16 July 2013

Cannes

We took the train from Marseille to Cannes along the beautiful Cote D'Azur.......where we spent the next 4 days relaxing, lounging in the sun, chatting, shopping in beautiful markets, watching fireworks, swimming in the sea.....

Cannes is of course famous for the Film Festival but it offers so much more. Whilst the harbour is full of amazing yachts and cruisers, La Croisette home to many 5 star hotels and designer shops, the town still seems real. 


This film focused mural sits atop the Bus Station, the most amazing bus station I have ever seen!




This is the view over the harbour and the Bay of Cannes from the castle. It is located in Le Suquet, the old part of the town where we were staying. It is the original fishermans quarter of the town, with narrow steep cobbled streets and tall houses. Rue du Suquet is the old road into the town and is lined with lovely restaurants and bars. During the day it is empty, by dinner time it is lined with sparkly lights, beautifully laid tables and diners. 





At night it was great to sit in a harbour side bar, people watching, wandering along the front eating ice cream, watching the kids on the carousels and gazing at yachts and sports cars.



Every summer, Cannes hosts a firework competition and we were lucky enough to be there on the first evening of the competition. They are usually on a Saturday evening, but the first was on July 4th. The fireworks were launched from the bay, and many of the boats were out on the periphery of the harbour to watch. At the end of the fireworks they all started sounding their horns.....that was almost as amazing as the 25 minutes of glorious fireworks.


The beach is just beautiful, fringed by mountains and blue blue sea. It was lovely to feel the sun on your skin and to swim in the sea - oh and to jump the waves - the first day the sea was really choppy and it was so much fun (and great exercise) to try to stay upright and to jump those waves.....








3 comments:

Thimbleanna said...

Wow Di -- your pictures are just beautiful! I'm afraid I might not be able to travel to such a gorgeous place -- I might not ever come back home!

Kate said...

So glad you had a great time (and the fireworks look amazing!) we went to Cannes a few years ago, and like you the people-watching was a huge part of the fun. Glad to hear that you braved the sea - and stayed upright!

Bethany said...

This sounds like my kind of place! We were just laughing that the boats you heard were probably ten times larger than the ones we were around on the harbor on the 4th!!