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Côte d'Azur (Part 1)
(D13 Marseille-St-Tropez-Cannes-Nice)
Text: Love beauty
Photography: Cricket Head
Layout design: Cricket Head
France's Côte d'Azur, the Mediterranean coastal area, stretches from Toulon in the west to Menton on the border with Italy in the east, with a coastline of 210 kilometers. Its highlights include St-Tropez, Cannes, Nice and Monaco.
Yes, you read that right, the Principality of Monaco, as an independent country, faces the sea on one side and is surrounded by France on three sides, so it is also in this area.
Menton belongs to France, but Grimaldi, next to Menton, belongs to Italy.
Therefore, if you drive along this coastline, which is only more than 200 kilometers, you can quickly visit three countries.
But this time we don’t plan to go to Italy. Monaco is the bottom right corner of our self-driving circuit itinerary. After that, we will go all the way north to Paris.
We will stay on the Côte d'Azur for two days. On the first day, we will drive along the coast to Nice. On the second day, although the focus is on going to Monaco, we will still stay in Nice.
Why?
Because accommodation in Monaco is too expensive, starting from 2,000 yuan a night.
Although Monaco is a large city with an area of only 2.02 square kilometers, its per capita annual income is as high as 1.1 million yuan, so high consumption is inevitable.
Although I don’t advocate traveling on a budget, there is no need to spend money randomly.
The drive from Monaco to Nice is only 20 kilometers. If you step on the accelerator, you will be back in Nice in half an hour. Therefore, although you go to Monaco to visit, staying in Nice is the most cost-effective option.
Our hotel in Nice cost 100 euros and 778 yuan a night. In fact, most of the accommodation costs during our trip to France were like this.
The above is an overview of our itinerary on the Côte d'Azur. Let me highlight the key points for you to refer to next time you travel here.
Although the Côte d'Azur is only considered starting from Toulon, in fact, we started from Marseille and drove along the coastline.
However, the excitement still starts in Saint-Tropez.
St-Tropez
Saint-Tropez was originally a small fishing village. Brigitte Bardot, the French "Marilyn Monroe", starred in the movie "God Created Woman" in Saint-Tropez in the 1950s and settled in Saint-Tropez. Since then, this little-known fishing village has transformed into a resort that celebrities and wealthy people flock to.
It is said that the chance of meeting a star here is no less than in Hollywood. Stars such as Beyoncé, Stallone, Leonardo, and Ronaldo often hang out here; Omi Campbell held his 34th birthday here and entertained guests for three days; this was also Princess Diana’s last resort during her lifetime, in 1997 In July 2017, she took her two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, to this vacation.
I told Cricket that we would just drive around Saint-Tropez and enjoy the town scenery before leaving.
But I didn’t expect that it really just went in a circle.
Saint-Tropez is basically divided into two parts: the quiet hideaway and the lively coastal beach.
The former are low-key luxury luxury stores and world-class restaurants, hidden in quiet alleys, gardens, and buildings;
The latter is where luxury yachts and seaside bars crowd the bay.
As we walked through the quiet streets, we both had no direction at all. When you turn to the beach, the bay is crowded with yachts and the roads are crowded with luxury cars. No wonder it is called "the most expensive beach in France."
Seeing this formation, we decided to retreat quickly, since we couldn't find a place to park anyway.
Saint-Tropez is indeed a paradise for the rich, but it is not a place where we should stay.
Continue along the coast and head east.
On the beach by the roadside, people in twos and threes were sunbathing.
The leisurely atmosphere is no worse than that of a luxurious yacht;
Their happiness index is not necessarily lower than that of the rich, it may even be higher.
Because the feeling of happiness sometimes has nothing to do with material things.
It only has to do with your own state of mind and the person around you.
Often, the simpler, the happier.
At this time, we feel happy as we blow the sea breeze and drive between the mountains and the sea.
Corniche de I’ Esterel
The endless stream of cyclists is the most special scenery on this road.
Seeing the handsome figures of these cyclists, Cricket Head was filled with envy. Not long after returning to Shanghai, he also bought a bicycle and started riding.
But to be honest, the cycling environment in Shanghai is far different from that in France. It’s no wonder that the world’s most famous Tour de France is held in France.
The Tour de France has been held since 1903 and is held every summer, with each race lasting 23 days and 21 stages. The complete schedule, although not exactly the same every year, mostly circles around France, from one town to the next.
The most beautiful and pleasant stage is probably the Côte d’Azur.
The winding coast road from Saint-Raphael to Cannes is called the Corniche de I’ Esterel, also known as the Corniche d’ Or. Developed in 1903 by the Touring Club de France.
Also in 1903, I guess it was probably a road developed for the first Tour de France.
Driving east on this road, you will see the red rock of Esterel Mountain on the left, as magnificent as burning flames, and the blue Mediterranean Sea on the right.
Between red and blue is this world-renowned golden highway.
(Pictures from the Internet )
The Golden Highway is not long, only 40 kilometers. We simply found a place to stop and enjoy the graceful scenery here.
