Welcome To Cannes France – Let’s Go “Hitch Hiking!”
You might have heard the name before, but now it’s time to pound the pavement in one of the most gorgeous areas of the world! Cannes is located on The French Riviera, and this sleepy resort town on the Mediterranean wakes up for two weeks a year to host the world’s most glamorous film festival.
Here we are, surrounding Alex’s brother Derek and his wife Cherie – yes, we are on the famous red carpet steps in Cannes!
You see, while the film festival takes over for two weeks every year, for the rest of the year the resort town is flooded with tourists and locals alike, who bask in the beauty around them:
Time To Hike And Celebrate Director Alfred Hitchcock!
For this edition of “Hitch Hiking”, I want to take you on a walking tour of Cannes that lasted most of a day and added up to more than ten miles, topped off with a “Canneswich” and a Hitchcock film that was based here!
I added up all the times I’ve been to Cannes for both work and pleasure, and I came up with this number: 26! Yes, I’ve been to Cannes 26 times, and got into a habit of getting out early in the day to get some exercise – here’s what I did on my “ten mile hike” along the French Riviera:
As you can see, the Cannes Croisette has plenty of iconic blue chairs to sit and watch the world go by…but I decided to “hike” Cannes instead – beginning at the north end of town and the “Palm Beach Casino”, which is the town’s hot spot at night, but quiet during the day…
The town has a great walkway known as “The Croisette”, which hugs the Mediterranean and passes some of the city’s iconic hotels – and that guy seems to enjoy that view more than the water!
The iconic Carlton Hotel is known as the “Queen Of The Croisette”:
The dock sits on the Mediterranean Sea, a great place to get some sun and a glass of Sancerre or two…
Up ahead, just more than two miles from the Palm Beach, sits the Palais du Festival, where the film festival is held each year…and on the other side is the Cannes harbor, filled with boats of all shapes and sizes, and some Yachts as well:
From the harbor, you can see the “old town”, which gives you a chance to climb the narrow streets to the top and see the town from above it all:
My hike has taken me just over four miles at this point, standing high above Cannes on the southern end of town – and when I head down to the water, I continue south, away from the town center:
The town of La Napoule is 4 miles south of Cannes, and I walked halfway there in order to keep staring out to sea – those hills in the distance are just south of La Napoule:
You can literally walk around this hills straight ahead, and if you go for 50 more miles, you will end up at St. Tropez! Instead, I did a U-turn after two more miles and headed back to Cannes – hungry and thirsty, so I stopped at one of the kiosks that lines the path:
I enjoyed a ham sandwich on a baguette and headed back to “The Croisette”, where people were still gathered to enjoy the sun and party – look at what I came across:
Yes, an impromptu beach party at one of the beach restaurant bars…mid-afternoon and no doubt going into the night!
Cannes never slows down, and the last time we were there it was packed!
Well, while others were having a party, I DID hike more than ten miles, so I figured it was OK to put my feet up and relax a bit a view that I could stare at for hours on end, before deciding it was time to end my “hike” and watch an Alfred Hitchcock thriller that was based in Cannes!
I “Hitch Hike” With Cary Grant And Grace Kelly!
“To Catch a Thief” is the 1955 thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film stars Cary Grant as a retired cat burglar who has to save his reformed reputation by catching an imposter preying on the wealthy tourists of the French Riviera. Grace Kelly stars opposite him as his romantic interest – and yes, it was her final film with Hitchcock.
Here is the trailer:
Here is what inspired us to watch it: the incredibly beautiful French Riviera, which is shown in a great driving scene with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly…never mind that every dialogue scene was clearly shot in a studio on green screen, the exterior shots offer up a Riviera that I hiked!
It’s a great film, a great place to visit, and there is incredible food as well!
This “Canneswich” is everywhere, as there are terrific food kiosks all along the beach – click here to see more of the food of the French Riviera:
For those who are new to this blog, I have shared other “Hitch Hiking” stories as well: always a cool hike followed by a classic Hitchcock movie:
Yes, I hiked the Grand Canyon, one of the wonders of the world…and found the perfect Hitchcock connection….you can read all about it here:
My series, inspired by my wife, began with this view overlooking Malibu and the Pacific Ocean:
For those who haven’t been following along, here are those previous hikes, as well as the classic Hitchcock thrillers that you can enjoy afterwards:
Let me know how many times you’ve been to the French Riviera, or have seen “To Catch A Thief”…or both!
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Categories: Action Films, Cannes Film Festival, Cult Movies, Exotic Travel, Film Fight Club, food blog, Great Films, Memoirs, Movies, Pop Culture, Talent/Celebrities, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir
johnrieber 
I’ve watched To Catch a Thief twice and I’ve never been to Cannes. Hopefully someday! Thanks for sharing such an awesome journey!
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Am smiling and remembering ! Only about half-a-dozen times for me but Cannes was where my darling husband and I ‘escaped’ after 4-6 weeks of exhibitions/trade fairs and other business affairs in northern Europe . . . can’t remember > is there a Hotel Majestic on the waterfront ? Loved the food in quite a few accessible ‘country’ places around and fondly remember the many walks along La Croisette and in the boat harbours we could reach wondering what it would be like 🙂 ! Lovely when you were doing it on a business account but the family owned the business and did not ask questions 🙂 ! Later we actually began to spend the same time in Monte Carlo . . . . especially when the kids began coming along . . . they loved that small place 🙂 !
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love all the pics, and the soup and the canneswitch. i’d love to walk around there when it’s not too crowded
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Fall and spring are much better as long a you keep an eye on when they have conferences, which messes the whole thing up…summer is a big “NO!” Thanks for the note!
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Great photos John….I was in Nice in the early 80s and love it….plus a great movie as well. chuq
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Thanks for the note!
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I have only been to Cannes once, in the late 1970s. We went there for the day while staying with a friend in Marseille, a 2-hour drive each way. My main memory of the town is how hard it was to find car parking, and how much we were charged for two beers and two ‘average’ croque monsieurs at a seafront cafe. I forget the amount now, but remember remarking we could have had a full meal in a top London restaurant at the time for a similar price. Shared on Twitter.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Pete, some things never change…horrible parking there and HIGH HIGH prices indeed! Cheers!
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