After the strenuous and quite long day yesterday, we slept in today. After a French breakfast we jumped into our rental car and drove to the town of Grasse and then to Cannes on the coast.
Perfumery Galimard
When you hear the name Grasse, the first thing you think of is perfume, to which the town owes its prosperity since the 17th century. To this day, thousands of essences are still being processed here into fine fragrances. We didn't really like downtown. There was far too much hustle and bustle in the narrow streets. For this reason we drove straight to the Galimard perfumery (73 Route de Cannes, 06130 Grasse). During an English-speaking tour, we learned a lot about the production of perfumes. For example, a distinction is made between Eau de Toilette, Eau de Parfum and Extrait Parfum (ascending order of intensity and exclusivity). The majority of perfumes, such as Channel or Tabac, come from Grasse or are manufactured here. After a “tasting” and sales event, we ended the free tour.
Around noon we made our way to Cannes. At this point I would like to say that the French are not really good at two things: 1. building decent roads and 2. driving decently on them. Almost all traffic chaos!
Cannes
In Cannes, we parked in a multi-storey car park due to the lack of parking spaces along the streets (cost: 5€ for 2 hours). From there we explored the centrally located harbor and the adjacent Palais des Festivals. Since the Cannes Film Festival only ended two days ago, tents and other buildings were being dismantled everywhere.
The port, which was always busy, was nevertheless adorned with numerous luxury yachts lined up closely together. Among other things, the German ship "Smooth Operator" was also based here, which, according to sources from the Internet, should belong to Michael Schumacher.
After our harbor tour we climbed the hill Le Suquet. This is also known as the "cradle" of Cannes. From the church we had a great view of the old town and the port. The short climb is definitely worth it.
We then drove east along Boulevard de la Croisette (Croisette for short). Magnificent hotel palaces, exclusive boutiques and gourmet restaurants can be found on this waterfront promenade. At the east end of the Croisette is u.a. the new marina and the Casino Palm Beach. Here we finally found a free parking lot on the side of the road, so that we could explore the newer harbor without time pressure.
There were again numerous yachts anchored here. A yacht, or rather a ship, appealed to us in particular - the Montkaj. She is currently the 69th largest yacht (length 78.03 meters) and is owned by Saudi Arabian politician Muhammad bin Fahd.
Are you still looking for a suitable hotel on the Côte d'Azur?
You can find a hotel that suits your budget through the various online travel agencies such as Agoda,Booking.com,ebookers.de,Expedia,Hotels.com,lastminute.de, opodo, otel.com or Venere.com.
