Today my big destination was Cannes. Not much different to do there from the other places in this area -- you can walk around, go shopping, people watch and they apparently offer a couple of tours a day of the site where they do the film festival -- sounded boring.
Instead, I ended up taking a ferry over to a nearby island -- Ile Ste. Marguerite -- it's a nature preserve for hiking and an old fort that's open to the public -- sounded more interesting, at least to me.
Again, problems with signage -- some places where there's maybe one or two big attractions to see you can kind of follow the the crowd and you've got a fifty-fifty chance of finding the place you're looking for. Here, the big thing to do is "to see and be seen" so everyone's just walking around in what seems like circles -- following the crowd is not a good option.
There was a sign today, at least -- problem is, if I had followed it, I'd be making a big "U-turn" and still not finding the place. I'm starting to wonder if the reason signage is so terrible here is that people don't know how to draw a straight arrow and put it going in the right direction next to the name of an attraction.
Anyway, found the ticket office, bought my ticket, went to wait in line to board -- departure time arrives, no ferry -- (FYI) the ferry just goes back and forth between Cannes harbor and the island -- takes about fifteen minutes each direction -- well, an hour and fifteen minutes later the ferry finally shows-up -- the big unanswered question being -- "Where was it for the last forty-five minutes to an hour?" It wasn't in the harbor -- you can see the island and it wasn't there -- where was it? With all apologizes to Christine, a typically "French " experience! That's how life is over here -- things often make no sense!
Eventually got to the island -- wandered around the trails for a while -- nice, quiet, wooded area with great water views. Decided to visit the Fort -- a true event that happened there was the inspiration for Alexander Dumas's novel "The Man in the Iron Mask". Back in the late 1600's, the Fort was used as a prison for religious protestors, for relatives who were "unwanted" by their families (enough money and it was an easy way to make them just disappear) and for people who Louis VIV got pissed at (he'd lock them up there until he got over being mad at them and then have them released) -- kings could and did do that!
Anyway, the famous "man in the iron mask" wa a real person who apparently "really" upset Louie -- he was incarcerated in a number of prisons (including this one) for over thirty four years -- during that time he was locked in a cell -- no one ever saw his face, no one except the top official at each prison ever talked to him, he had virtually no contact with another human being. During this time he was forced to wear a mask covering his face -- probably made out of velvet or leather with iron bindings. Supposedly, the warden at the Fort told other people about his prisoner but never told who he was or anything about why he was there -- Dumas heard the story and wrote a book. The prisoner lived the last five years of his life in the Tower of London -- his body disappeared and all of his documents and belongings, including the mask, were burned after his death.
Seeing his cell was the main reason I had for going to the island -- unfortunately it was not to be my day (or as far as it goes, my week, for stuff here in the south of France -- no Eze yesterday, no Fort today) -- the Fort buildings were closed -- today was Monday, and I forgot, on Mondays, all the museums in France close down. Oh well, got to look at the outside of the buildings and take some nice photos of the Mediterranean.
Tomorrow is my last day in the south of France and my plans are to visit St Tropez and its beautiful sandy beaches -- maybe I'll actually get to splash around in the Mediterranean! (Oh, and who said "topless" beaches?) Yeah, the way my luck is going....
