France – French Riviera – Cannes (En)
Cannes is a resort town on the French Riviera known for its international cinema festival. It was originally a fishing village with more than 2000 years of history, so it has a charming old town.
We stayed in camping Les Cigales (43.538898, 6.94254 Lat, long) in the area of la Napoule, 15 minutes from Cannes city centre. The camping is really good and we paid 24 euros per day with the Acsi card plus the tourist tax, not bad considering that this area is really expensive. The services are pretty good, with toilet paper and seats in the bathrooms, a ping pong table, a really nice swimming pool which we couldn’t use because it was not hot enough and the water was freezing and a hippie bar at the entrance. Wifi was pretty good which is bizarre in France. The camping is surrounded by the river with yachts and nice walks. The only complaint is that the showers did not have much pressure. One of the best camping we have stayed at, we really recommend it.
As we were in the area of la Napoule the first thing we went to visit was the Chateau de la Napoule, a restored French castle, classified as a Historical Monument since 1993 and its gardens have been classified by the French Ministry of Culture as the remarkable gardens of France. The castle is located on the beach and has amazing views.
Jason, a friend of Ben who lives in Cannes invited us for a barbecue in his house with his wife Sophie, his son Marlie and his dog Dexter. The first time I met them and they are really nice, thank you very much for an amazing time and dinner!
Cannes offer interesting places to visit as the charming old town, several museums, local markets and a long promenade. We went in our scooter and parked in front of the beach and because it was lunch time we decided to have lunch before seeing the city. We had lunch in a restaurant called Bay Bistro café where we had typical French food for only 38 euros. At the restaurant, we met Sergio and Silvie, a French couple really nice who translated the menu for us as they talk English and Sergio also Spanish and really good. We hope they will come to visit us in Marbella. As a first course, I ordered the mussels with a fine pesto sauce and they were delicious Ben had a typical dish consisting of eggs stuffed with salmon. For the second course, I had salmon with cream sauce and mushrooms and artichokes, one of the best meals I have ever! And Ben had cod with aioli, potatoes and veggies. We really recommend it if you are coming as the price and quality is worth it.
After lunch, we went to see the city and the first thing we visited was the Tour du Masque or Mask Tower. The man in the iron man escaped from the island of Sainte-Marguerite and found sanctuary in this tower. History was made famous by the writers Alexandre Dumas and Voltaire. Today a plaque on the 12th-century tower marks the spot.
The next thing we saw was the Church Notre Dame D’Esperance Hilltop Gothic-style stone church completed in the 1600s, featuring a musical crèche & amazing city views.
Walking through the old town we arrived at the Rue Meynadier one of the oldest streets in the city. The street is full of locals and tourists, bars, shops with local products and buildings from the 18th century. I found a shop selling summer hippie dresses and I bought one for only 5 euros! Walking the street we arrived at the Forville Market of Provenzal style and which is more than 3000 square meters. When we arrived it was closed, a pity as in the market you can buy fresh French products.
Then we saw the Town Hall or Mairie de Cannes which is astonishing although it was been repaired, and it is next to a square with bars and restaurants and in front of the old port.
We finished our tour in the Vieux Port or Old Port, an old fishing port that has been transformed into a pleasure port with luxury yachts but where you can still see some old ships.
And tomorrow Sunday we are leaving France and crossing to Italy where our first stop will be in a small city called Acqui Terme which you can see in the next post.
