Cannes: French food, sandy beaches, and glamour

I do like France. I know the language well enough to avoid starvation, but badly enough to feel I am somewhere foreign and exotic. You can smell the croissants the moment you leave your apartment to hit the Patisserie-Boulangerie. Provence has the added benefits of a splendid combination of chic glamour and an efficient subsidised public transport network.

Like two of our earlier trips to the region (see https://bigsummerholiday.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/cannes-with-one-baby-may-2003.html) we rented an apartment in Cannes within walking distance of the sea and the railway line. On this occasion we took the bus direct from Nice Airport, which was cheap and quick, and dropped us 5 minutes walk from the flat. Unlike our earlier trips, the children were now carrying their own luggage rather than us carrying the children and all the luggage!

I mention the railway because whilst Cannes itself is lovely, the trips out along the coastal line stop at no end of places well worthy of a visit. The stunning beaches and coves of St Juan les Pins, Villefranche and Beaulieu, the towns of Nice and St Raphael, the WaterPark at Biot are all just an air-conditioned ride away. However, we had a little mission in mind on this trip.  Changing for a bus at Cagnes-sur-Mer, we were carried into the mountains to the idyllic setting of Vence. Our destination was the the Rosaire Chapel, designed by Henri Matisse and suddenly well known in London following the creation of a replica version in the Tate Modern to accompany an exhibition of the colourful “cut-outs” associated with him and the Chapel. The chapel is beautiful, and well worth the walk with children in tow to see how the sunshine filters through the stained glass “Cut-out” windows to splash the interior with colour. There is a fairly lengthy talk about the chapel construction, which is best missed with children for the exhibition beneath it bi-lingually explaining the construction and art within. The coach trips then rock on to the scenic St Paul de Vence, but if your priority is Ice Cream and Snacks, Vence itself is much less touristy. We had a very pleasant afternoon strolling through the narrow streets and shaded squares, breezing into the occasional shop and cafe, before returning to Cannes for the evening.

A little further on the train passes through Monaco, and this has to be a highlight of a trip to the area. The station itself, hollowed out of the mountain and glamorously lined with marble, is a worthy introduction to the ludicrously expensive theme of Monte-Carlo. The wealth on display around the streets is marvellous or obscene depending on your point of view. One of the children was delighted to spot a second hand Airbus A320 private jet offered for EUR 20 million in the window of a ship and estate agent. Traffic jams of Ferraris of Ferraris delighted the kids, the diamonds and handbags flaunted on the streets reminded Mrs _H of some of her poor life choices. Aside from strolling the quayside and people watching (a low-cost activity that can be enjoyed from any pavement bench in the principality), it’s the Palace that provides most entertainment. The climb up the steps is quite hard work, but the palace itself is almost Disneyesque in its shiny white cleanliness and pretty steepled towers. Yet this is a living, working building, albeit one maintained by a very wealthy family. The tour of the palace is quite interesting, the audio devices enabling us to do it at the kind of pace that avoided children being bored. But the better attraction with children is the aquarium a few streets away. Whilst this lacks the vast shark tanks and Perspex tunnels of more modern rivals, the family all seemed to love the small scale of it, the format of the presentations and the collections of marine memorabilia founded by the Royal Family. It also presents outstanding views across the Mediterranean from its position on the corner of the rock.

Which brings me back to the theme of the seaside, and especially the beaches of Cannes. This part of Provence has huge stretches of sandy beaches, varying in culture from crowded to quietish; flanked by designer boutique to the occasional ice-cream seller; exposed and open to secluded coves; touristy to locals. One delight of Cannes is that the extremely glamorous but crowded beach along La Croisette (see my 2003 and 2006 blogs) is contrasted with a much quieter beach just the other side of the old port and castle. This is the beach used by the locals, with a few small snack bars to keep nourished, and the shady “Square Mistral” across the road to provide a playground and shade. The castle-topped hill, itself worth a climb for a look around, shields this part of the coast from the hoards around the corner, keeping it from the hoards nearer the centre of town. Life is also noticeable cheaper this side of town; there is much better value to be had in a café here than in the more touristy joints around La Croisette.

Lots of people have their favourite part of France, and this is ours.  Like anywhere else in France, the food and wine are excellent.  However this is the only region that we’ve returned to as a family three times, and there are reasons for that. The travel is convenient, the exploring is efficient, and the people-watching is outstanding; this area more than any other has that je ne sais quoi.

Cannes with one baby, May 2003

When our first ever holiday as a family almost got cancelled twice, we might have wondered if this was just not meant to be. Just as any other aspect of living with a baby compared with living as a couple, travelling with a baby seems a daunting prospect. Ours had the added complexity of cancelling a trip to Hong Kong at short notice due to a severe outbreak of SARS (Avian Flu), then our baby coming down with a nasty stomach bug just before we took our replacement holiday to the South of France. 

The doctor’s advice? He’s got a stomach bug wherever you are, so you may as well be in a nice place.

This was possibly the first piece of really good travel advice we had. Whilst the journey itself involved enormous quantities of baby wipes, spare clothes and muslin cloths, its much easier looking after a sick baby in pleasant warm weather. The practical aspects helped of course: tiled rather than carpeted floors, and the ability to run around with less clothes, which also dried quickly. And of course after a couple of days he was fine anyway and the proper holiday began.

The Cannes Film Festival was in full swing when we arrived, an occasion filled with the kind of glamour that one rarely associates with travelling with a small baby. However this does mean that there is lots going on – babies like people watching as much as the rest of us. The other great advantage is the enormous quantities of staff in the beach-front restaurants to take care of our very need. At one point, our baby had 3 waiters all to himself, one to adjust his high chair, one to adjust his personal sun-shade, and another whose responsibility seemed to be to just fuss around him. We were quite entertained just watching this.

As our first trip, it was quite a revelation to see how children are welcomed into restaurants in Continental Europe compared to the UK, even somewhere as smart as Cannes. We also found that going into the foyer of a five star hotel foyer to find somewhere to change a nappy was quite acceptable, staff pointing us in the right direction and even passing me wipes in the way that those chaps in nightclub toilets inexplicably pass you a towel to dry your hands on.

We have a general principle of not going back to the same place twice, on account of there being rather a lot of the world to see. However we have stayed in apartments in the South of France several times since this first holiday as our family grew. We generally fly Easyjet to Nice, and take a bus to Cannes or Antibes where we rent an apartment.

One of the great aspects of this area is the train line running along the Mediterranean coast. Not only is it immensely scenic, but it conveniently links numerous good days out. On this trip we stayed in Antibes and tended to take a train to Cannes, but also whizzed up to Monaco, as well as exploring the pretty harbour and streets of Antibes itself.

As a first trip, this was a marvellous confidence builder. We had really doubted going after the earlier hitches, and had been pretty negative about the end of our selfish holidays as a "young" couple. But we ended up with a new found confidence to explore more as the family grew. Which it did, rather more quickly than we expected!