Southern France
Central and Southern Coastal Area

The Southern and Central C�te d' Azur includes Cannes (the city of the annual International Film Festival, Grasse (the purfume village), St. Raphael, St. Tropez and the port city of Marseilles. 
Of all the above, Grasse and St. Tropez were the nicest, followed by the pretentious Cannes. Marseilles is more like Northern Africa / Arab world than France and crime seems to me to be in abundance.


Source: University of Texas Maps

Grasse

Cannes

St. Raphael

St. Tropez

Marseilles


Grasse
 Just 17km north of Cannes lies Grasse, the home of French perfume. The smell in the air varies from wild aromatic scents to the smell of the sea breeze blowing in from the south

FR-02-03-10-W.jpg (39880 bytes)
Quaint restaurant

FR-02-03-13-W.jpg (62377 bytes)
View of Grasse Village

FR-02-03-11-W.jpg (35594 bytes)
Streets of Grasse

FR-02-03-17-W.jpg (54498 bytes)
Quaint restaurant

FR-02-03-14-W.jpg (23562 bytes)
Streets of Grasse


Cannes
 In Cannes, more so than anywhere else along the C�te d' Azur, lots of money in your pocket is essential to survive the day. Its worth spending a day in Cannes but not worth blowing your money on accommodation. Cannes is small enough to cover on foot in 4 to 6 hours, and don't forget to have dinner in the old town, towards the southern end of the main beach.  Large parts of the beach are "private" and only for paying guests. Please don't support this evil!  

Check out the marina and have a laugh at the rich bastards showing off their toys. Its total show biz with the rich sitting in their oceanliner-sized yachts while the wanna-bees parade by and some obviously drooling. For me, I thought they were monkeys in their cages and wish they could come down to earth and have a life!  Go and check, but don't bother to throw them any of your nuts -- they won't appreciate the smaller things in life. 

Cannes Beach-FT-W.jpg (68809 bytes)
Nude tanning

FR-02-03-21-W.jpg (91470 bytes)
Cannes beach


FR-02-03-26-W.jpg (35437 bytes)
Cannes marina

FR-02-03-29-W.jpg (61315 bytes)
 Cannes Restaurants

FR-02-03-19-W.jpg (42052 bytes)
Cannes beach

FR-02-03-22-W.jpg (37671 bytes)
Cannes beach

FR-02-03-27-W.jpg (54291 bytes)
Carlton Hotel

FR-02-03-30-W.jpg (55295 bytes)
 Cannes Restaurants

FR-02-03-20-W.jpg (45062 bytes)
Cannes beach

FR-02-03-23-W.jpg (48466 bytes)
Cannes restaurant

FR-02-03-28-W.jpg (55148 bytes)
Carlton Hotel

FR-02-03-31-W.jpg (48873 bytes)
 Cannes Restaurants

St-Tropez
 With a population of less than 6,000, St-Tropez is small and still fairly exclusive. St-Tropez is not on the train route so unless you have a car, you need to change to a bus from either Fr�jus or St-Raphael. Bus ride along the scenic coastline and small towns takes just over an hour. Check out the old town!  

 FR-02-03-32-W.jpg (44450 bytes)
Artists at work along the marina

FR-02-03-36-W.jpg (49784 bytes)
St-Tropez streets

FR-02-03-34-W.jpg (48848 bytes)
Artists at work along the marina

StTropes Beach-FT-W.jpg (37199 bytes)
Beach life

 FR-02-03-35-W.jpg (47649 bytes)
St-Tropez streets

Marseilles + St. Raphael
 I spent about 2 hours in Marseilles and what I saw was dirty, lots of Africans and Arabs just hanging around like vultures which creates an almost scary atmosphere. This is not the France you came to see, so my recommendation is don't waste your time in Marseilles
St-Raphael has some nice beaches but probably not worth spending much time around this town either. I just drove through by bus.

 FR-02-05-28-W.jpg (48939 bytes)
Marseilles Marina

StRaphaelBeach-FT-W.jpg (53380 bytes)
St. Raphael beach

 

France Page
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1