Cannes & Antibes – French Riviera

Europe

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Cannes is, of course, known for its Film Festival, glitz and glamour associated with the rich and famous. Outside the Palais des Festivals, famous actors and actresses have left their handprint and signature for us normal beings to see. Many of the names were unfamiliar, but I did recognize some such as Angelina Jolie and Sylvester Stallone. Some of the tiles were hidden under potted plants or carpets, though. Tough luck.

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walking around the harbour

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 The walk led to Le Suquet, the old part of Cannes. It is located on a hill with a nice view onto the waterfront. The Musée de la Castre seemed plain and unimpressive but it was free for students to go in. The exhibition was sort of random with a collection of items from different cultures (so really nothing to do with Cannes) but it also granted us access to the 12th tower named Tour de Mt Chevalier which was a big hit because from there, we were overlooking all of Cannes and had a beautiful 360°C view.

 

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 We heard that there were sandy beaches in Cannes so we had packed our best bikinis in hope to spend a relaxed afternoon. It was more difficult than we thought to find a good spot, though, large areas were occupied by beach chair rentals and restaurants/bars, so we had to walk for quite a while until we found a spot that looked like this:

 

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 Still, we made the best out of the situation and enjoyed ourselves. The water was cool and clean so no complains there. But if you are looking for a nicer beach experience, I would suggest one of the villages along the coastline between Cannes and Monaco, that would have probably been more relaxed and agreeable. Everything with a Sur-Mer in their name (by the sea) should be good.

Or you could go to Antibes, another small town between Cannes and Nice, home to the super-rich and super-decadent as well as one of the biggest yacht harbors in Europe. The quai is appropriately called Quai des Milliardaires (Billionaires’ quai) so well, enough said. The yachts lying there did seem to be slightly bigger than the ones we saw elsewhere…I think.

There was a fort (Fort Carré) nearby which supposedly offers a great view of the harbor and city walls, but it was already closed so we just took a stroll along the billionaires along the walls and then headed into the old town. Which was really pretty and I guess it would have been a great location to spend a couple of days there, but we were getting tired so we hopped on a train in the most confusing train station in France and headed back to Nice.

 

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Nomad, the man of letters by Spanish arist Jaume Plensa

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This look on his face says it all

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