CANNES AND ANTIBES

In the 19th century Canns flouished, Lord Brougham, former Chanceloor, visited the city in 1834 and became so enamoured with it he stayed.  The Lord introduced the Britsh aristocracy to his new home and soon the city became one of the trendiest and wealthiest spots on the Cote d"Azur.

Not much has changed since, Cannes remains one of the Cote d'Azur's premier destinations and the glamorous location for the iconic International Film Festival.  Its alllure  as a playground for the rich and famous has cemented its upmarket appeal. 

Our first stop was at the Theater where all the stars appear on the red carpet.  We were lucky to see one coming down the stairs.  I'm almost sure that's a star

Some famous handprints that are around the theater.

At first Sharon and I weren't too impressed with Cannes.  Didn't have the glamour look I imagined it to have.  We saw an amusement park down by the water.

I really was looking for something to take a picture of and saw this building and park and thought OK, that's pretty.

Water is always nice.

 I think this maybe another star, I saw her on the red carpet earlier.  

Well, we decided we might as well walk up to the hotel where we were meeting Caroline and that's when we saw the Cannes we expected to see.

A little shopping area.

We drove to Antibes but stopped enroute at the location of a light house where we were able to get some pictures of the area.

Antibes was a Greek fortified town named Antipolis in the 4th century BC and later a Roman town and always an active port for trading along the Mediterranean.  Today it is an attractive and active town, popular with Parisians and other French people.  It has a very active night life in the summer- night clubs and casino.  

Napoleon Bonaparte moved to Antibes with his family in 1794 and was responsible for the defense of the coast.  When Robespierre fell during the French Revolution Napoleon was imprisioned in the Fort Carre.

Again, Caroline left us off with a few tips of what to see and of course we went to see the church first.

It was pretty dark inside and we read we weren't suposed to take pictures anyway.  Of course we read it as we exiting the church so we have a few picture.  Again a creche.

We just walked around  and enjoyed the quaint little streets.

Decorated for Christmas.

Caroline had recommended we go see The Absinthe Bar which is located in the basement of a little shop. It was so cute.  There was only this one customer  but Caroline told us they have live entertainment at night and if you look closely at the pictures you will see hats which customers can put on and join in the entertainment.  Darn ! That would have been fun!

After visiting the bar we walked down to the water.  We could see the mountains in the background but with so many boats in the harbor we had to climb the old city wall to get a good shot.  

As you can see the sun is setting = it was a very full day and we were ready to head home.  Caroline had made some restaurant recommendations so we went back to the hotel and I booked a table at "la maison de marie".

Facebook posting from day tour.