!!!Cannes

by Stas Sedov,
Sergey Shandin,
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

12 January 2015

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

We arrived at Cannes on the last day of the city's famous film festival,
when the main passion and excitement had subsided. Nevertheless,
everything from the long line of men in suits and women in evening gowns
to the steps of the cinema implied that the festivities still continued.
A couple of times familiar faces known from movies flickered in the
crowd. In the bay yachts are tightly moored, in the streets a reasonable
concentration of expensive cars exceed the number of yachts Life boils!
However, we did not come to attend the Film Festival but photo shoot the
city.

What else, besides the Film Festival, is Cannes famous for?

[{Image src='01_Cannes, French Riviera, France.jpg' caption='Cannes, French Riviera, France' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='320'}]

Cannes is not a large city, only 9 kilometers in length. How did it
happen that this small coastal city became known worldwide? Until the
19th century it was nothing more than an ordinary fishing village. In
the past there was a fortress on top of the hill surrounded by small
houses, and at the foot there was the water front, where locals caught
fish. It was an unremarkable village on the way to Nice, where wealthy
citizens went to vacation. At that time people traveled to the sea in
winter time and not in the summer, as it is done now.

[{Image src='02_Cannes, French Riviera, France.jpg' caption='Cannes, French Riviera, France' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='344'}]

In December 1834 a cholera epidemic broke out in Nice. The British Lord
Chancellor Brougham, leaving for vacation, was forced to stay in Cannes
because of the quarantine. He was so fascinated by Cannes that he
decided to build his winter residence here — Villa Eléonore Louise. His
example was followed by his friends, and soon Cannes became a
fashionable resort on the Côte d'Azur, often known in English as the
French Riviera. A dirt road along the coastline later has become the
famous Promenade de la Croisette, a place where gorgeous palaces and
villas line up beside one other. Although everything started with the
British, soon it became a playground and vacation spot for Russians and
French. Prosperity continued until the outbreak of World War I. Cannes
returned to its former glory after the International Film Festival in
1946.

[{Image src='03_Cannes, French Riviera, France.jpg' caption='Cannes, French Riviera, France' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='621'}]

The Festival Palace, or Palais des Festivals, was built in 1982, and the
locals sarcastically nicknamed this glass and concrete building the
"bunker". In front of the palace lies the famous Avenue of Stars with
the palm prints of artists and cinematography celebrities. Here is where
the Promenade de la Croisette begins. It stretches along the shore for 2
kilometers. Many luxury hotels such as the Carlton, Majestic, Martinez,
Grand Hotel, and Casino Palm Beach line up along the promenade. Almost
all beaches are private and belong to hotels, with the exception of one
free public beach near the Festival Palace. In the evening the Promenade
is lit in red, as though continuing the 24-step carpeted stairs of the
Festival Palace. It would be wrong to think that everything here is
spinning around the film industry. Cannes takes second place in France
after Paris in number of events held.

The city is also famous for its museums: Matisse, Fernand Léger, and
Marc Chagall. It is unfortunate that we did not have time to visit them.

Preparing for the trip, we assumed that we would face difficulties
during the aerial photo shoot, because usually events with lots of
celebrities are accompanied by elevated security measures. Contrary to
our expectations, we could quite easily fly our drone at the Festival
Palace, and even in the harbor bloated with luxury yachts.

However, it was too early to relax. Soon people started approaching us,
saying that we cannot fly our drone, that it is dangerous. We were well
aware of the danger and tried not to fly the drone over people. Why
exactly was it banned? It turns out that earlier Korean tourists had
flown their drone. The drone crashed and fell on the beach, which caused
a fire. Of course, the event caused a stir and created an unfavorable
atmosphere for the flights. However, we successfully completed shooting
without any further incidents.

[{Image src='04_Cannes, French Riviera, France.jpg' caption='Cannes, French Riviera, France' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='351'}]

If you find yourself in Cannes and you get tired of secular vanity,
pompous palaces, and villas, I suggest you visit Le Suquet hill. Here
you will find a well-preserved medieval city with a completely different
atmosphere. You will see kids playing ball on the cobblestone streets
and few tourists and cats roaming around. The observation deck of
Castres Castle offers an excellent view of the city, but it does not
gets its buzz. Somewhere below is the busy life, and everything here is
laidback, like several centuries ago.

Obviously most come to the famous French Riviera city not to enjoy the
silence! If you are interested in luxurious yachts, visit Saint Pierre
Port, a harbor near the Festival Palace. You can indefinitely listen to
the wind, gaze at the tackles of the yachts parked in the port, and
watch the sea. That perfectly explains the existence of a special area
with benches.

[{Image src='05_Cannes, French Riviera, France.jpg' caption='Cannes, French Riviera, France' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='889'}]

Conversation about Cannes can be long. Then again, as Prosper Mérimée,
who moved here, wrote, "take the turquoise, emerald and lazurite — you
will see the sky above Cannes; take diamonds, scatter them — and you
will get the clouds over our mountains; and to imagine the sea, take ...
No, don't take anything. Just get a train ticket to Cannes so you could
see it for yourself!"

Take a look at our panoramic pictures and imagine the sea in Cannes!

\\ \\
[9 Panoramas of Cannes|Geography/Europe/France/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Cannes]










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