My French Adventures: Cannes

It is pretty hard to come to the French Riviera and not make a trip to Cannes. Today, December 7, the train strike was over and the sun was shining, so we spent the better part of the day in Cannes. Originally Cannes was a small fishing village, but now it is a glamourous and upscale seaside town. Every May it hosts the Cannes Film Festival and the rich and famous flock to the beautiful hotels dotted along the coast. There is the Promenade de la Croisette which is a street lined with palms that follows the waterfront. Up the hill, you will find the old town Le Suquet which provides a good view of the port and city. As with most of these coastal communities, there are large marinas/ports with huge yachts and sail boats. There seems to be no end to the opulence and wealth. Off the coast there are a couple of islands that you can ferry too. One is called Île Saint-Marguerite where the Man in the Iron Mask spent 11 years in prison. The other, the Île Saint-Honorat has been inhabited by the Cistercian monks since AD410. There is still a church on the island and the ruins of the 11th century monastery. Nowadays the monks divide their time between prayer and wine production.

Initially we walked along the Promenade de la Croisette past the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès.

Hotels and casinos as far as the eye can see.

As per usual, we stopped for "smoko" in a sunny spot and ordered our regular coffees with a little milk on the side. It turns out that the waiter brought us 3 lattes to the tune of €17,40 equivalent to about $25.00 Canadian! This was a picture of the boys before they saw the bill.

This is after.

From the waterfront we began the steep climb to the old city. We passed through the large and bustling covered Marché Forville although we didn't stop to buy.

These were just some of the steps on the way to the top.

At the top was a lovely church. We stopped in briefly and found a very interesting mechanical display of a crêche. An elderly lady beside me inserted a euro and the display lit up, characters began to move and music began to play. I was suitably impressed. Outside of the church there were some great views of the port and the city.

Obviously, the seagulls are well fed and very tame. This big fellow sat there very patiently while several tourists, including me, took his picture.

Just up the road from the church was the Musée de la Castre. I had read that the views of the city and port were best from the top of the tower. Before climbing to the top, we visited exhibits of artifacts from the Pacific Atolls, Peruvian and Equadorian relics and Mayan pottery. There are 109 steep steps to the top of the tower, but the climb on such a beautiful day was worth it. Below is a picture of the church.