The castle hill is low (only 92 metres high) and there is no castle there. It is a park that offers perhaps the best view of Nice. The name of the place captures the history of a very different Nice - formidable, militant, long gone into oblivion.
Until the beginning of the XVIII century here really stood a castle-fortress with a seven-century history, withstood many sieges. In 1543 it was besieged by the armies of allies - the warlike knight king Francis the First and Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. During the Franco-Turkish siege, the northern fortifications were destroyed and the Duke of Savoy, Emmanuel Philibert, reconstructed the defence system. After the work was completed, the city was besieged by Louis XIV's troops, after which the Duke decided to further fortify the castle. This did not help either: in 1706, during the War of the Spanish Succession, Louis XIV besieged the fortress again, the castle was turned into ruins and surrendered after 54 days of bombardment.
The ruins lay on the hilltop until 1830, when the king of Sardinia (the predecessor of Italy) Charles Felix ordered the creation of a park. In September 1860, Emperor Napoleon III of France came to annexed Nice and visited Castle Hill. "It is the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen!" - he said.
The view from the top of the hill is truly mesmerising. From here, from a specially equipped observation deck, you can see the entire sparkling Bay of Angels with its six-kilometre promenade on the right, and the port of Nice filled with yachts and ships on the left.
The park is riddled with intricately winding alleys framed by limestone retaining walls. There are many benches and small cafes. The dense forest (cypress, pine, hornbeam, oak) provides plenty of shade. At the place of the ancient tower a large waterfall, built back in 1885, makes noise. Among the greenery are the ruins of ancient walls.
Here, on the hill, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Nice, Castle Cemetery. Built on the ruins of an ancient citadel, it includes the remains of the wall of the XVI century. About three thousand graves are arranged in terraces. Alexander Herzen, the founder of the Mercedes brand Emil Jellinek, and Giuseppe Garibaldi's mother Rosa Raimondi are all buried here.
You can climb the hill on foot through shady alleys, on the amusing tourist white train, or on a free lift built into the rock face. The only way to get to the top is by car: it is forbidden to drive in the park.
