Antibes Day 5. Cannes

For the first time since arriving here, the sun wasn't shining and the sky wasn't blue this morning. We'd been so spoiled up to this that the overcast conditions came as a big disappointment, especially we'd decided to go to Cannes today. Undeterred, we did our research into public transport, opted to go there by bus and return by train, and set off to find the appropriate bus stop. This took a while, but we finally stood where we needed to stand, the bus came along after a very short delay, and we got our tickets -- for the princely sum of one euro each!

We'd read disparaging remarks about Cannes in tourist guides and on the web, all of which described it as being more about what happens there than what it's like as a place. Our first impression was very much in agreement with these negative reports: a dull, uninteresting and rather ugly place, especially along the much-vaunted Boulevard de La Croisette where all the posh shops and hotels are and where all the beautiful people go to be seen. As for the Palais des Festivals et des Congrés, it's a really ugly, soulless building which demonstrates how image is hugely dependent on window dressing. Even the famous collection of handprints of the stars are scattered around the nearby esplanade in a higgledy piggledy way and many of them are badly damaged and in a state of disrepair.

We strolled along the Boulevard anyway as far as the Carlton Hotel, and then struck inland a bit and walked along Rue d'Antibes. Although this too is a busy shopping street, we felt it was much nicer than the Boulevard, while the little streets feeding off it were really pleasant to be among and were full of nice-looking restaurants and bars. When we got off the bus we headed straight for the Old Town and enjoyed wandering along the steep narrow streets. We were too late for food, as both of the many, many restaurants were already closing down until evening time. After a bit of debate we decided to hang on in Cannes for a meal and to get the train back later in the night. We had a short list of restaurants from our earlier wander and eventually plumped for Mantel's, which turned out to be rather special. We made a bit of a faux pas to begin with, failing to realise that the set menu we'd decided to try was only available at lunch time. As it was, though, we felt the set menu which we had (four courses for 37 euro) was really, really good. The standard of food and service was top-notch. Adding on aperitifs and wine and coffee obviously added to the cost, but still we left feeling we had been far from ripped off. Indeed, I was surprised to find that most of the restaurants in Cannes were offering better price deals than we'd get in Antibes.

The train journey back to Antibes was fast and efficient (and cheap: 2 euro 50 each). A brisk walk from the station in Antibes saw us back at the apartment before 11.00. Unfortunately, Antibes isn't exactly bouncing with night life at this time of year, so we weren't able to finish the night with cocktails near home, as originally intended. The forecast is for the weather to remain overcast tomorrow. We may or may not stick to our Monte Carlo plan. We'll see what happens at the time.