Les Rues de Cannes

This afternoon, I was still in Cannes on my day trip from Nice. Rather than seeing specific sites, I strolled some of the streets of Cannes, or, les rues de Cannes, to be perfectly French about it.

(My walking tour app didn’t call them “the streets of Cannes.” It had separate entries for a few streets that it felt were worth a wander. It didn’t suggest a cohesive tour of them. I referred to them collectively and came up with the French “les rues de Cannes” on my own. I figure that if I could live here permanently, I’d become fluent in French in no more than 50 years. Sixty years, tops.)

Alllons-y.

Les Rues de Cannes #1: Rue Meynadier

The first of les rues de Cannes I sauntered along, or I should say, re-sauntered on, this afternoon was Rue Meynadier.

I say re-saunter because I was on it this morning. However, this morning, I wasn’t so much sauntering as walking purposefully to Notre Dame d’Espérance.

If you read my post from this morning, you will recall that, in the introduction, I gushed about a street I walked along to get to Notre Dame d’Espérance. It turns out that was Rue Meynadier. I didn’t know that at the time because I chose to visit specific sights in the morning rather than street-walk, so to speak. And, at that point, I hadn’t yet decided what I’d do in the afternoon, so Rue Meynadier wasn’t a name in my head then. Nor was I paying attention to street names as I walked. I was simply following the line Google Maps gave me.

I can report that Rue Meynadier was just as fabulously charming and full of character this afternoon as it was this morning. Obviously, little had changed in the few hours since I was there. Most, but not all, of the stores were still closed this Sunday afternoon, as they were this morning.

Les Rues de Cannes #2: Rue d’Antibes

Next up in my les rues de Cannes tour was Rue d’Antibes. Rue d’Antibes runs generally, but not quite in the same roughly east-west direction as Rue Meynadier. The former begins almost where the latter ends, but Rue d’Antibes is a block farther south. Neither is aligned perfectly east-west. If Rue d’Antibes extended farther generally west, and/or Rue Meynadier extended farther east, and both maintained their existing trajectories, the two would eventually intersect.

The street level of Rue d’Antibes consists, like Rue Meynadier, of mostly stores and restaurants. And as on Rue Menyardier, most, but not all, of the stores on Rue d’Atibes were closed today. I spied some store-hour signs on some of the stores’ windows or doors. Indeed, many close completely on Sundays. As I said in this morning’s post, that didn’t bother me. I abhor all kinds of shopping. I consider it nothing more than a necessary evil. So, not being able to go into stores is not a negative for me. But not having to contend with as many people as I stroll, observe the architecture, and absorb the ambiance is a positive. So, bravo.

Of the two streets, Rue d’Antibes has less charm. For one thing, it’s not pedestrianized. The space between the opposing storefronts on either side of the street is wider, and there is a single lane of traffic down the centre. On the plus side, the sidewalks are of a reasonably generous width, and rows of dark-green decorative metal balls down each side separate the traffic from the pedestrians.

There are some attractive buildings on Rue d’Anibes, but they lack the comfortable character of those on Rue Meynadier.

My walking tour app, GPSmyCity, told me not to miss “Ladurée, one of France’s favourite bakeries. Here you will find towers of inviting and scrumptious macarons.” Unfortunately, it was one of the shops that was open today. I say unfortunately because not having a macaroon would probably be healthier for me than having a macaron.

I take exception to the word “towers,” but there were lots of macarons carefully laid out in each of a variety of flavours. I chose two and took them to one of the bakery’s outdoor tables to savour them. After slowly consuming my macarons, I remained at the table as I floated for a few minutes on the wafts of my sugar high before moving on.

I should have figured it out from the fact that the app said that Ladurée is a favourite in France, that it’s not unique to Rue d’Antibes or even to Cannes. A web search revealed that Ladurée is a chain. It’s primarily French, but it has stores around the world, including one not far from me in Toronto. I guess I wasn’t paying attention.

Les Rues de Cannes #3: Boulevard de la Croisette

Boulevard de la Croisette is the street that runs along the seashore of Cannes. The seashore is beautiful, with marinas (including a few fair-sized yachts parked there) and a long beach.

There is a walkway, or at some points, a wide pedestrian promenade, separating Boulevard de la Croisette from the beach and the sea.

At the point I entered it, near one end of the street, there was a small park with greenery, some blooming roses, benches, and a playground between the street and the sea. I sat for a spell and enjoyed the full sun that no longer had the very thin (barely there) high cloud layer that had developed late this morning.

It was relaxing and glorious.

I then walked along the generous sidewalk between Boulevard de la Croisette and the beach, pretty much to the other end of the street. Along the way, I sat at another bench and stared out at the gentle sea.

It wasn’t especially warm today, but it was warm enough that a few people were out in the water. I’ll never understand that. It’s the sea. Haven’t these people heard of sea creatures? The sea is the sea creatures’ domain. Cities are humans’ domain. Don’t blame me if the sea creatures take violent exception to you invading their domain.

Les Rues de Cannes #4: Rue Saint Antoine

The final street on my les rues de Cannes tour this afternoon was Rue Saint Antoine. It’s in the Le Suquet district, which is the old part of Cannes. Notre Dame d’Espérance and Musée des Explorations du Monde, where I started this morning, are also in Le Suquet. However, they’re at the top of a hill, whereas Rue Saint Antoine is considerably farther down. It’s up a bit from sea level, but not too much.

Rue Saint Antoine is filled mostly with restaurants. It is fully pedestrianized and has a look, feel, and ambiance similar to that of Rue Meynadier. That’s not surprising because Rue Saint Antoine is perpendicular to and begins at one end of Rue Meynadier.

Having come full circle both with my les rues de Cannes tour and with my morning activities, it was time to head back to the train station for my return to Nice.