These days Cannes is tantamount to its International Film Festival, when it twinkles with a constellation of silver-screen stars, and a meteor shower of camera flashes. Though the festival lasts less than two weeks, the city basks in its aura for the rest of the year.
Long before it started screening flicks, Cannes’ offshore islands, the Îles de Lérins, were inhabited by the Ligurians, then the Romans; and the town was first mentioned by name in the 11th century. Like elsewhere along the coast, its star ascended in the 19th century when newly arrived British luminaries triggered an influx of London’s high society.
Cannes’ palatial hotels lining palm-shaded blvd de la Croisette, and the city’s chic boutiques cater to trèsaffluent travellers, and/or delegates for an ever-increasing number of festivals and congresses such as January’s Shopping Festival.
