Cannes:
On one of our day trips from Nice, we took a guided car tour of a few other well known areas nearby. The first stop was Cannes, known for hosting the Cannes Film Festival. Going there, we had been really excited to see the “red carpet”, but it was honestly underwhelming. Since the film festival had already taken place for the year, the red carpet was mostly put away, and all that was left was red carpet on the stairs, where there was a very long line to wait in to take photos. Cannes has sandy beaches, which was a nice change up from the rocky ones in Nice. We did not go to the beach there, but from looking at it, we could see it was extremely crowded. If we had tried to find a spot on that beach, it would have been hard. The city itself was nice, but not super touristy, they did have a lot of fancy clothing stores. We did not spend much time in Cannes since we had two other places to visit, but it would have been nice to further explore.
Antibes:
Antibes was the second stop on our day trip around parts of Southern France. Antibes, as well as our next stop, were both places I had not heard of until taking this day trip, so I was excited to see what they were like. Antibes was very enjoyable. There were some touristy shops and a path along the water that was very pleasant to walk along. There was a harbor in Antibes, so we saw many luxury boats and yachts in the water. While walking around Antibes, we found not only tourist shops, but also a bunch of different places to stop for gelato, which in the heat was refreshing. At this destination, we also did not have a lot of time to explore so I think there is still some of Antibes left to be seen, though not a lot. Overall, Antibes was nice, but after a few hours, I feel I would have been ready to move on to the next location, or return back to Nice.
St. Paul’s:
St. Paul’s was the final destination on the tour and was by far my favorite of the three locations we visited. This place was different from the previous two stops. The previous two places were very big, and crowded, but St. Paul’s was up on a hill, secluded, very quiet and peaceful. Once at St. Paul’s, there was so much to explore. St. Paul’s had a lot of cobblestone, alley type streets, so it was very easy to wander around and get lost among the streets. Even though it was easy to get lost, it was still amongst shops and restaurants. While in St. Paul’s, we stumbled across my favorite store that sold gorgeous canvas paintings. On the outskirts of these alleyways, was a stunning view overlooking a green valley. I definitely do not feel as though enough time was spent there and think I could wander around St. Paul’s for days.
Would I go again?
The only place on this day trip I would go back to is St. Pauls. Cannes was a super crowded place and Antibes could be explored on either another day trip or with a bit more time in the area. However, with St. Pauls I felt there was still so much left of the city to wander, see, and explore.
Highlights of the Day Trip: All of St. Pauls, doing lots of wandering, and experiencing three new places in one day.
Fun fact about Cannes: The first Cannes Film Festival was held in 1946.
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