Highlights From My CEA CAPA Trip to Nice and Northern Italy
This photoset documents my experience traveling through Nice, Sanremo, and Dolceacqua with my CEA CAPA program in Aix-en-Provence, France. Before this trip, I mostly associated the French Riviera with beaches, luxury, and tourism, but traveling through this region during Carnival gave me a very different perspective on the area and its culture.
What stood out to me most was how connected southern France and northern Italy felt despite being parts of different countries. The shift across the border felt gradual rather than dramatic, and I felt that a lot of the similarities between the places came from the shared Mediterranean atmosphere, lifestyle, and history.
In Nice, Carnival completely changed the feeling of the city. Streets that normally felt relaxed and coastal suddenly became crowded, loud, colorful, and full of energy. There were performances, costumes, music, and decorations everywhere, but what I found most interesting was the way locals and visitors all seemed to participate in the atmosphere together.
Nice somehow manages to look unreal even when you’ve already seen it all day.
The quieter streets ended up being more memorable than the tourist spots.
The city felt very social and open during the celebration, and it really showcased how unique the energy was in Nice.
Carnival ending with fireworks over the Mediterranean felt a little too cinematic.
Traveling into Italy afterward made me pay closer attention to the smaller cultural differences between places that are geographically close together. Sanremo felt polished and lively, while Dolceacqua felt quieter and more historic, with narrow streets and old stone buildings that made the town feel almost frozen in time.
Dolceacqua looked exactly how you’d imagine a hill town in northern Italy to look.
Stopping the cathedral tour because someone spotted a pug.
We were also there during the time of the iconic Sanremo Music Festival. The energy was extremely lively and enthusiastic with music fans everywhere.
One of the more random moments of the trip was my friend getting interviewed in Sanremo during festival week.
Nothing makes you happier than the feeling after eating pizza in Italy.
Despite these differences, there were still similarities connecting all three places, especially in the food, architecture, outdoor lifestyle, and pace of daily life. The whole journey demonstrated how culture can overlap across borders instead of changing instantly from one country to another.
A Mediterranean version of cheers.
In Italy, any backdrop works for a photo-op.
A lot of this photoset focuses on small moments rather than major landmarks. I was more interested in capturing the atmosphere of the trip: fireworks during Carnival, restaurants with friends, checking out the flea market, and the way the cities felt at different times of day.
Golden hour in Italy makes everyone look like they belong in a perfume ad.
The experience felt less like checking places off a list and more like slowly observing how each place had its own personality while still feeling connected to the larger Mediterranean region.
