Day 26-27: Cannes

Driving from St. Tropez to Cannes, we left the motorway at St. Raphael and drove along the Corniche de L'Esterel to Cannes. "Corniche" is the term given to the beach roads along the Riviera, because they weave in and out of the rocks in a lacy pattern much like the lacy cornices that used to adorn Victorian houses. 

The sight of the red rocks coming right down to the azure of the Mediterranean is quite beautiful on a summer morning.

Along the way, we came across a fun little beach town named Agay, so of course we had to stop for lunch. Agay has a sunny popular beach, and over our fast-food beach lunch, we tried to think up marketing slogans for Agay if we were in charge of tourism for this little village. We came up with:

"Come to Agay Beach for your best summer fun."

"Agay Beach has everything you need for a good time."

And there were others I can't put on the blog.

We were so convinced we had come upon good ideas, that we scoured the local t-shirt shops looking for shirts with these fun expressions. Apparently the residents of Agay don't have the same sense of humor we do about their town. So we drove on...

Rounding a point on the Corniche de L'Esterel, there was Cannes in all its Mediterranean splendor.

Out of 8 nights on the Riviera, we thought we should have at least one really, really glitzy hotel. The Carlton Intercontinental in Cannes filled that bill. And we giggled like schoolboys as we pulled up to the Carlton in our dusty, bug-spattered rented Opel. There were Porches and Mercedes in front of us and in back of us. But we had Euros in our pocket, so we checked in anyway!

The Carlton is possibly the most architecturally beautiful hotel in Cannes.

Outside and inside!

And if Saint Tropez was all about the yachts, then Cannes is all about yachts and...

...exotic cars! They were everywhere! The hotel even offered a service where you could drive a red Ferrari for only E370 per hour (about $525 US.) We passed on that one--although I was tempted....

And, of course, the beaches. This gorgeous beach across the street from our hotel had beach chairs to rent for only E45 per day--(about $60 US.) We passed on that too and went to the free beach.

And the shops. Every couture designer you have ever heard of and some you have not. Shops line the street along Plage Croissette. And everywhere, stylish women in $600 shoes toting full shopping bags from boutique to boutique.

But our favorite part of Cannes was La Suquet--the Old Town--with narrow streets lined with shops and restaurants winding up to the old citadel.

La Suquet is very bohemian, with acrobats and street musicians wandering up and down the cobblestone pedestrian streets entertaining the diners at the sidewalk cafes.

We chose a small restaurant named La Marais for dinner. (And yes I am very tan. It is the Riviera, after all!)

For starters, I had Crab Raviole in what tasted like crab bisque. Absolutely delicious! I could have eaten 3 plates of this and happily gone to bed!

For the main course, we both chose the chef's special of four fish preparations with wine sauce, vegetables Provencale, and goat cheese risotto. Magnifique!

So in summary, Cannes provided all the glitz of the French Riviera that we didn't find in Saint Tropez--and then some. We didn't actually see any movie stars or famous people there with this one exception: Superman!

Who showed a strange family resemblance to Tim. I always knew he was super!