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Lord Brougham, British lord chancellor, put Cannes on the map in 1834 when he built a villa here after being entranced by the mild climate of the then fishing village. Today, it has become a resort of the rich and famous, busy all year round and renowned for its festivals. With its casinos, fairs, beach and boat and street life, there is plenty to do, even though it lacks great museums and monuments. Its heart is the Bay of Cannes and the palm-fringed, seafront Boulevard de la Croisette. Behind the Vieux Port ( Old Port ), small streets wind up to Le Suquet district, site of the Roman town of Canois Castrum , with the 1648 church of Notre-Dame de L'Esperance and the ethnographic Musee de la Castre in a 12th century castle.

The Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace) was the official residence of each Venetian ruler (doge), as well as Venice's seat of government and justice. It was founded in the 9th century as a fortified castle, but fire destroyed this and several subsequent buildings. The present palace owes its external appearance to the building work of the 14th and early 15th centuries. To create their airy Gothic masterpiece, the Venetians broke with tradition by perching the bulk of the pink Verona marble palace on a lake-like loggia and portico of Istrian stone. For centuries, this was the city's only building to be entitled palazzo; the rest were merely called Ca' (Casa, or house).

Throughout its long history Venice's Piazza San Marco has witnessed pageants, processions, political activities and countless carnival festivities. Tourists flock here in their thousands, for the Piazza's eastern end is dominated by two of the city's most important historical sights St. Mark's Basilica and the Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace). In addition to these magnificent buildings there is plenty to entertain, with elegant cafes, stylish boutiques and open-air orchestras beneath the arcades of the Procuratie. So close to the waters of the lagoon, the Piazza is one of the first points in the city to suffer at acqua alta (high tide). Visitors and Venetians alike can then be seen picking their way across the duckboards that are set up to crisscross the flooded square.

Between 1459 and 1465, shortly after his conquest of Constantinople, Mehmet II built Topkapi Palace as his principal residence. It was conceived as a series of pavilions contained by four huge courtyards, a stone version of the tented encampments from which the nomadic Ottomans had emerged. Initially, the palace served as the seat of government and contained a school in which civil servants and soldiers were trained. In the 16th century, however, the officials were moved to the grand vizier's offices of the Sublime Porte nearby. Sultan Abdul Mecit I left Topkapi in 1853 in favor of Dolmabahce Palace further along the Bosphorus on the east of the city. In 1924 the sultan' treasures were nationalized and Topkapi was opened to the public as a museum.