The Iron Mask's cell
The room of the riddle that has puzzled France three centuries.
Museesc — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Alexkom000 — CC BY 4.0 · Alexkom000 — CC BY 4.0 · Alexkom000 — CC BY 4.0
Three centuries on, nobody knows: a state prisoner treated with odd respect, his face hidden (in black cloth more likely than iron) until his death in the Bastille. Theories run from Louis XIV's twin to a treacherous diplomat — the deliberate mystery itself is the story.
Half a day minimum: an hour for the fort, the same for a short loop path and a swim. A full day is righter in summer, picnic under the pines included. Its smaller sister Saint-Honorat, with its working monastery, is another trip on another boat.
Excellent: a short boat, a castle, a mystery-prisoner tale, safe carless paths and shallow coves. Just mind the patchy shade and few services — hats, water and closed shoes for the rocky stretches.
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Fifteen boat minutes from the Croisette's noise you land in another world: Sainte-Marguerite, the larger Lérins island, a pine and eucalyptus forest ringed by turquoise water, without cars or hotels — only paths, coves and a fort on the cliff. The Fort Royal keeps French history's most famous riddle: here the Man in the Iron Mask was held eleven years — a mysterious prisoner whose face was hidden all his life and whose name is unknown to this day; twin brother of the Sun King, said some, and Dumas and dozens of films made him immortal. His cell can be visited, and the fort's Museum of the Sea shows Roman shipwreck cargoes. The island itself is the other half-day: shaded paths circling the whole shore, clear swimming coves, salt pans and a bird lagoon — a complete family outing steps from Cannes.
The room of the riddle that has puzzled France three centuries.
Clear swimming between pines and white rock.
Pine and eucalyptus paths circling the whole island.
Roman wreck cargoes in the fort's halls.
Île Sainte-Marguerite (boats from Cannes harbour)