JACK-COTE D'AZUR-Cannes Croisette and old port
Jack
Loire, Belgium and Holland posts are visible with pictures on
http://www.jack-travel.com and on
http://home.mminternet.com/~nowhere_man
Also my Paris sketches and series about Paris bridges are on
http://www.jack-travel.com
COTE D'AZUR-Cannes Croisette and old port
The most famous avenue of the Cote d'Azur is undoubtedly the pristine
Croisette, with its haughty palms, its stylish palaces, shops reserved
for the billionaires, flower-beds manicured 12 months of the year by
130 full gardeners and a unique view on the Esterel, the Croisette is
also an agreeable promenade. Most internationally recognised of all
seafront promenades, yet not one advert for fast food or tanning cream
has been allowed to sully its Edwardian elegance. In the summertime
the average age of he tourists is rather young, invading the few, rare
public beaches. A lot, lot of foreigners of all nationalities. Imagine
! 96 daily papers in 30 different languages are sold in Cannes. It's
true, a new Hilton stands in place of the old Palais des Festivals,
where Vadim launched Bardot. But the wedding cake façade of the
Carlton Hotel only a few yards away has barely changed over the last
80 years, complete with its twin pepper-pot cupolas modelled on the
breasts of "La Belle Otero" a famous courtesan of that period. It
symbolises Cannes as much as Big Ben does London, its name for comfort
and grace. In the wintertime, Cannes is rather frequented by wealthy
representatives of the third age, walking distinguished dogs and
wearing heavy pearl necklaces, seeking for sweet living in a mild
climate.
Strolling up the Croisette towards the Palm Beach casino, you will
pass the hotel Carlton, continue until the end of the walk you arrive
at the casino Palm Beach, quite famous for some French movies shot
there. Today, it makes sometimes the sulphurous political financial
news.
Return to the old harbour to have an idea of the centre of Cannes and
old town. It guards some delightfully down-to-earth secrets. Take for
instance the old harbour, just in front of the Allees which houses a
fishers flotilla with its fishing boats nets piled up and numerous
pleasure-boats bearing evocative names: Princess Audrey, Love-Love,
Sea wind. The colline du Suquet and the charming quai St.Pierre with
his pastel houses seen from here, form a real provencal backcloth.
Just stroll along the moored boats and yachts, if you're a sailor fan
you will be fascinated by superb sailors (brass and varnished
mahogany). It's fun to observe the life of people in their big boats.
You want to see the most luxurious ones? Go on the jetee
Albert-Edouard, behind the Palais, an enchanting spectacle in the
evening, when the boats are illuminated, and you can observe scarcely
the TV-parlours, master paintings, leather couches, immense flower
bouquets, bar, etc.... The dazzling white hulls, shining brass and
polished teak of greater vessels sharing this little basin dwarf them,
and the fishermen becoming fewer and fewer each year like an
endangered species. These status symbols belong to some of the world's
richest individuals or corporations. If we only had all that in our
own homes !!....Yet the "manja pei'" (literally "fish eaters") still
chug past them to bring in their catch in the early dawn. Strange
Mediterranean fish with names like "rascasse, rouquier or blavier",
some of which have poisonous, spiny fins and are best enjoyed in a
bouillabaisse on the quay, flip and flop as they have always done.
On the esplanade Pompidou, nearby, more than 120 foot and handprints
of stars, French and foreign, mostly American.
Just in front of the boats departure pier a big square opens his arms
to the overheated tourist: called les Allees de la Liberte, shaded by
old plane-trees, it is a joy to walk there in the morning during the
daily flower market.
But that's for next article.
Bibliography
Mary Blume, "Cote d'Azur. Inventing the French Riviera" (Thames and
Hudson, London 1982), The Twenties, From Notebooks and Diaries of the
Period, by Edmund Wilson (Cannes 1921)-" Cannes", by R. Bailey
(Pinguin pocket)-Cannes in moderne tijden", by Jan van Vlaardingen
(Dominicus 1997)
Jack
My Paris,daytrips from Paris, Provence, Cote d'Azur, valley of the
Loire, Belgium and Holland posts are open again at
http://www.jack-travel.com WITH pictures and at
http://home.mminternet.com/~nowhere_man