Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Film Festival always promises to be filled with stars, excitement, blockbuster films and leftwing art movies. The setting could hardly be more in keeping with the luxurious lifestyle of movie stars and movie makers. The film festival is held in the beautiful, glitterati French Riviera city of Cannes, a gem of the Cote d'Azur.
The Cannes Film Festival serves as one of the premier showcases for the world's best film making.
Cannes isn't just known for its annual film festival, it is a delightful city to visit any time of the year. Elegant and upmarket, this dignified Riviera town basks on the Mediterranean shore. Visit the Palais des Festivals et des Congres, home to the film festival and other events, a museum housed in a castle, a museum devoted to perfumes or stroll along the lovely shore-hugging La Croissette.
Cannes Profile
Cannes is quite a small town, but it is a town of many faces. Indeed, the centre itself presents three very different landscapes – the prestigious seaside promenade, La Croisette, the lively town centre overflowing with boutiques, and the picturesque old port and Suquet hill which make up the old town. In the same style as Le Suquet, but 4km or so north of the town, Le Cannet is a delightful little village of narrow, winding streets and old houses belonging to the town's suburbs. Also bordering the town but this time to the east, La Californie-Super Cannes is a lush, green haven sheltering luxury villas. On the western side, the suburbs engulf Cannes La Bocca and heading south, you'll reach two green gems afloat in the sea – just 1km from Cannes' shores, Iles Sainte-Marguerite and Saint-Honorat attract visitors from all around the globe every year.
Le Centre Ville (Town Centre)
The long shopping street known as Rue d'Antibes, running parallel to the shore-hugging Boulevard de la Croisette, marks the very heart of the town centre as Cannes' commercial hub. Fashion boutiques abound, and there's something to suit all tastes and budgets, although most of the big-name labels are located on La Croisette. You'll find almost all the essentials here: food, the train station, libraries etc. and it's a great place to shop. Make sure you visit the Galerie du Gray d'Albion, a beautiful shopping arcade which juts out onto La Croisette, this location is aonly 10 minutes from Clos d'Embertarnd.
Îles de Lérins
These two sparkling emeralds that set off the coast of Cannes go by the names of Sainte Marguerite and Saint Honorat. Far from the hustle and bustle of the town, the islands seem to look on Cannes with an assured and peaceful air. Adventuring into the natural beauty of the islands is a very popular pursuit during the summer months. To get there, take one of the boats which depart near the Palais des Festivals. It was on the island of Sainte-Marguerite that the “Man in the Iron Mask”, made famous by Alexandre Dumas, was kept for eleven years, (although the mask was in fact made of velvet). As well as the vegetation, the monastery on Saint-Honorat is well worth a visit.
La Croisette & La Pointe-Croisette
A visit to Cannes is not complete without a stroll along La Croisette, the splendid promenade that stretches along the whole length of Cannes' coastline. The atmosphere of this fabulous walkway changes with the passing of each hour. One minute you'll be surrounded by crowds of tourists, the next you'll meet a local walking their dog, while at other times you'll pass wealthy, elegantly-dressed residents, or even eccentrics and posers making sure they grab the attention of every passer-by… but before ten in the morning, when the town is still quiet, the atmosphere will take you right back to the belle époque. Beneath the promenade, many sandy beaches stretch out to sea. Most of them are private, which means you have to pay to gain access, but your money will buy you the comfort of a sunbed, parasol and drinks at the bar.
The town side of La Croisette is largely devoted to illustrious fashion boutiques where the big names in haute couture and jewellery (such as Christian Lacroix, Hermès, Chanel, etc.) rub shoulders with the countless sun-drenched café terraces. Also in this area is the Musée de la Malmaison, a former lavish casino and now a museum showing temporary exhibitions of modern art, looking out over the sea. This is also the site of Cannes' most prestigious and palatial hotels, including the famous: Hôtel Carlton and Hôtel Martinez, which is home to most of the film stars during the International Film Festival. During the festival, fans of the silver screen can see the stars and directors making their mark on the famous steps of the Palais des Festivals at the end of La Croisette.
Monte Carlo Rally
The Monte Carlo Rally (officially Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo) is a rally racing event organized each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco who also organize the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco and the Monaco Kart Cup. The rally takes place along the French Riviera in the Principality of Monaco and southeast France.
