Luxury’s everything on the French Riviera
Oct 1 2010 By Ben Goldby
Ben Goldby visits the playground of the rich and famous along the French Riviera.
The name Cannes evokes images of rich, beautiful, elegant individuals basking in their sublime wealth and attractiveness.
Unfortunately for me as a pasty Englishman, that image is all too close to reality.
Famous for its film festival, you could be forgiven for thinking you have arrived on the set of some timeless romantic classic when you set foot on Cannes’ famous Boulevard de la Croisette.
After a quick, easy flight from Birmingham to Nice airport – all done in less than two hours – it’s just a short car journey to the legendary Croisette, which stretches like a crooked finger around the Mediterranean coast to form the heart of the city.
My stay at the sumptuous Hotel Martinez was like something out of one of the myriad movies that have graced Cannes over its seven decades as Europe’s capital of cinema.
The hotel is a monument to 1930s splendour, a gleaming white seafront palace that sits at the other end of the Boulevard de la Croisette from the film festival’s home at the Palais des Festivals.
With a huge marble-floored reception, a collection of smartly attired concierge staff, and a bar which is famous across the region for its cocktails and piano renditions, the entrance to the hotel offers a sneak peak into its luxurious accommodation.
My living quarters – bedroom just doesn’t do it justice – was as well designed as it was huge. Easily bigger than my two-bed apartment in central Birmingham, and boasting a much nicer view – the deep blue waters of the Med and the yachts of multimillionaire aristocrats – than my vista across the second city, namely Digbeth bus station and an “adult cinema” populated by seedy vagabonds.
