On the fifth day the rain had let up, we had to make some tracks. To make good use of our 10-trip bus pass, we took bus #94 to Vence. Their claim to fame is having the smallest Cathedral (the size of a chapel) in France, complete with a Marc Chagall mosaic (I doubt I missed anything in the Chagall Museum in Nice). What was amazing to see was how many locals were doing their daily shopping in this tiny hilltop town. John explained -- look at their suburban expansion: they have turned their old hilltop into a shopping center!
Since the trails were way too wet, we then walked on the road (downhill) to Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Coming from hilltop towns in Italy, my first impression was "small", though bigger than Vence. If you walked as slow as you can, in one hour you'd have covered every street. On this sprinkly day, there were about a hundred visitors doing exactly that. St Paul gets 2.5 million visitors a year, at 8 hours a day, that's 1000 visitors an hour. Since there is only about one kilometer of pavement inside, that's one person every meter, 8 hours a day, 365 days!!!
From Saint Paul, we caught bus #400 to Cagnes then #200 all the way to Cannes, as a cheap bus tour. Cannes definitely has a different vibe than Nice. They have sand; and by the looks of it they had recently bought more sand. There are A LOT of buildings that look to be vacation rentals. Cannes seems to be a place that caters to everyone at every price range. The problem as John sees it: In the summer, that would be how many people to a square inch of sand?!
It's a sunny morning as we walk past the Cathedral to catch bus #94 to Vence.
The enthusiastic and helpful Tourist Office in Vence is located in a pretty Art Nouveau building.
The daily market, just outside the city wall, was lively with lots of old folks doing their AM shopping. The sky was threatening once again - we kept our umbrellas handy.
Vence has a view to the mountains.
City Gate.
Fountain. We would see the same style in Saint-Paul-de-Vence.
The famous Marc Chagall mosaic Moses Saved from the Nile in La Cathedrale Notre-Dame de la Nativite de Vence.
Pleasant square in the center of town.
More shops just outside the city wall.
Looking back up to Vence from Saint-Paul-de-Vence 3 kms away.
It's sprinkling when we reach SPdV so Sun-Ling leads the tour with "hood on".
From the viewpoint above the cemetery, the Mediterranean Sea is visible to the south (in this photo) and snow-capped mountains to the north, east, and west.
I pose for a photo at the cemetery viewpoint.
Looking west, it's cloudy so the snow-capped mountain are barely visible.
Not many people live in SPdV - there are lots of boutiques and art galleries.
Fountain. With clothes washing station behind.
Picturesque Saint-Paul-de-Vence.
We hop on bus #400 in SPdV and 90 minutes later (including a transfer to bus #200) we are in Cannes, home of the famous Cannes Film Festival. This year, 2018, it will be held May 8th to 19th. Here's the Grand Auditorium Louis Lumière where (I think) they roll out the red carpet. It does not look glamorous at all in this photo.
;-).
There were many people strolling the Cannes promenade or sitting in the iconic blue chairs. The sun was out and everyone seemed to be enjoying the day.
There's not much beach sand in Cannes, but the sand that exists is flattened and improved with wooden decks.
We walked 3 kms (in the direction of Nice) on the promenade to several nice viewpoints.
Boules.
After returning to Nice on a very long bus ride - Friday evening traffic - we had dinner and went out for an after dark walk.
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