27.01.2006, afternoon

Cannes was a tad bit disappointing, specially after Nice and Monaco. I mean, once you've seen one marina, you've seen them all (unless of course you find huge yatches and sail boats a bit more interesting then I do). I think the extra-ugly Palais des Festivals made it for me... It really stands out in an otherwise cute litle seaside resort, with the pretty hotels and palm trees. We could see that the movies are a major theme there, though, as we spotted several cinema screens and lots of related imagery.



Our MO was the same as always: after locating a city map - easy as the Office du Tourisme was located in the monster building above mentioned - we tried to identify the places of interest: the old town, high spots... It helps that the old town is usually on or near those high spots.

We made our second climb of the day to the little castle on the top, through the interesting maze of historical streets with cool cafés, restaurants, shops and art galleries, way more interesting than the franchise ridden commercial streets we'd strolled downtown. As a bonus, we got panoramic views of the city on both sides, which were particularly interesting as there is a huge and beautiful mountain chain (the Esterel) just West of Cannes.



As it was a bit late to visit the museum - we actually managed not to visit a single museum during the short trip - we descended towards the port and decided move on. The parking fee was nothing short of a mugging... they do want to keep us poor people out!

Due to my now blossoming love affair with the intensely blue Med, I asked Fran to go back to Nice by the coastal route. While he was trying to keep his eyes on the road ahead, I was all oooohs and ahhhs and how-amazingly-beautifully-pretty-the-scenary's. We passed by Juan-les-Pins, Cap d'Antibes, and finally stopped in Antibes, which I tought was way nicer than Cannes.

Unfortunately the shops were all closing by then, but it was too early to eat, too cold to just walk around for too long, and too dark for pictures. So we went back to Nice, I had pizza again (big mistake) and then had an over priced drink at the hotel's 8th floor "panoramic" bar. It turned out to be a dull little room, not higher up then the surrounding builidings - at least not enough for the advertised city views - and already set for the following morning's breakfast.