The mountains are pure red; the sea is deep blue.
But what moved us the most was the figures riding between the mountains and the sea.
CannesCannes
I prepared a secret weapon for my trip to Cannes, a pair of high heels to walk on the red carpet at the Palais des Festivals, the venue for the Cannes Film Festival.
The most star-studded time in Cannes must be mid-May every year, when the Cannes Film Festival is held for about 12 days.
Cannes Film Festival, one of the three major film festivals in Europe, the highest award is the "Palme d'Or".
China's first and only film to win the Palme d'Or is Farewell My Concubine.
But in our impression, it seems that more and more stars are going to the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival, and even Internet celebrities are joining in. Is it because more and more Chinese films are shortlisted? No.
Even Fan Bingbing only walked on the red carpet once. The time she wore a dragon robe was because the movie "Rizhao Chongqing" she starred in was nominated for the Palme d'Or. The rest of her appearances were as spokespersons for film festival sponsors.
Therefore, many celebrities now go to the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival not because of movies, but most of them, like Fan Bingbing, attend in the name of sponsor spokespersons or brand ambassadors. They even spent millions of their own money to go on red carpets to promote themselves or movies that were not shortlisted.
As for those Internet celebrities, of course they only spend money to buy tickets to attend the red carpet, to hype themselves up and satisfy their vanity.
In addition to the Cannes Film Festival, there are many other festivals, so it is said that there is a red carpet on the steps of the Film Festival Palace most of the time. It is not uncommon for tourists to take travel photos on the red carpet, but there is no red carpet ceremony, nor They're just photojournalists who use their guns to make short work of themselves.
So, the red carpet photos I planned to take were just for fun. But I didn’t expect that on this day, the red carpet place would be closed. It was a pity that I had to bring high-heeled shoes with me all the way.
If Cannes didn't have the bright stars bestowed by the film festival, it would actually be an ordinary small town in southern France.
The "Avenue of Stars" outside the Film Festival Palace is said to have accumulated more than 300 star fingerprints, but compared with the more than 2,500 star fingerprints on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, there is a huge gap and cannot be compared at all.
Another highlight of Cannes is the palm-tree-lined promenade, also known as the Boulevard de la Croisette. One side is adjacent to the beach and bay, and the other side is lined with a dazzling array of luxury stores.
For those who love shopping, it may be eye-catching, but we are not interested in these luxury goods.
Walking around is just a way to experience this coastal boulevard.
Wearing high heels and not wanting to walk too much, we found a cafe near the Palais des Festivals.
If it is during the film festival, you will definitely be able to feast your eyes by sitting here and watching.
While ordering coffee, I said to the waiter, "You look like a star."
His eyes immediately shone with a smile on his face, "Which movie? Which star?"
"It's not a movie, it's an American TV series. I forgot the name of the star." Haha, the star I'm talking about is the bad guy T-Bag in the American TV series "Prison Break". However, I really don't know his name.
But Waiter was still very happy after hearing what I said. When he left our table, everyone behind him seemed to be smiling.
Can someone not be happy if they say they look like a celebrity? It would be me, and I would be very happy.
I went to the restroom of the cafe and was shocked to find that the most dazzling part of the cafe was actually this staircase.
The shiny staircase shines like diamonds.
I returned to the coffee table, showed the photo of the staircase to Cricket, winked and said to him, "This staircase is amazing, do you want to go there and take a photo for me, just to make up for the red carpet photo?" "
"No, the stairs leading to the toilet don't feel good." He refused.
Alas, I was rejected by the photographer, and there was nothing I could do.
It’s only 21 kilometers from Cannes to Nice, where we’ll be staying tonight, so there’s no need to rush.
With this thought in mind, we sat in the cafe for a full hour without even realizing it.
Return to the underground parking lot of the Palais des Festivals to pick up your car. The parking fee is unimaginably cheap. Parking for 2 hours costs only 0.9 euros, equivalent to RMB 6.89.
In shopping malls in Shanghai, the parking fee is generally 15 yuan/hour.
This is the Palais des Festivals in Cannes. The parking fee is only 3.45 yuan per hour. Can you believe it?
Even though I swiped the card and paid the money, I still couldn't believe it.
Therefore, don’t think that consumption in Europe is scary. In fact, our consumption in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou is almost as good as Europe’s.
This time I stayed in a hotel in Nice, not the previous B&B apartment.
The hotel's architecture and decoration are relatively ordinary and not unique, but the guy at the front desk is as handsome as a celebrity. This time I’m talking about a handsome guy like Tom Cruise, not a bad guy like T-Bag!
After checking in, I took my room card and asked Cricket in a low voice, "Why are all French men so handsome?"
I immediately realized that discussing handsome guys with a straight man was basically choosing the wrong topic.
This night, after checking into the hotel, we didn't want to move, so we simply found a restaurant near the hotel to eat.
Leave the old town of Nice to tomorrow!
