shop/centre was around 2km from where I was. The weather was amazing so why not walk? I got to the shop and booked a time for the next morning around 9.00. 
After booking the scuba diving trip I went back to the beach to find a place to get some dinner. I was so hungry, that I ended up eating at an Indian restaurant not so far from the beach. After dinner, I went back to the hostel to get ready for the next day and some sleep.

Scuba diving:
Nice diving
Try dive 20 mins: €75
https://www.nicediving.com/first-dive/

The next morning I got up and packed a towel, extra t-shirt and shorts for scuba diving. The scuba centre would provide all the necessary equipment. When I got to the meeting spot (near the shop) where there was standing a few other people, waiting to get on the same boat. The boat arrived and we got on it and sailed away. 
We arrived at the diving spot a few 20 minutes later and people put on their equipment and jump one by one in the sea but before that, we all got some instructions on what to do while being underwater and to signal the instructor if you had any troubles. Obviously, the instructors jumped first. When he gave me the signal to jump, I went into the water. After getting into the water, my instructor fixed the oxygen equipment on me and we went downwards. During the whole diving, the instructor would control the direction by holding on to my oxygen tank and asked from time to time if everything was okay (by hand signals). I think we went around 20 meters down and thanks to a clear sky I could see everything on the button, even saw a small squid. After 20 minutes of exploration we went back to the edge and on the ship and back to the harbour. THIS was definitely also an unforgettable experience and it kinda gave me the interest in taking a scuba diving license. 

If you visit Nice I would for sure recommend you to try at least one of the water sports they offer at the beach.
My time in Nice basically ended with a dive and I had to leave for London the next day, very early in the morning…