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Prison break on the Îles de Lérins

2011-03-06 20:42

Where: Îles de Lérins, Cannes
Web: http://www.cannes.com

Everybody knows the story of the man in the iron mask. But is it an old wives' tale or is there an element of truth: that an evil French king had his twin brother locked up so that he could rule France alone? There's only one way to find out.... we sent intrepid reporter Emile Bolt to explore.

The Île Sainte-Marguerite is about half a mile off the coast of Cannes, and accessible every day by ferry. The island was in the news a couple of years ago, when Vijay Mallya - multi-millionaire and owner of Formula One’s Force India team - purchased the 12th century estate of Le Grand Jardin for €38 million from the previous owner... who had bought it for a mere 5m francs in 1982!

Apart from this luxury property, the only other inhabitants are a handful of local fishermen - so it's not surprising to find a restaurant where one can enjoy fresh seafood. There's no hotel, but if you don't mind sharing a room you can stay at the Ethic Etapes youth hostel, whose weekend breaks include a night tour of the island. Good value at €89 (adults) and €79 (children 5-12 years).

Alternatively (and unless you're a friend of Vijay), you could try slipping on an iron mask of your own and blagging your way into the most celebrated building on the island - the prison.



The first interesting thing to note is that the prison wasn’t just home to the mysterious hero of Dumas's melodrama, but to several other famous occupants: Abdel Kadir, an Algerian rebel leader; the Marquis Claude de Jouffroy d’Abbans, the inventor of the steamboat; and Marshall Bezaire - the only prisoner ever to escape from the island. You can't help but feel sorry for the inmates. With bare stone floors and just a slit in the wall to serve as a window, life could not have been easy. I guess the one consolation was that the view out of the slit-window was over the spectacular Mediterranean. On second thoughts, even if you could have seen it when shackled to the floor, the beautiful view would probably have just rubbed salt into the wound.

After a thorough inspection of the prison, it was off to the Museum of the Sea - a collection of ancient artefacts recovered from the many historic shipwrecks on this part of the coast. Here you can see Roman water tanks and on the first floor, underwater archaeological materials from the Roman and Saracen wrecks of the Tradelière and Batéguier. A space devoted to temporary photographic exhibitions opens on to a vast terrace overlooking the sea and the Cannes coastline, the Southern Alps, Cap d’Antibes and the Estérel.

The museum is open Tue-Sun, Oct-Mar 10:30am-1:15 pm and 2:15-4:45pm, entry: Free

From masks to monks

Another half mile from the Île Sainte-Marguerite lies the Île Saint-Honorat, where monks have been living since the 15th century. It's very popular with tourists because of the island's woodland walks, the remains of a Napoleonic cannon-ball kiln, a Second World War gun emplacement and numbers of disused chapels erected by monks during the course of its fascinating history.



At the moment the monastery is home to thirty Cistercian monks, who divide their spare time between prayer and an impressive array of products: red and white wine, honey, lavender oil, and the world famous Lerina - a herbal liqueur unique to the island. The Abbey of Lerins and the fortified 15th century monastery (above) is open to tourists but the modern monastery is usually closed, except for those who wish to visit on retreat (the website of the Abbey can be found here) Smoking is not allowed on the Île Saint-Honorat and visitors should dress modestly.

Getting there

A ferry operates all year round from Cannes and takes 40 minutes to the islands. Ferries depart every half-hour from 7:30am to 30 minutes before sundown, with Compagnies Estérel-Chanteclair, 1 Port de Cannes (+33 4 93 39 11 82).  Departures are from the Gare Maritime des Iles in Cannes. Round-trip fare is €11 (€5.50), under-fives free.