PLENARY French Riviera

More Than Bling-Bling In nearby Cannes, famous for the international film festival held there every year in May, the red carpet in front of the Palais des Festi- vals et des Congrès Cannes, on the waterfront, is perpetually filled with visitors striking poses. “People think Cannes is all bling-bling,” said Isabelle Gainche, director of marketing and sales for the Palais,which offers more than 375,000 square feet of exhibition space, five auditoriums, and 26 meeting rooms. “But Cannes is for everybody.” Gainche called Cannes a “global fishing

village,” a description that rang true when we took a taxi up into the old town and walked down its cobbled, winding streets, which are lined with restaurants. Some blocks had been reserved that evening for a corporate dine- around and were closed to traffic. Part of our group stayed at the 338-room InterContinental Carlton Cannes, built in 1909 and where Grace Kelly met Monaco’s Prince Ranier III. The seaside hotel has 12 meeting rooms and can accommodate up to 1,400 people for a cocktail reception. Another flagship property is the sleek 409-

room Hotel Martinez, a favorite of both stars and conference organizers.We lunched on the Martinez’s private beach before heading by ferry to nearby St. Marguerite Island, the pic- turesque site of a large 17th-century fortress where the legendary “Man in the Iron Mask” was held for a time. Rustic meeting space at the fort only recently has been opened to the general public. Another recent addition to the region’s

venues is the Mandelieu-La Napoule Expo Con- gress Centre, a multipurpose structure with 54,000 square feet of space, including break- out rooms, an exhibit hall, and an auditorium that seats up to 1,000. Nearby is the 281-room MMV Resort & Spa, a Provencal-style resi- dence hotel on a private lake, with 15 acres landscaped with olive trees and lavender. The property offers more than 5,000 square feet of meeting space, and many of its suites can be converted into breakout rooms.

Picasso’s Views Our stop in Antibes, between Cannes and Nice, coincided with Les Voiles d’Antibes, a vintage- and classic-yacht regatta setting sail from the city’s harbor,which has been in use since before Antibes was part of the Roman Empire.

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We visited the Picasso Museum—formerly the Chauteau Grimaldi—where Picasso lived and worked for six months. The museum can be booked for private events, including receptions on the castle’s terrace overlooking the sea. To the west is Juan-les-Pins, the site of an

annual jazz festival, “Jazz a Juan,” and rows of hotels whose guestrooms and meeting rooms orient toward its beaches and sea view. The secluded 27-room Cap d’Antibes Beach Hotel is an elegant newcomer, while the 175-room Garden Beach Hotel is centrally located next to shopping and casinos. A 70,000-square-foot convention center is scheduled to be com- pleted in Juan-les-Pins next year. My last stop was in Monaco, and Grimaldi

Forum, which offers sun-drenched meeting rooms, more than 376,000 square feet of space—and panoramic views of the Mediter- ranean. The forum was abuzz the day I visited, with rehearsals taking place for the 2011 Monte Carlo Television Festival. That vibrancy is an everyday feature: Last

December, the 500-seat Café Llorca debuted on the first floor of the convention center, and during the day the space is open to the public. Between meetings, cultural events, and exhibi- tions, Grimaldi Forum hosts 300,000 visitors each year. n

— Barbara Palmer

FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.frenchriviera-cb.com; www.frenchriviera-tourism.com

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SEA VIEWS: Top, Sainte- Marguerite island is home to a fortress that is an official Historic Monument. Above, hotels along Nice’s famous promenade, and below, Nice’s iconic Hotel Negresco.

PHOTOS COURTESY ATOUT FRANCE/EMMANUEL VALENTIN/JEAN FRANÁOIS TRIPELON-JARRY/EMMANUEL VALENTIN