Cannes (without the Film Festival)

Trip Start Jul 27, 2011
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Trip End Jul 30, 2012


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Flag of France  , Provence,
Wednesday, October 5, 2011

It was a longer journey from Nice to Cannes than it had been to Monaco, so we arrived in the small town at around lunch time. It is a very beautiful place with a lovely beach framed by palm trees, an enchanting old town, and another expensively filled harbour. Although the Film Festival in Cannes only lasts a couple of weeks in May- you can definitely see the effect of the Festival regardless of the time of year. When we were there, they had some massive studios set up where they appeared to be filming a few soap-operas and an X-Factor type show. Unfortunately, access was on a strictly VIP basis only. So Lizzie had to wait outside. They have almost recreated the Hollywood Star Walk of Fame by having the hand-prints and autographs of some of their famous guests imprinted on the concrete outside the Palais des Festivals. We followed the walkway along looking at the various prints of the stars- notable ones being Julie Andrews, Bruce Willis, John Travolta, Martin Scorcese, Quentin Tarantino, Sylvester Stallone and Nicole Kidman- among many many others
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. Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, Lizzie couldn't find any prints belonging to Johnny Depp or Sean Connery. Gutted.

We then had a wander around the old harbour in Cannes- old by name but definitely not filled with any old boats. A favourite, was one in honour of James Bond, the cleverly named Octopussy. We continued our walk down onto the beach- the beach was beautiful and instead of the pebbles and rocks we had become accustomed too it was a lovely sandy beach with a lovely view of the Île des Lérins. We had fancied going over to the largest of the two islands, the Île Ste- Marguerite, which holds the prison where the famed Man in the Iron Mask was incarcerated and where the mask is still today. However, the boats unfortunately were not running very often due to the fact it is now low-season, so we couldn't get across. Was a bit disappointing to say the least (we had even watched the film specially!)- but incentive to go back to say the least.

We wandered around the lovely old town- which was filled with lovely restaurants and shops- sadly mostly out of our price range. We walked up to the highest peak in Cannes, to where the Cathedral and Castle are perched on the side of the hill. We found a little bench and wiled away the afternoon sitting on the bench and admiring the spectacular views of the harbour, and the entirety of Cannes.

It was all in all, a lovely day and we'd definitely go back- albeit with a little more money.

Lots of love,

Andrew and Lizzie x x
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