When you are glutted on glamour and have had enough of dodging limos, catch a boat from Cannes's Vieux Port to one of the two Iles de Lérins (Lerins Islands). On one of these two lovely gateaways, you can find car-free peace and lose yourself in a tropical landscape of palms, pines, and tidal pools. The larger Island, Ste-Marguerite, has a fortress said to have held the Man in the Iron Mask. The smaller, St-Honorat, is a tranquil haven where Cistercian monks make liqueurs and honey, and where visitors forget that Cannes is just 30 minutes away.

Buy your tickets from the ferry company at the booths on Cannes's Vieux Port. It costs about 10 EUR round trip.

On arriving on Iles Ste. Marguerite, head left up the tiny main street lined with restaurants and snack shops, or cut uphill and left toward Fort Royal, built by Richelieu in the 18th century and improved by Vauban. The views over the ramparts to the rocky island coast and the open sea are as evocative as the prison buildings, one of which supposedly locked up the Man in the Iron Mask. Behind the prison buildings you'll find the Musée de la Mer, whit its Roman boat dating from the first century BC and its collection of amphorae and pottery recovered from ancient shipwrecks. If you have time and prefer nature to history, head right from the port and follow signs along the coast to the small bird preserve, with cormorants and gulls, and the quiet beach beyond, a paradise of tidal pools which seethe with marine life at low tide.

Ile St. Honorat can be reached in 20 minutes from the Vieux Port. Smaller and wilder than Ste. Marguerite, it is anchored by its active monastery, which trces its foundation here to the 4th century. That's when St. Honorat sought solitude on this island, and was swiftly followed by devotees also seeking solitude. The large 19th century structure his heirs inhabit today encloses many older chapels. Wild and isolated tockbound shores surround the island.

If you need accommodation in Cannes, I invite you to have a look at my Cannes Apartments, located close to the Vieux Port ...

 

 

 

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