Cannes may be the city of stars, but there is no doubt that the neighboring towns add their own splah of brilliance to its galaxy... The towns and villages that surround the festival capital form a rich and surprising constallation. Their names are Le Cannet, Mougins, Mandelieu-La-Napoule, Valauris, Théoule, La Roquette, Auribeau-sur-Siagne... Like Grasse, capital of flowers and fragrances, a little further away, they are not to be missed!

The Cannet was formerly an integral part of Cannes. It gained its independence a few years before the French Revolution, in 1777. Since then it has continued to prosper, growing vastly in population but preserving its soul within its perfectly maintained and renovated "old town". From the heights of Bréguières, at the North-Western end of the Californie hill, there is a magnificient view over the whole of the bay of Cannes and the Estérel massif.

A few miles from there, on the other side of the motor-way, stands the old village of Mougins, perched on its hilltop like a snail formed of picturesque narrow streets spiralling up towards an ancien belfry and one of the most famous village squares in Provence. Many famous artists have lived, worked and exhibited there, and been duly honored - in their lifetimes, or post-mortem. Brilliant art exhibitions are still organised in the "lavoir", but today, around the church of Saint-Jacques le Majeur and the Place Lamy, in the shade of the lotus trees, it is to gastronomy more than anything else that Mougins owes its reputation. Of course in the wake of Roger Vergé, who made the village its kingdom, many other chefs have come to exercise their talents.

Vallauris, with its potters and artists, its galleries and its colorful shops over-flowing with glazed and pain-ted ceramics... Vallauris too is a "must" in any re-view of the hinter-land of Cannes. The town prides itself to having been home to some of the leading figures of the world of art, such as Picasso, of course, who lived there for several years, but also Jean Marais, a great actor but also an artist fascinated by painting and ceramics.

Valbonne, with its XVIth century Place des Archades, its Romanesque church, its town hall, its water-through and fountain, is no great distance from Mougins and Vallauris. Admirably restored and maintained, with a wealth of shops, boutiques and restaurants, it is not only a tourist and gourmet destination but a cultural one too, thanks to its Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions.

Opio is not far away, and also deserves a visit - notably on account of the church of Saint-Trophime, the square, and the XVth century oil mill which - an exception in this region - still produces a highly-regarded olive oil. A little upland town set in an almost Tuscan landscape with its meadows and rolling hills, Opio owes its orign to the existence of a Celto-Ligurian stronghold. Frequently attacked, destroyed and rebuilt over the centuries, Opio was first under the temporal lordship pf the Counts of Provence and then under the religious authority of the monks of Lérins, before becoming fully autonomous in 1734. Apart from its historic and "ecological" interest, opio is renowned today as the home of one of the Riviera's leading golf courses.

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