Beach-shack drink in Cannes

Between sea and land Cannes, French Riviera
Light summer story, let's enjoy time coming to a standstill for a couple of weeks...
Paninis and drinks (boissons), this neon sign on the side of this beach shack (we say cabane de plage here) says it all about its purpose : having a relaxed sandwich with a drink after your beach time. This one is named Coté Sud (southern side), it's one among dozens such cabanes that you find along the bay of Cannes up to Mandelieu, and probably along many French busy beaches as well. the people who manage these places work like crazy between say, may and september and then it's the quiet season during which they're usually closed. Beachgoers know they can count on them when they're short on cold drinks and homemade sandwiches. And there's nothing better than relaxing a last time in the evening before driving home after everybody else has left. Some of these place are open till midnight, and swimming at dark with the light of the town in the far is probably one of the best swimming experiences you can have, although there's always for me the unsettling thought that some big fish come closer to the shore after sunset (we'll not utter the "S" word, but there are a few in this part of the Mediterranean, although from supposedly harmless sub-species...
The cabane de plage or snack de plage is a minor gastronomy venue, a world ignored until now by the restaurant-wise people but this is a real place with its own rush hours and regulars. This is the type of place that can reconcile you with a boring coastal town like Cannes, which is a rather conformist and consumerist place favored by a same-minded bourgeoisie. The beach shack is usually class-blind and democratic, and although there's still way to go to fill the gap __French people don't let themselves go very easily__ it makes me think to this beach shack in downtown Tel Aviv where people from all walks of life would dance together on the most improvised manner (video on left).

