French Riviera part 3: Cannes

Below is just a casual daily view from a modest bus stop in Nice Promenades:

So beautiful, isn’t it ?

We left Nice to Cannes at 9:30 using bus number 200. The total travel cost was only 4.5 euros for a round trip, I am so proud of myself whenever I found cheap trick or stuff! It was a 2-hour trip with bus and we stopped at so many small stop between the cities. I think this bus serves mostly for people working in Nice and Cannes. I felt sick because they stopped so much along the way perhaps every 2-3 minutes. Despite the agonizing trip, it was nice seeing the little streets and real French Riviera houses and daily life.

First place to go when we arrived at Cannes was Le Suquet which is an old port area. There were not so many things to see maybe because we have seen better port in Monaco the day before. Well, the building made of white and yellowish stones are beautiful to explore. There were also many funy photo booths of film creatures that you can try. So we just strolled along the little streets and see many souvenirs which are mostly soap and organic body care products. There was this kind of monastery at the top of the hill but I wasn’t in the mood of doing any sport at that day. My major goal here was only the beach and the red carpet. What actually brought me here from Indonesia was the film Mr. Bean’s Holiday where he won a holiday to Cannes and ended up in the middle of Cannes Film Festival, oh how I miss watching Mr. Bean series! You see how big the power of books, films or even a simple documentary from National Geographic channel to me? They really lead me to places I would never imagine to visit.

It turns out that the groundbreaking red carpet is just a regular red carpet on stairs leading to the door of a building Palais des Festivals et des Congres. I kind of regret not wearing cute dress to walk down this carpet. I didn’t have much time the day before to check on Instagram for the possible photo angles. They have cute little souvenir shop together with tourist information center just before the red carpet building with kind of high prices of film-related souvenirs. Next to this red carpet was the Promenade de la Croisette and La Croisette beach. I was so excited! Of course, our beaches in Indonesia are still the top of the tops but seeing white sand was surprisingly great with the sun. Well, it was in December, but who cares? There were beautiful sea food and French restaurants along the shore where people enjoy their Christmas holiday with their loved ones. 

There was also an art museum near premium boutiques along our walk and here is the famous Intercontinental Carlton hotel for upper-class guests especially the movie start attending the annual Cannes Film Festival:

Beside Carlton, there were also JW Marriot, Majestic and Martinez hotel. I wish I would be rich enough to get a room here in the next visit. By the way, fun fact about this city: They do have a lot of free and super clean public toilets just like the ones inside department stores on the street. Please do this in Marseille (lol)!

For lunch, we had another KFC bucket. I am sorry people, I am still a graduate student and on my way not to sleep in a hostel and eat junk food in the next 5 years (lol).  We went through some boutiques and tried fancy yet local designed glasses. They made branded stuff looks like a simple little stall here. It is like you can just go with shorts from your hotel to shop your Gucci purses. Monaco and Cannes have this kind of ambience. However, here in Cannes is more human than Monaco, I mean I still can find normal family instead of billionaires along the street.

The Cannes Christmas market was adorable too. They have a lot of interesting rides and decoration for children. Here I had my real 1st pretzel but I was fooled by my own stupidity. I thought it was sugar but it was actually sea salt. Oops! So be wise on choosing your twisted knot dough and maybe better to take it directly in Germany instead of in the South of France. Still, what makes the Christmas market in French Riviera special is the sun and blue ocean as their backgrounds instead of the subtle snow.

We finally spent 1.5 hours just doing nothing at the beach and just closing my eyes enjoying the breeze, touching the sand and hearing the children’s giggles. There were so many couples and families were enjoying their most beautiful time of the year!

I grabbed a mango sorbet before catching the bus back to Nice. Overall, it was another fancy place to visit. Another kind of life, I could say. Once again, thank you to Rowan Atkinson for bringing me here. 

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