Cannes was settled by the 10^th century, but the resort came about when a British Lord Chancellor, Lord Brougham (inventor of the one-horse carriage that bears his name) was turned back on his way to Nice by a cholera epidemic. Struck by the beauty and charm of the fishing port, he built a villa there. Cannes is best known for its international film festival, just completed when we arrived in late May.

This photograph was taken from a castle, built in the 11^th and 12^th centuries, in the old town Le Suquet.

Like other French towns, Cannes supports many beautiful food specialty shops and open air markets. The large and prosperous local population crowds the stores like the shop selling olives at right, complete with the bright decor of the Provence region.  Another shop down the street displays its cheeses in little dioramas of cows and pottery, and lays its wares on the large flat leaf of the plane tree.

Traiteurs sell quiches, an onion-and-anchovy- crusted pizza called a pissaladiere, and ready-made dinners to take home. The boulangeries sell dozens of types of bread and patisseries display pastries that are impossible to pass up.     

We visited Grasse, an inland town most famous for its perfume industry. The photo taken from Grasse shows the dramatic slopes of the inland mountains, not far from the Alps. We toured the perfume factory Fragonard and viewed the many steps to take before a flower becomes a perfume. The canisters at right represent the distillation process, no longer used, in which flowers and water are simmered on one side of the still and the steam travels to the other side. The essence then separates when the steam condenses. In another process, flower petals sat on pig fat (treated to prevent it from becoming rancid) for three months until the fat became saturated. The resulting fat was treated with alcohol and the essence was separated, and the scented remaining fat was used for soap.

We also visited Antibes, one of the largest yachting centers in the world. The day we were there, a parade came through the town, apparently celebrating the Pentecostal holiday that weekend with a secondary celebration of the new Euro currency destined for circulation in 2002. The floats and decorations in this parade were made entirely of carnations, including oversized Euro coins and a huge bear.