Cannes : Ile Sainte Marguerite!

Cannes : Ile Sainte Marguerite!

On Thursday (20th September), Steve and I woke up with the sun blaring into our room... and the day had greeted us with a glorious start. Enthusiastic, Steve and I went down to the sea shore boardwalk to find ourselves some breakfast! I impressed the lady in the kiosk by ordering our breakfast in French (a panini for each of us and a strawberry milkshake), so much so she went on to ramble off in French some more. Embarrassed by the fact that I could not understand a word of what she had just said to me, smiled and said "Merci Beaucoup Madam!" *chuckles* That strawberry milkshake was no ordinary one, it was made with real strawberries blended in. What a perfect start to the day, we had our breakfast "Al Fresco" relaxed and in the morning sunshine..with a view to match.

With our bellies full (as usual!) Steve and I set out for our truly exploratory walk of Cannes. With the sun now blaring, Steve slapped some sunscreen on every exposed part of his skin because he didn't want to risk getting toasted like a Lobster... I know I should have too.. but ignored Steve's advice and proceed to stroll around in the sun unprotected against the UV Rays...! I know.. but more of that later. We wandered down past the the Palais Des Festival et des Congres where they traditionally hold the Annual Cannes Film Festival. The festival was founded in 1939 and is one of the World's oldest and more prestigious film festivals.

Situated next to the Palais Des Festival is the Casino Croissette. Another casino in Cannes - Palm Beach situated at Pointe De La Croissette... is probably where you will find a large portion of high rollers.. that have money to throw away! *sighs* Anyway, Steve and I took a walk down Jetee Albert Edouard and found ourselves adventurous enough to climb upon a pontoon, that was attached to the rock wall by chains and floating freely and bobbing on the water. We relaxed for a while splishing our feet in the Mediterranean Ocean. For those of you that received an SMS at an un-godly hour of the morning - Steve and I apologise! Well kind of, it was just one of those dreamy moments that had to be shared - Envious? I would think so!

About an hour later, after a lazy rest on the pontoon and some time to absorb the scenery and realise just where we were, we moved off our floating place of rest and proceed to explore further. We wandered around the port and found ourselves at a Ferry departure point. After further investigation, we discovered that the Ferry could take us to Ile Sainte Marguerite where we could explore Fort Royal (where the Man in the Iron Mask was held during the 17th Century), the Maritime Museum & explore around and take some of the walks around the island.

Ile Sainte Marguerite is the largest of the Lèrins Islands at 3km long and 900m wide. The history of the island dates back to the Romans when they inhabited the island. It was named by crusaders in medieval times, after Saint Margaret of Antioch a woman who led a community of Nuns on the island. When ownership of the island changed hands from the Monks to Claude De Lorraine , Duke of Chevreuse construction on the Fort began. During that time, the island was captured by the Spaniards and then back to French on a couple of years later. At the end of the 17th Century the Fort became home to barracks and a state prison. The prison was home to a number of famous people until it was closed during the 20th Century. Apart for the Man in the Iron Mask, Abdel Kadir (an Algerian rebel leader), Marquis Jouffroy d'Abbans (inventor of the Steam Boat), & Marshal Bazaine (a French General and the only successful escapee from the Prison) all spent some time there.

Now the island serves as a tourist destination, but still has some permanent residents living on the island. These permanent residents, make their living from small businesses on the island predominantly for tourists. It has a Youth Hostel, Museum of the Sea containing artifacts recovered from Roman & Saracen shipwrecks, as well as being able to view the cells occupied by the fore mentioned famous prisoners in the Fort.

Steve and I casually wandered around the grounds of the the Fort, exploring all the touristy things..and when that was done set out for a walk and explored some of the length of the island. It was about here.. I realised the stupidity of my ignorance at putting sunscreen on. Ella was looking a TAD toasty..and lobster red...! Fortunately for me, I didn't actually burn that much.. but it wasn't good for me either. Still I persisted! I wasn't about to allow a bit of sunburn dampen my enthusiasm for some old fashioned exploring on foot! Steve and I spent some time walking and looking around the island, when we suddenly looked at our watches and realised it was time to head back to the Ferry port (for the last Ferry at 6pm). We made it in plenty of time... I feeling quite exhausted (probably sun stroke!) and perhaps a little dehydrated... sat down next to an older lady to rest while Steve walked to the peer to have a nosey around. He noticed there were a few fish hanging around and called me over to have a look.

While in France, Steve and I had made a huge effort to learn alot of French words to help us get by day to day. We realised there were a number of words that had the same sound.. for example "poisson" (Pwah-son) meaning Fish, Boisson (Bwah-Son) meaning beverage, and Croissant (Croiss-on).. which is self explanatory. Still, somehow we manage to stuff it up and pronouce the Fish word as (Poi-zon)! I am drifting here, but PROMISE I will get to my point. After looking at the fish, I went back to my seat (next to the old lady) and began to examine the damage to my shoulders by the sun.. She looked at me.. and mumbled something in French.. I only recognised the word "Soleil" meaning sun.. I looked at her and said "Oui" and nodded my head.. then I proceed to tell about the fish Steve had shown me... and pronounced it incorrectly... She chuckled at me with jest and said "No, Pwah-son... Pwah-son!" To which I smiled and replied "Oui Madam, Merci.. Pwah-son!" I found it interesting that even though there was an obvious language barrier between us, we had somehow managed to communicate with a number of gestures and a few words.

After that, Steve and I hopped onto the Ferry back to Cannes and on the way to L'hotel stopped in a pharmacy to ask for "Après Soleil Creme" to soothe my toasted shoulders...and headed back to the hotel room, to get refreshed from our day and get dressed up and head out to dinner. AS late night diners, the streets were buzzing with people looking for a meal and leisurely walking along the beach taking in the atmosphere... Steve and I found a lovely restaurant/pub to eat at, share a bottle of Bordeaux and cheerfully walk back to our hotel for a good night's rest and another day filled with high adventure.... As always, Stay tuned! *Zzzzzzz*

For photo's from our day at Ile Sainte-Marguerite : http://picasaweb.google.com/hillsj/IleSainteMarguerite

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