Joggers, strollers and passerbys There's a lot of traffic along the beach shacks, I mean a lot of people coming and going by foot along the sea, joggers, strollers or locals walking their dogs. In this regard it is very interesting to just sit while sipping something and watching these waves of strange people. You just want to tell them to pause a second for a picture with the shack in the background. If nobody steals me the idea, I may do that one day. Look at this guy on the left, he looked the happiest man on earth, visibly in a middle of a long-run walk taking maybe several weeks or months. This was the best hour of the day, when the sun goes down, it was fresh with a light breeze and he was heading west to Mandelieu and probably further east. He would probably sleep on a quiet beach along the way and grab his pilgrim stick again for another Dharma-bum day of adventure. I should have offered to pay him a drink for a chat but this would have interrupted this magic dusk walk. I think this is the real adventure around the corner : walking barefoot for weeks or more along the coast and sleeping outdoor under the stars...It seems to me that this guy was from northern Europe and was walking all around the Mediterranean.
But actually, the type of people you notice the most here around are not light-hearted hippies on the road of Life, but health-conscious joggers running to or from Cannes. Cannes has this California something, everyone seems to pursue health and physical fitness, you have to get tanned and be beautiful. I missed a few nice examples that could have found their place on this story, and this is also one great facet of letting time go at a beach shack, looking at those strange characters who suffer for their health. I'm among those who think that persisting with endurance sports (especially running) beyond 30 shortens your life, but that's probably because I'm mired into unrepentant lazyness when it comes to exercise. And I can argue that I've done my lot in terms of endurance sports, riding my bicycle accross continents with 25 kg of gear and panniers, sometimes for months in a row. Crowd at the beach shack The beach shack has its own rush hours, sometimes unpredictable as friends ca decide to meet there any time, likle we did that day, we came in two cars from the Var, arrived at 7pm to meet there the rest of the party (who live in Cannes). Other hours are more in line with what you'd expect from, well, a restaurant : lunch and dinner hours for example. This is the end of the afternoon, maybe 7:30 pm and people on the rocks and the piers begin to pack up (picture on left) and leave. Some of them may stop at the beach cabin for a drink or more (picture on right). Those who decide to spend the extra euros here make the good choice, and I don't say that because I know the guy operating this small business, but it's the best hour of the day, and if you miss it by driving straight to your home or rental or whathever, you'll miss the magic of the place. I suspect some of those who leave early want to have their daily dose of TV brainwashing. I should set up a training course named like : you can live without TV, we do...
This beach venue has few seats, there's this table on the side plus a few seats in the front. Other such beach shacks have set up terraces along the beach, probably in exchange with the relevant taxes paid to the town administration which levies lots of money here. You'd not pay the same price for your sandwiches and drinks if the local administration wansn't taking it's toll. La Garriguette, the rosé at Coté Sud I had expected to have to take a beer, but in addition to the usual Heineken, there was a rosé in the fridge, a Garriguette, Vin de France (table wine) served in its 25 cl bottle, so cute. Get's down well in these circumstances, the only thing is that 25 cl is not enough, I think that with a 33 cl volume or even 50 cl (with maybe a different packaging) this could sell more with almost the same cost in wine. With the right volume, the beachgoers should prefer this rosé to the ubiquitous Heineken can. Gilles sells this bottle of rosé for 3,1 € if I remember.
This 13 ° rosé is, according to the fine print on the label, made by Les Chais du Comtat 26790 Tulette, behind which you have the Cellier des Dauphins, a major wine group gathering 13 coops from the southern Rhone. This webpage lists the wine but there's no price tag to see how it costs wholesale. Rush hour in the shack Gilles manages this cabane de plage (beach shack) since the mid or early 80s', I got to check, and he works from april to the end of september. If seasonal, this is an intense, demanding job with little time left for leisure, and he must do everything by himself, being alone usually in this tiny kitchen, even if Amélie gave a hand that day because we were a big group of friends dropping by (Amélie was helping for the pleasure, she otherwise works in another restaurant in Cannes).
The beach cabin was mostly destroyed during the big coastal storm of may (4th) 2010 (article about this storm in French). This had been a bad blow one week before the opening of the Cannes Film Festival and it took months to repair the damages. The waves were so high and powerful that they took away all the sand on this part of the beach, destroying the fast-food shacks and damaging the road structures along the beach. Gilles could reopen a few months later after repairs but the city administration never managed to replace the sand that was washed away by the storm, preferring to drop tons of big rocks instead, so as to protect the road structure along this part of the coast. Other, more glamourous beaches were prioritized for the sand replacement but the eastern part of Cannes near Mandelieu was put on hold for that matter. He lost 30 % to 40 % of his customers because people would choose in priority the beaches with sand, which we all understand. The good side of this job is that you can spend the winter on the other side of the world if you wish, like for example on different style of beaches, like some remote ones in Goa, and get served delicious banana pancakes... Beach romance The evening is the best time to enjoy the beach in Cannes, the temperature gets back to civilized levels and you can go around without having to hunt down shadow all the time. This particular shack is located at the limit of Cannes-la-Bocca and Mandelieu, there's a land's end atmosphere here, you're out of the city, and it's part of its magic, especially after hours. Spending the late afternoon and then the evening there, we saw people living the beach__ well, the rocks and the piers__ for home; I understand they got a whole day there and wish a good shower, but when with a few friends, this place is well worth other, more central venues. After dark A few words about the sandwiches : There's the traditional Pan Bagnat, which I chose (4,5 €), it's a round bread with salad, tomatoes, onions, tuna, eggs and anchovies. Otherwise there's the Grec, the Pécheur, the Italiano, the Tunisien, the Ecolo and the Club Poulet (all at 4 €). There are also a handful of cold sandwiches with cheese, ham or saucisson (3 €), plus American burgers or other hot sanswiches at 5 €, a dozen of paninis from 3,5 € to 4,5€ plus hotdogs, croque-monsieur and salads. Soda like Coca Cola or Ice Tea was 2 € a can. Leaving Everything has an end, and it's time for us to head back to the quietness of inner Provence, even though Gilles will still remain open for a while. Joggers are home, the sidewalk has just a few strollers coming back to Mandelieu from Cannes or vice-versa, and the light of Cannes on the other side of the bay makes it look very far. The windshields had this gresy moisture brought by the sea and the air was a bit damp, very different conditions from deep inside the backcountry. Cannes in the far

Coté Sud alias la cabane à Gilles 35 boulevard du Midi Cannes la Bocca Google Maps location Google street view of the shack (before it was rebuilt after the storm)

Comments

[Frank]

Tres bon. Merci.

[Mariano]

Nice place!

[Jasonadams]

But can you get Chou-Chous?

[planetazur]

Thanks for sharing This article!