Impossibly beautiful girls are parading down the Promenade des Anglais, hurling bright sprays of Mimosa to a boisterous crowd. Youngsters scramble to catch the blooms, or use the turmoil as cover to ambush their parents with a volley of aerosol string.

Everyone strains for a better view as the beauties sweep past on chariots studded with thousands of blooms by florists working through the night.

It is darkest February, but the Carnaval de Nice is bathed in Mediterranean sunshine.

The Cote D'Azur is only a couple of hours from Britain; it's a short flight to escape the winter gloom.

Low-cost operators such as EasyJet have now made it an affordable trip, and the right guide book can keep your living expenses down, even in carnival season.

The people of Nice have been revelling each year for centuries. The earliest mention of carnival dates back as far as 1294, when the Count of Provence, Charles D'Anjou, came to Nice to pass the wild festive days before Lent.

These days a giant statue of King Carnival is wheeled into the city to preside over each year's follies.

The party includes flower parades, street entertainments and night-time processions climaxing in a Shrove Tuesday bonfire parade, when King Carnival dies a fiery death in a huge blaze on the beach or even at sea, and a spectacular fireworks display erupts over the Mediterranean.

Locals really enter the spirit of carnival, with competition intense between the designers of competing floats.

Tourists also get in on the festivities, and the streets throb with life until well into the night.

But even in carnival season, ordinary life goes on. The Matisse museum on Cimiez hill entertains culture vultures keen to see the beauty of Nice reflected in the stunning colours of the artist's palette.

Smart shops pull in designer clothes fans who should find French prices significantly lower than those they can expect to pay in England.

Beaches attract sun worshippers even in mid-winter, thanks to a climate that can boast 2,640 hours of sunshine a year.

In the Cours Saleya markets, those florists who toil by night to create the float of the year spend their days vying for trade over the rest of their blooms.

Fruiterers display lemons still on the bough, alongside stalls selling saffron, olive oil and fragrant herbes de Provence.

Street performers stroll between the stalls and strive to catch the eye of diners at the pavement cafs.

But the best entertainment in the entire market, carnival or no carnival, is at the 100-year-old establishment of Suzy, a caf which nestles beneath awnings in the shadow of the monastery of the Brotherhood of the Black Penitents.

There's nothing very penitent about Theresa, the formidable woman who runs Suzy's nowadays.

A magnificent spectacle with jet-black hair, enormous gipsy eyes, outsize hooped earrings and scarlet lipstick, Theresa strides between her tables with a fag in one hand and a glass of ros in the other.

Those watchful eyes ensnare every local who passes by, hauling people in for a slice of the local speciality, socca, a chick-pea flour and olive oil crepe. It tastes much better than it sounds.

The socca comes from a sister restaurant snuggling in the enticing maze of narrow lanes that lead from the market into the heart of the old town of Nice.

Two-foot wide pizza pans full of the stuff arrive almost by the minute, transported by motorised trike from a wood-burning oven direct to your table.

The delivery boy is apparently Theresa's husband, who like all the other men round here regards his wife with a mixture of admiration and fear. "Eat more! Try this!" commands Theresa, but we need no urging to try her pissaladiere, a Provencal-style pizza she sells for the knockdown price of 8F (about 80p) a slice.

The hungriest among us tackle an enormous pan bagnat, a hollowed-out rustic loaf soaked in olive oil and crammed with salade nicoise, a feast for 20F.

Who said the Cote D'Azur was snooty and overpriced ?

Fact file

Carnaval de Nice 2002 runs from January 31- February 17 2002.

Flights: we found EasyJet online flights for £33 return for carnival time between Nice and London Luton airport at www.easyjet.com You can also book by phone on 0870 6000 000.

Francine Clee stayed at Hotel Massena, 58 rue Gioffredo, tel 0033 4 92 47 88 88.

Nice Visitors Bureau: 0033 4 93 92 82 82; www.nicetourism.com