From its inception in 1911 by Prince Albert I, this rally, under difficult and demanding conditions, was an important means of testing the latest improvements and innovations to automobiles. Winning the rally gave the car a great deal of credibility and publicity. Since 1973, the race has been held in January as the first race of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile World Rally Championship. The conditions typically comprise of dry tarmac, wet tarmac, snow, and ice, sometimes all in a single stage of the rally. This places a big emphasis on tyre choices, as a driver has to balance the need for grip on ice and snow with the need for grip on dry tarmac. For the driver, this is often a difficult choice as the tyres that work well on snow and ice normally perform badly on dry tarmac. See also Rally racing.
This rally features what is possibly the most famous rally stage in the world. The stage is run from La Bollène to Sospel, or the other way around. On this route it passes over the Col de Turini, which normally has ice and/or snow on sections of it at that time of the year. Spectators also throw snow on the road - in 2005, Marcus Grönholm and Petter Solberg both ripped a wheel off their cars when they skidded on snow most likely placed there by spectators and crashed into a wall. Marcus went on to finish fifth, but Petter was forced to retire as the damage to his car was extensive.
Until a few years ago, the Turini was also driven at night, with thousand of fans watching the Night of the Long Knives as it was called, due to the strong high beam lights cutting through the night.
Monte Carlo Casino
Monaco's most popular attraction, the Casino, has increased its fame all over the world also due to the popular song “The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo”, wrote in 1891 by Fred Gilbert. “The man” was Joseph Jaggers, a British engineer, who in 1873 discovered and capitalized a bias in one of the casino's roulette wheels, raising the amount of $450.000, a very impressive sum at that time.
Architecture
The Casino has a fabulous architecture, a work of genius worth seeing even if you are not a gambler and we suggest that you go inside the Casino for this alone. It was designed in 1863 by the French architect Charles Garnier, who also built the Paris Opera. You can admire the Boucher-style frescoes, sculptures and bas-reliefs. The atrium is a gold and marble masterpiece, with 28 Ionic columns, Bohemian glass chandeliers and rococo ceilings.
There are 35 game tables for baccarat, blackjack, craps, English Roulette, French roulette, punto Banco, Mini Punto Banco. The tables are hand crafted in the finest wood and have some amazingly intricate designs. The main gaming hall is divided into two rooms/salles: the American Room (opening at 10am) and the European Room (opening at 12PM). The two rooms have slot machines and different variants of roulette, chemin-de-fer, baccarat and thirty-fourty. The slot machines achieved increased popularity in Monte Carlo Casino with the invention of the jackpot in 1930s. Here one can find even exclusive models of slot machines, found in no other location on the planet.
The Private Rooms
Prive Salons open at 3PM (games: European and English Roulette, Trente et Quarante, Chemin de Fer, Black Jack, Craps, Punto Banco) and the Salon Super Prive is available only by appointment.
The entrance is limited by constraints: You must be over 21, must have ID, and be smartly-dressed (jacket and tie for men). Once inside you may not have access to the Salons Prives. There is a charge to enter the salons, except the American Room. There is also a fine offering of food and beverages.
Monaco Grand Prix
Like many European races, the Monaco Grand Prix predates the organized World Championships; the principality's first Grand Prix race was organized in 1929 by Antony Noghes, a well-to-do cigarette manufacturer and a resident of Monte Carlo, under the auspices of Prince Louis II through the establishment of the "Automobile Club de Monaco" of which Noghes was the founding president.
The inaugural race was won by William Grover-Williams (a.k.a. "Williams") driving a Bugatti painted in what would become the famous British racing green color. The Monaco Grand Prix counted toward the European Championship from 1936 to 1939 (although the race was cancelled in 1938).
The Monaco Grand Prix was one of the inaugural races in the Formula One championship in 1950. However, there was no race in 1951, and in 1952 the Monaco Grand Prix took place but was not included within the Formula One championship. Since 1955, the Monaco Grand Prix has taken place each year and has been raced as part of the Formula One championship.
The Grand Prix of Monaco is organized each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco who also runs the Monte Carlo Rally and the Monaco Kart Cup.
Monaco and Monte Carlo are just a half hour away from Mougins, and getting there couldn't be more simple. The House offers excellent accessability to the races and to the Principality while also retaining discretion and privacy from celebrity chasers.
