Cannes, France
Leaving Aix, we tried for the backroads today but found that we just couldn't get to Cannes that easily. There is a road, of course, but it winds and is a far longer road to drive in the end. And, lazy me, I still haven't sat down to figure out how to make Hal work properly with waypoints, or to tell him to stay off the superhighway. So we went on A8, a big 3-lane-each-way toll road. But it was only one and a half hours from Aix to Cannes, easy for us.
Cannes traffic was an absolute zoo (see Jan's picture of the driver next to us with the dog on his shoulder) from the time we left the highway, but we stayed calm and followed Hal's instructions to the hotel and made it with no problem. Along the way there was, of course, not even the scent of a parking space. The hotel is three blocks from the beach, and a block over from the site of the Cannes Film Festival that sits right beside the marina. So, being that central, we will absolutely need hotel parking. Without undue trauma we pull up in front of the hotel, and a couple of the staff are out front having a smoke. We ask about accommodation and parking after I stopped in front of the door to the parking area which is under the hotel. They say, 'Oh, you're much too big for the parking area, too high and too wide'. That's a bit breathtaking. But, they said, we could back up a bit and park right in front of the hotel. With that they moved the steel parking barriers that looked permanent to me, I backed up, and we were safe and secure. Suddenly, we love Cannes and love all French people. Relieve us of the driving and parking stress and you are our friend for life.
Lots of room at the hotel, gotta love this off-season travel. Jan and I haul our gear in and settle for a couple of minutes, then grab our cameras and out we go to take a look around.
Cannes is a giant curving arc of a beach, golden sand and azure water (Cote de Azure as this region of France is known) around which a tourist town has grown. The sun shone off and on, about 50% of the morning and afternoon, and when it did the city was a paradise. It is so pretty here, and must be all the more when the flowers and greenery of summer are in full bloom. But then, apparently, the sun will bake you in minutes and you can fry your eggs on the sidewalk. April, May, and June would be heaven here, more sunshine but not the killer heat, warm but not baking hot, etc. But that is prime tourist time, from there into the summer and the fall. Rates double, if you can find accommodation, and the prices at restaurants peak somewhere in the stratosphere. Evidently May is the peak time in Cannes, during the three weeks of the famous Film Festival.
We had checked out Cannes on Google Map before leaving Aix, and saw that we were a short hike from the Palais where the festival is held, so we went there after a short walk on the beach. The festival building is newish, built maybe 30 years ago based on the age of the oldest hand prints of the stars that are imprinted on the tiles of the walk surrounding the Palais. Very 'art nouveau' in appearance, very 'avant guarde', very French. When not the home to the film festival it is a trade and convention center and is in use for that this week it seems. That means off limits to the likes of us according to the uniformed guards, but we could look and take pictures from the outside. That was enough for us.
The main attraction to me was the harbour, and the boats moored therein. Sitting as it does beside the film festival building, which fairly reeks of money and celebrity, the harbour is a worthy companion to the mood of wealth and privilege that surrounds this real estate. On the side of the harbour that borders the festival building, I'll bet that there is nothing that you could buy for less than a million dollars. If they were for sale. The boats are a mix of sail and power, but mostly (90%) power. Nothing smaller than 60 feet, many 100 feet and more. Very wide, tall (3 stories), and deep. Here they are moored end-to the pier, not alongside, so you can get a lot more of them tied up. Allowing for that, the manufacturers have all put the gangways at the end of the boat, and they extend (under electric or hydraulic power) back then up or down to allow passage to and from the dock when they are tied up.
The boats are crewed, and about three quarters of them have crews aboard now doing the spring cleaning and preparing for the coming 'season'. It must cost a king's ransom to moor a boat in this harbour, particularly during the film festival, but as they say if you have to even think about price then you can't afford to be here. It is truly a place for the rich and famous, and gated communities are predominant here as are mansions with staff and guards. A perusal of the real estate offices and their offerings in their windows shows the importance of money in this town. But, it is still home to Jan and I for the next few days, and we are happy here.
After spending time in the harbour area and wandering what we could visit of the festival building, Jan and I headed out to the 'old town' that borders the harbour on the side away from the festival building. We climbed, up and up and up, on the narrow cobbled streets, up to the inevitable church and fort that claimed the high ground of these very old towns. Wonderful views of the Cannes beaches that lie in a great arc from one headland cape to the other, the whole beach extending about five or seven miles. Everywhere along the beach, a wide promenade has been built for pedestrian traffic. For about one quarter of the beach area, but spread out so they aren't all side by side, restaurants exist between the promenade and the sea. These restaurants often have berms of sand on the water side, so you can't actually see the water from the restaurant. This is to protect the restaurant from the waves, and the sand erosion, that happens when the Mediteranean storms up a few times a year. If a bunch of sand is washed away, they just replace it from the big canvas bags of sand that they store beside the restaurants. These places are sunk down to sand level and about ten or fifteen feet below the promenade, so walkers have a good view of what is on the table and what kind of wine is preferred by the patrons. From inside you can only look up, not out because of the sand berm, so it is a curious feeling. Like being in an aquarium with the sharks outside, looking in.
On the other side of the promenade is a wide street with a center boulevard, palm trees and flowers, and then comes the very, very fancy hotels and shops. Shop-wise, all the biggest names and the most fantastic gear displayed in the windows, whether it be clothes or accessories or watches or furniture. Furniture? In a holiday resort? Yes, for when you buy your little piece of paradise here, a cool million Euro, for a condo.
Ah, the rich ... They may look like us, and I suppose they are like us too. Its just that when a whim moves them, they can and do act on it. Jewel-studded headphones, thousand-euro jacket, million-euro condo, million-euro boat and a big chunk of that per year for crew and moorage, whatever. Don't ask how much, just ask how soon you can take delivery. That's Cannes and the Cote de Azure.
For Jan and I, dinner was at an outdoor restaurant, watching and being watched by the beautiful people on the walkway, tapas and wine, lovely on a warm night in Cannes. As we walked to the restaurant, Jan snapped a picture of a fellow with an accordion who was playing and singing, accompanied by his friend's voices, a charming bunch of Italian songs as they drank their red wine. A happy time.
