It’s the most money I’ve ever spent on a cocktail (Picture: Tori Brazier)
I’m sitting at a hotel bar in Cannes sipping – very slowly – on a €32 (£28) champagne and rosé cocktail, as you do.
Well, apparently as one does when one is in Cannes because normally I baulk at any cocktail over £15.
However, I’m here at one of the most iconic spots on the Croisette, the beachfront road in the French Riviera city that’s home to the world’s most glamorous film festival – and this, I’ve been told by industry word-of-mouth, is the thing to be done.
Cannes is still in the thick of its France-meets-Hollywood annual celebrations, with the festival – which has so far premiered Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, controversially explicit show The Idol from The Weeknd and Johnny Depp’s comeback film Jeanne du Barry – set to close on Saturday night.
With some of the most famous people in the world, from Leonardo DiCaprio to Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson and Jude Law, all descending on this little strip of seaside, it is perhaps unsurprising that Cannes is home to some pretty swanky hotels.
They all line-up next to each other, interspersed with the odd luxury designer boutique, facing the Mediterranean Sea.
Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas and their daughter Carys were among the celebrities to attend the fancy opening ceremony gala dinner for the 76th Cannes Film Festival, held at the Carlton Cannes on May 16 (Picture: Getty)
You’ve got the Hotel Martinez, where I almost walked directly into Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the Hotel Barrière Le Majestic Cannes and the JW Marriott Cannes.
However, perhaps the most iconic of all is the Carlton Cannes, a monument to Belle Époque extravagance first built in 1911. It reopened again after two and a half years of renovation work in March, just in time to stuff itself to the gills with celebrities during the film festival.
The Carlton Cannes has quite the reputation for being the place to come and drink, schmooze and socialise.
It’s also made its mark in pop culture too as a major filming location for Alfred Hitchcock’s 1955 thriller To Catch a Thief with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. Sir Elton John’s hit song I’m Still Standing shot its music video here too.
And why the €32 cocktail? Rosé is unequivocally the wine of Cannes, located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, which makes some of the best in the world. Champagne is clearly the other drink of the film festival too!
The Carlton Cannes is perhaps the most iconic hotel along the city’s famous Croisette (Picture: Tori Brazier)
Grace Kelly and Cary Grant filmed Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief at the hotel (Picture: Paramount Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)
The famous Mediterranean-style terrace, one of two (Picture: Tori Brazier)
However, as …read more
Source:: Metro
