Grand Voyage: Malaga to Cannes

Quand les Maures passèrent de l’Afrique à l’Andalousie en 714, ils devaient établir un royaume qui allait devenir la gloire du Moyen Age. Le palais forteresse de l’Alcazaba de Malaga et le Castillo de Gibralfaro sont de magnifiques exemples de l’architecture mauresque. Mais c’est à Grenade que vous pouvez voir l’expression la plus romantique et magnifique du style arabesque dans le glorieux palais de l’Alhambra. Ferdinand et Isabella ont vécu ici pendant un certain temps, tout comme Washington Irving, auteur de Contes de l’Alhambra.

Almería is a city in Andalusia, Spain, located in the southeast of Spain on the Mediterranean Sea, and is the capital of the province of the same name.

Cartagena is a port city and naval base in the Murcia region of southeast Spain. Founded by the Carthaginians around 220 B.C., the city boomed during the Roman period. Among its many Roman ruins are a 1st-century B.C. theater and Casa de la Fortuna, a villa with murals and mosaics. The Muralla Púnica (Punic Wall) interpretation center houses the remains of a 3rd-century B.C. defensive wall.

Ibiza est un endroit où les gens traînent parce qu’ils peuvent se lâcher. Avec un énorme mixe de population d’artistes à la mode, d’hippies vieillissants, d’expatriés décontractés, et les amateurs de clubs dédiés, Ibiza a une réputation bien méritée pour le bizarre et scandaleux. Sauf pour les murs médiévaux, on pourrait presque penser que c’était la version de la Méditerranée de Key West. Mais loin de l’agitation de la ville, quelques belles plages vous attendent.

Mallorca (Majorca) is one of Spain’s Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean. It’s known for beach resorts, sheltered coves, limestone mountains and Roman and Moorish remains. Capital Palma has nightlife, the Moorish Almudaina royal palace and 13th-century Santa María Cathedral. Stone-built villages include Pollença, with its art galleries and music festival, and hillside Fornalutx, surrounded by citrus plantations.

Vous comprendrez pourquoi Lord Nelson choisit cet endroit comme base pour la flotte britannique en Méditerranée pendant les guerres napoléoniennes. Imaginez des dizaines de vaisseaux de ligne, étant équipés pour le combat dans ce port historique. Les rappels de l’époque sont encore visibles dans les gracieux bâtiments géorgiens qui grimpent les collines escarpées soutenant le Ponent Moll. L’héritage de Mahon comprend également l’invention de la mayonnaise et la première distillation de genièvre des baies de genièvre.

Cannes, a resort town on the French Riviera, is famed for its international film festival. Its Boulevard de la Croisette, curving along the coast, is lined with sandy beaches, upmarket boutiques and palatial hotels. It’s also home to the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, a modern building complete with red carpet and Allée des Étoiles – Cannes’ walk of fame

Lerici is a town and comune in the province of La Spezia in Liguria, part of the Italian Riviera. It is situated on the coast of the Gulf of La Spezia, 8 kilometres southeast of La Spezia. It is known as the place where the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned.

Portoferraio is a town and comune in the province of Livorno, on the edge of the eponymous harbour of the island of Elba. It is the islands largest city. Because of its terrain, many of its buildings are situated on the slopes of a tiny hill bordered on three sides by the sea.

Le port presque enclavé de Bonifacio est l’un des plus spectaculaires ports totalement protégées, un port animé avec d’excellents restaurants de fruits de mer et un port de plaisance moderne. L’antique citadelle de la ville est perchée au sommet d’une falaise de granit apparemment impénétrable.

Alghero is a city on the northwest coast of Sardinia, Italy. Encircled by ancient walls, it’s known for its cobblestoned old center. Its Catalan Gothic buildings include the Cattedrale di Santa Maria, with an imposing bell tower, Palazzo Guillot and Chiesa di San Francesco, a 14th-century church. The nearby Chiesa San Michele has a colorful tiled dome. The Museo del Corallo di Alghero contains red coral displays.

Corsica, a mountainous Mediterranean island, presents a mix of stylish coastal towns, dense forest and craggy peaks (Monte Cinto is the highest). Nearly half the island falls within a park whose hiking trails include the challenging GR 20. Its beaches range from busy Pietracorbara to remote Saleccia and Rondinara. It’s been part of France since 1768, but retains a distinct Italian culture.

Ajaccio is the capital of Corsica, a French island in the Mediterranean Sea. A port city on the rugged isle’s western coast, it was the birthplace of French Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte in 1769. His ancestral home, Maison Bonaparte, is now a museum displaying family heirlooms. The baroque, 16th-century Notre-Dame Cathedral, where Napoléon was baptized, contains paintings by Delacroix and Tintoretto.

Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a sovereign city-state, and microstate on the French Riviera in Western Europe. It is bordered by France to the north, east and west, and by the Mediterranean Sea to the south.

Cannes, a resort town on the French Riviera, is famed for its international film festival. Its Boulevard de la Croisette, curving along the coast, is lined with sandy beaches, upmarket boutiques and palatial hotels. It’s also home to the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, a modern building complete with red carpet and Allée des Étoiles – Cannes’ walk of fame