The Greeks who founded the town called it Nikaia or "place of Nike" and when the Romans incorporated it into their Provincia they didn't bother changing it, they simply spelled it Nicaea. Unlike Cannes and every town from here to Lisbon, Nice was never taken by the Saracens, as the Niceans stopped the invasion in 729, though the Moors still sacked and burned the town in 813, 859, and 880. When the French took it from the Savoys in 1860 they called it Nice, but the locals still call it Niça or Nissa.
We had fun reading a number of signs written in Niçard around town. Not quite Occitan (though some words look Catalan), not quite Italian, a dash of Portuguese, and you can tell French has muscled its way in. We were able to actually decipher each word! So all those years of Italian, French and Portuguese we've taken didn't entirely go to waste.
The Port of Nice. iPhone 6 Plus.
