Elegant Cannes

‘The long promenade of La Croisette winds in a curve along the edge of the blue water. Yonder, to the right, Esterel juts out into the sea in the distance, obstructing the view and shutting out the horizon with it’s pretty southern outline of pointed summits, numerous and fantastic. To the left, the isles of Sainte Maguerite and Saint Honorat, almost level withthe water, display their surface, covered with pine trees. And all along the great gulf, all along the tall mountains that encircle Cannes, the white villa residences seem to be sleeping in the sunlight. You can see them from a distance, the white houses, scattered from the top to the bottom of the mountains, dotting the dark greenery with specks like snow. Those near the water have gates opening on the wide promenade which is washed by the quiet waves. The air is soft and balmy, It is one of those warm winter days when there is scarcely a breath of cool air’. The First Snowfall Guy De Maupassant
 
From the modest small fishing village to the seaside and cultural city known worldwide, Cannes has built a singular story, made of passion and timely meetings as in the most beautiful love stories.
 
It was not until the nineteenth century that the city really took off, thanks to the visit of a certain Lord Henry Brougham and Vaux, Lord Chancellor of England. In December 1834, he chose Italy to cure his daughter Eleanor Louise, suffering from tuberculosis; However, the border of the County of Nice being closed due to cholera, he turned back to reach Grasse. On the way, he stops in Cannes and decided to stay a few days. Seduced by the village and its landscape, he quickly buy’s a plot of land in Croix-des-Gardes to build a large house to which he gave the name of his daughter, Villa Eleanor Louise; so it attracts the English and European aristocracy who built magnificent secondary homes for the winter.
 
Like most coastal resorts of the Riviera, the city knows, thanks to this prestige population, an unprecedented development.
 
Indeed, in recent years the small fishing port has transformed, new neighborhoods were built and Cannes became an "aristocratic city par excellence" in the words of the author Gabriel Charmes.
 
In 1837, British General John Taylor built the St George Castle. In 1838, construction was launched on the first port with the conception of the pier St. Pierre completed in 1841.
 
In 1848, Alexandra Feodorovna Skrypitzine, wife of Eugene Tripet, consul of France in Moscow, falls in love with Cannes and engenders the arrival of the Russian aristocracy.
 
Between 1856 and 1863 the Croisette was built along which new buildings were erected, such as the Grand Hotel, Yacht Club and around fifteen villas.
 
The late nineteenth and early twentieth hosts new luxury hotels such as the Carlton, the Martinez or the Miramar.
 
The Great War put a stop to the development of the city, and then came les années folles, with their worldly glories and their Majesties in exile or in a resort, among other, the King of Sweden, The King of Portugal, the Shah of Persia and a multitude of princes Russians.
 
In the midst of all this splendor, Cannes, winter resort, developed it’s vocation as a summer resort with the popularity for bathing in the sea and tanning. On 5 April 1929, the Mayor inaugurated the Casino Capron summer which will then be called Palm Beach Casino19.
 
Its internationally renowned status was acquired in the mid-twentieth century by the Cannes Film Festival and quickly becomes a media-saturated city.
 
This intense tourist activity, ultra-developed sectors of hotels, restaurants and luxury shops offer, between sea and sun, a prestigious showcase of French prestige.