Travel with Manfred

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Copyright © 2003 by Manfred P.. All rights reserved.

Feb 17-21, 2003

Sleepy Cannes

Côte d'Azur in Winter

by

Manfred P.

Keywords: France, Côte d'Azur, Cote d'Azur, Nice, Cannes, tourist, travel trip report, travel log, travelogue.

Every year for a week Cannes is home to the largest mobile/cellular phone technology trade show. This specific event brought me on a business trip to Cannes. Just stepping out of the plane it was obvious that the fair had turned the whole region upside down. Posters and ads of well known mobile communications product brand names shouted at you from all directions. More advertising would have been difficult to fit in a small airport like Nice. A long line of booths for specialty services filled the open space. These included the VIP transport booths.

For the VIPs it was a choice between stretched limousine or helicopter to get to Cannes in style. For regular folks like me the choice was taxi or bus, and I preferred the regular public bus. It's a brief 40 minute bus ride from Nice to Cannes.

It is the A8 freeway that connects western Italy with Monte Carlo, Nice, Cannes, St. Tropez and then heads on to Marseille. I had done this route some eight times, back in the "good old days" when I was some 15+ years younger. It was a feeling of déjà vu as I looked out of the window of the bus. But there was one thing that did not fit this feeling déjà vu. There was snow in the small hills that follow the coast line and surround the villages and towns. The cold weather front that had surprised most of Europe in the last two days had not left this region without a mark. I had never been here in winter. Hence, it surprised and amazed me to see the Cote d'Azure with snow. These hilltops at 1200 meters (3,600ft) had a white cover. People associate the Cote d'Azure with "blue", blue skies and a blue ocean but not with white. Cote Blanche is not an alternative term for the region.

The rest hadn't changed much at the first glance. The coast is lined with houses, condos, vacation resorts and old village centers. Modern 10-story fashionable real estate complexes mingle with cobbled narrow streets in the village centers dating centuries back. The Blue Coast is a mix of many things: small fir tree forests, hills, never ending lines of houses along the beach front, hot spots for the rich and famous, glitzy casinos, mass market tourist bungalows, crowded beaches, non-descript neighborhoods, American-style suburbs with dozens of car dealerships, supermarket and outlet stores.

The American style suburbs are either new, i.e. less than 15 years old, or I just had not noticed them on my previous visits. When I saw them I got the sensation that even the French cannot avoid being swept up in the globalization process that standardizes certain aspects of life. The road that connects the freeway with the center of Cannes is lined with international fast food restaurants, supermarkets and a bewildering number of car dealerships selling anything from French to German, Japanese, US and Korean cars.

What's the most famous event of Cannes? No, it is not the world's largest telecom show. It's the Cannes Film Festival. Names like Sophia Loren and Woody Allan come to mind. This film festival attracts not only the famous but also the would-be famous and wannabe famous. The blond, well tanned, big breasted starlets flock to town and show off their wares, topless or nude, on the beach right in front of the Festival building. With dozens of producers and hundreds of paparazzi hanging around that is the best location for self promotion. Unfortunately I have never seen that live, but that's at least what they say and show on TV.

Somebody wanted to promote the city and came up with the great idea of the film festival. That was back in 1946, and it is an annual event ever since. more than 50 years of tradition already. To add more marketing gimmicks they also created a "Walk of Fame", just like in Hollywood. The famous actors leave their hand prints behind in wet concrete. Being in France you might think that only the real artists with loads of talent get invited to add their hands to the Walk of Fame. You might guess that the French in their dislike for Americanism and commercialism might not invite more commercial actors. If so you, like me, guessed wrong. I found Jean Claude Van Damme in the concrete tiles surrounding the Palais des Festivals et des Congres.

