Antibes and Cannes – May 19

First off Happy Anniversary to my wife and favorite travel partner, Becky!

Today we decided to try out the trains we will use for out further out treks the rest of the trip. We went through the market again this morning (I had earlier for the flowers above and some fruit and cheese) as today they had the food market out. After strolling through we headed on the tram to the train station. After watching other tourists fail miserably at using the ticket machines we were a little worried but other than being in french it really was straightforward and about 30 seconds later we had 2 tickets to Antibes our first stop of the day.

In Antibes we headed directly to the old town area and after a bit of a walk we found the market there and enjoyed a box of red currants and some socca (a Nice area street food made from chickpea flour like a big pancake) while browsing the food and other options there. Next we went to the local cathedral and looked around it before heading to the Picasso Museum where we met our first disappointment as it was closed for lunch. We decided to walk around the seawall and enjoy the views of Antibes harbor and beach area.

After this we headed back up the hill to the train station and caught the train to Cannes where the International Film Festival is going on. We quickly followed the crowd down to the area of the festival and looked around the convention hall area before deciding to grab lunch across the street. We didn’t rub shoulders with any celebrities but we did overhear several movie related conversations and business deals happening around us. There was also a continuous stream of chauffeured vehicles along the road we were eating on.

After lunch we headed to the pier to catch a boat to Isle Sainte Margaurite which houses Fort Royal. On our way we passed many large yachts but the largest was the “Octopus” which is owned by Microsoft founder Paul Allen. Fort Royal is possibly best known as the prison of the “man in the iron mask”. We got to the island and hurried up to the fort as we had limited time before the last boat back to the mainland. We went through and saw the cells where the prisoners had been kept and learned a little of the history of the prison. This island was also a Roman settlement in the early years AD and there were many archaeological items in the other side of the museum. We headed back down the hill and enjoyed a drink and the view of the Cannes bay. After getting back we were heading to the train station and noticed a large crowd including a HUGE bank of photographers at the main entrance to the festival building. We watched for a while as people walked the red carpet but didn’t recognize any until we saw Cate Blanchett (sp?). I got a few wonderful pictures far away of the back and side of her head from well across the street. After this we headed up to the train station and caught the next train to Nice. We realized after getting on that not only had we caught a train we weren’t supposed to be on but that we were in First Class. I had to keep Becky from running to the closest train employee to turn ourselves in and we made it back to Nice with no issues. A quick stop at the store for a few items then grabbed dinner at a nearby restaurant on the market street near our apartment.