Day 143 (Saturday)
After a nice little lie in we
decided to go to Cannes for the afternoon so, for the first time since June, we
didn’t go to the Saturday market to buy poulet roti! I hope the lovely man
forgives us. We saw Andy outside the bar on our way to the station and he told
us to go to le Suquet when we got there because this is the prettiest part of
Cannes and is the old town. The train journey was fine, until two minutes
before we were due to get off when it stopped for over ten minutes and we have
no idea why.
Anyway it was a lovely sunny day
again and we walked down to the seafront and were reminded once again just how
ugly the film festival hall is.
How the hell did they get
permission to build this eyesore on the seafront? I remember when I worked the
festival many years ago, my friend Amanda had a part-time job in Monaco radio
and she got to meet and interview Clint Eastwood and George Clooney (the most
handsome man in the world) while I was stuck below decks in the laundry room –
that’s all I could see were people’s feet walking down the port – maybe some of
the feet belonged to famous people!
We walked towards the old town
spotting some men playing boules. I love the fact that they still play this
everywhere and that their children are learning to play.
We also saw a lovely little
bandstand – I hope they still use it from time to time.
We had a look at the map of the
town trying to work out where the islands are.
The Îles de Léhrins
consist of two main islands, serviced by several ferry lines and two mini
offshoots reached only by private or hired boat. The largest, Île
Sainte-Marguerite, harbours hidden coves, tidal pools and beaches and is
crisscrossed by a network of well-marked walking trails.
When I worked here there
were tow locals young women who had a small boat and went around these islands
selling ice cream – topless – they sold a lot of ice cream!
To get to the old town
you have to go up rather a steep hill…
…and half way up there’s a huge
building with the mask on the wall from ‘the man in the mask.’
Who is the Man in the Iron Mask?
Is he the identical twin of King Louis 1V or is he the father of the King Louis
1V? There are many legends that surround the mysterious prisoner, a man whose
tale was wrought with intrigue, illegitimacy, sex, murder and lies. In a rare
case of truth being stranger than fiction, this man’s identity was never known
as he wore an iron mask until his death. I was introduced to the Man in
the Iron Mask by Alexander Dumas whose Three Musketeers remains an eternal
favourite. The story of this prisoner is more than 400 years old but no one
knows the true tale of the man who was shunted to various prisons
for 34 years, of which he spent 14 years of his confinement in a prison in
a little island, barely a 15 minutes ferry ride from Cannes – Ile Sainte
Marguerite.
After quite a climb we got to Cannes le Suquet and the views were lovely…
This sign made us laugh – it has
to be an airbnb studio – it says ‘your holiday is here!’
And these have to be the
narrowest houses in France, especially the orange one.
One the way back down we saw
this…
I just wish there were more of
these and that people actually start using them. I’ve seen a lot of people use
them but there is still too much dog shit around.
Why couldn’t they have built the
film festival hall to look more like this than the hideous blot on the
landscape across the way?
This is the Hotel Splendid, which
was the Negresco of Cannes, not sure if it still is but it’s still a lovely
building.
We bought lunch in a boulangerie
and walked down to the beach and thoroughly enjoyed a quiche Lorraine and Huw
had a pain bagnat, a typical Nice
style sandwich with tuna, eggs, tomatoes etc., both washed down with an icy
cold beer – yum yum!
We walked along the Croisette…
And these signs were everywhere
on the grass verges…
…firstly, why can’t we have
picnics on the grass? And secondly did they really need to translate ‘pique-nique’?
On the way back to the station we
spotted a street full of cafés and restaurants and it was buzzing. We randomly
chose one and had a beer and people watched.
The photos don’t capture the
atmosphere but it was great, the majority of the people were French and there
were people from all walks of life, mostly beautifully dressed. France in the
only country in the world where teenage boys look smart and elegant.
The inside of the bar was very
tastefully done…
…and there were lovely photos of
old Cannes before they built that monstrosity on
the seafront
Near the station we were very
excited to find a €2 shop – everything in the shop cost €2 but it was a little
disappointing – it was good but it wasn’t great.
When we got off the train in
Villefranche we spotted a man fixing a wall very high up and there were no
ladders – how on earth did he get up there?
We were just in time for the
magical sky…
Even though it’s only October 28th
it was Halloween in the old town. This is our local, Le Phare…
We couldn’t have timed the
magical sky time better today; it was perfect yet again.
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