The charm of Cannes is that it is small and you can walk anywhere on foot. In the center of town is City Hall (Hotel de Ville), across from it the old yacht harbor and the Palais des Festivals with one of the casinos. Inside the Palais des Festivals is where I was working as it is also the home of the telecom trade show. The harbor was filled with gigantic yachts forming the temporary office and VIP guest lounges for companies like Intel, Motorola, Ericsson, Palm, etc.

Life is focused exclusively on a 1 square kilometer area in the town center. This old part of town is called Suquet. As you stroll along the narrow streets you will get the impression that there are only two things you can do in Cannes: eat and shop. There are tons of restaurants, especially on streets like Rue Meynadier. Most are upscale and French. And at times like trade shows or film festivals they do a brisk business. The other activity is shopping. Only yards from each other you will find shops with names like Cartier, Chanel, Christian Dior, Fendi, Fred, D&G, etc. Just like the restaurants, the shops are also upscale and French.

One evening I had the opportunity to go for a walk, to inhale the fresh breeze from the sea and see Cannes by night. It was a surprise. With so many visitors I expected the town to be crowded, vibrant and hectic. While this is true for the 1 square kilometer in the center, I found the opposite after walking just 10 minutes. The beaches and beach walks were deserted and empty. Throughout the evening I saw just a single couple of elderly people walking along the beach. The streets were silent and vacant. The traffic runs through a few selected main roads and the rest is absolutely quiet and dead. No people, no noise, no traffic.

Cannes has three ports. The old one is in the center, across from city hall. The largest one is in the east. This part of town is called La Croisette. The land tip extending a bit out into the ocean is called Pointe de La Croisette. A casino is built on the tip, but even here it was quiet. Given the limousines parked outside there were certainly people inside, but from the outside you could not see anyone or hear anything. Nobody coming, nobody going. It was amazing, while in the town center people were more or less stepping on each other, it was like a remote and different world here. On the way back from the east to the center I passed the church Notre Dame de Pins. Looking at it I realized that it was a night of full moon. The church gave the impression of being a bit plump. Its solid appearance was lacking grace. I was more fascinated by the moon hanging right over it than by the modern looking church. But "modern" is very relative, 18th or 19th century maybe?

On the western side of Cannes is a little hill named Mont Chevalier, crowned by the church Notre Dame de L'Esperance and a small castle that has been turned into a museum. I got here at sunrise. Getting up so early was worth it. It is rare that I get up at 6 am, but this time the views were more than compensating the effort. The sun lifted itself over the houses in the La Croisette neighborhood. Yellow and strong. It was blinding, sparkling in the small waves in the harbor and putting the ocean into bright light. On the skin the sun rays turned the cold morning into a warm day. Next to the church is s tiny park with views of the old town, Suquet. From up here you can glance into the patios and backyards of the houses. Once again I was by myself and not a single tourist was in sight. From Mont Chevalier it is a mere 5-minute downhill walk on crooked streets to Suquet.

Suquet was wide awake at 7 a.m. Restaurant owners and house wives alike headed for the Flower Market to buy their daily necessities. The market is called "Flower Market" but it is actually a flower, vegetable and fruit market. For me this market is the highlight of all of Cannes. It's my favorite spot. And the best time to see it is in the morning. Do what I did. Come here at breakfast time, watch the early morning activities, and feast your eyes on colors and your nose on smells. Then step into one of the few pâtisseries (pastry shops) and try their brioche, croissant or specialty breads. Delicious.

The Flower Market is my favorite place because it is not a tourist attraction and because it is really an outstanding market. The presentation of the fruits and vegetables is immaculate. Every item is clean, sparkling with water drops from being washed. Only the best of the best is put on display and sold it seems. This is not a mass market, this is farmers from the vicinity selling the local grown products and to distinguish themselves from the supermarkets, they go for quality and the very best visual presentation. It is a show for the visual and aroma senses. A certain scent is in the air and the colors from the full range of the rainbow are on display: from white cheeses, yellow bananas, red apples, green salads, to blue flowers. Don't miss it, and as I said, it's worth getting up early for it.