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A Very Little Taste of Cannes

BY Lisa Lindblad

December 7, 2012

It’s a fun city…or rather more than one city..the facade, the veneer, is glamorous and rich and manicured and very sparkly, particularly at this time of year when they celebrate the holidays with lots of lights, Christmas market stalls and traditional decorations

That’s the Croisette, the seaside boulevard for which this small city is famous.  But there is so much more to Cannes – not only the region in which it sits and for which it is a good gateway, but also for the rest of the city itself.

Great small hotel off the Croisette that feels like a private home and that treats you like a member of the family – Villa Garbo

She hangs in the hall..did she ever stay here, I ask the delightful owner?  No, he answers, I was given the photograph and had it framed.

Funny..there is a definite correspondence between the two – both are very private and full of style.

Dinner:  l’Affable.  Buzzy, delicious, local…

and for the quintessential cafe stop to read the paper, have a petit cafe and soak up the rays, Cafe 72 on the Croisette.

I am constantly surprised by how much I like this city, how comfortable I feel here, how it sparks my curiosity to venture in to the delicious hinterland, and how I forget about the ease with which it can be accessed and enjoyed.

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I  think Cannes is the place to plonk down some dough.  Far more beautiful out of season than in, it has one of the world's most gorgeous bays that can be enjoyed even in the dead of winter when temps are a mild 50 degrees.  Sparkling with as much natural energy as a string of Christmas tree lights or a Vuitton beaded shift, the wide graceful harbor opens up to a generous hemispherical  beach, packed in high season but now windswept and empty.  Just a step from the curve of beach is the Avenue Croisette that hosts the grand dames of old-style hotels and old-school casinos--Majestic, Carlton, Miramar and Martinez among others--which, themselves, stand tall against a  backdrop of mountains that, today, are covered in snow.  You can imagine how beautiful it all is;  if it were a meal it would be oysters on bed of rock salt, followed with a blanc de veau, and finished with blancmange.

Let me get back to my point...I come here every year out of season and each year - even when it is pouring with rain - I think "this is the smart place to buy real estate."   A condo, overlooking the beautiful harbor, keeps the memory of summer alive and its balcony offers, on milder days, al fresco lunches in healthy sea air. Boats in the old port jockey around, clanging on their anchors, a lovely sound reminding you of what real boats do. Next to them are the precursors of the summer stock - well-tied mega yachts of exciting provenance that become the subject of the evening quayside passeggiata.

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Cannes