Colline du Château

Colline du Château rises 92 metres above Nice, separating the port from the red-roofed old town. Winding staircases climb through a hilltop park, while a wheelchair-accessible elevator rises inside the rock. Green paths, shady trees, picnic spots, and observation decks fill the summit. From above, you can see the port, Provençal hills, and the Alps.

Archaeological remains record Celtic, Roman, and Greek settlements, including Nikaia from the fourth century before Christ. A castle and cathedral stood here by the eleventh century, forming the medieval centre of Nice. Louis XIV ordered the fortress demolished in 1706, leaving defensive walls, ruins, and the sixteenth-century Bellanda Tower. The tower houses a maritime museum and was rebuilt in the early nineteenth century.

An artificial waterfall, built at the end of the nineteenth century, announces itself with rushing water. Two historic cemeteries occupy the port-facing side, including the Catholic cemetery where Emil Jellinek is buried. Hector Berlioz lived in Bellanda Tower and wrote his King Lear overture there. The elevator stands beside a former well that once supplied water to the castle.