Slowly arriving in Cannes

 The first leg of our cruise is from the port of Tarragona, Spain to Cannes, France.  It is such a short distance that we traveled very slowly.  At one point the monitor in our cabin said we were traveling at .05 knots.  So, at a snail's pace we arrived at Cannes.  It was a beautiful day and it looked like someone sprinkled glitter on the ocean.

Cannnes is a tender port which is always a challenge, so we did as we were told and waited in the theater for tickets to get on a tender.  Their organization left a lot to be desired and required patience on our part.  Finally, we got on a tender and when arriving at the port we met up with our private tour guide, Edith.  We jumped in her van, and she started driving through Cannes informing us all along the way about Cannes.  

Cannes

There was a lot of road construction, and we were glad to get past that and enjoy the beauty of the beach road as it left Cannes behind and brought us to the 16th century town of Artibes.  The town is surrounded by stone ramparts - we walked through the entrance, and we were immediately greeted by a lovely bakery.  

Since Carla is collecting experiences at bakeries, we had to stop and get some treats.

We strolled along the stone street and browsed the shops and farmers market before we spotted a beautiful small church tucked on a side street.

Beautiful Catholic Church

Streets in Aribes

After an hour in Artibes, we jumped back into the van to continue on to the amazing hilltop town of Saint-Paul de Vence, the oldest medieval town on the French Riveria.  

Saint-Paul de Vence hilltop village

At the road into the village stood a large rooster welcoming all.

The town was so charming and made almost entirely of stone.  We enjoyed watching the locals play aa Boci-like game, but they would be offended if we called it Boci ball. Anyway, we enjoyed strolling through the stone streets of this town which had more art galleries that any town could support.

There's Carla

Apparently, this town was a favorite of famous artists in years past and the artistic community is still strong there. 

But first, Bill needed a sandwich, and he said it was fantastic!

We said a fond farewell to Edith who did a great job of taking care of us and tendered our way back to our ship. 

After a little rest and laundry, we had dinner at the ship's French restaurant, Jacques, and stuffed ourselves.

Tomorrow, we sail on to the Eternal City, Rome, except we are not going to visit Rome!  You will have to hear more about this in tomorrow's blog.   Good Night!