St. Honorat: Monks live there. They make violet candy and wine.

Back from Corsica, we took a couple of day trips from Nice. The first was a little jaunt to Cannes, where we saw the convention center where (presumably) the Cannes film festival takes place. We also saw a load of celebrity hand prints in the Cannes sidewalk of fame. Very cool.
Then we took a 20 minute boat ride from Cannes to St. Honorat. St Honorat is a little island that has been home to Cistercian monks since the 5th Century. They make wine, violet candy, and other goodies. And do the usual monk things. The French also used St. Honorat as a defense against attacks from the sea. There is still a furnace near one of the shores where they used to heat cannon balls until they were literally red-hot, and then fire them on enemy ships. Sneaky, sneaky.

It takes maybe 40 minutes to stroll around the whole island, but if you're a Morey, and interested in exploring the ruins, buying monk creations, and taking pictures of pheasants, you can spend several hours there.


Amy hearts boats. One of my favorite pictures so far.


New monastery (with gift shop!)


Old monastery.


And he walks with me: a monk and a regular Joe on the path to the monastery.


Sunset on the boat back to Cannes. Two sisters.