Monday 1st May
Very exciting day today! We experienced one of the top ten attractions in France (according to the Lonley Planet guide) the Fete des Gardians. The 'Camargue Cowboys' came to town, in a big style! First of all the cowboys and girls congregated in all their traditional finery on the main promanade. They then paraded on hordes of ponies guided by one handed pipers and drummers. The horses quickly attended mass, as all good horses do, to be blessed by the priest and an effigy of St. George.
The festivities had a very Spanish feel with ladies riding side saddle with their big dresses festooned in ribbons, lace and cushed velvet, so we continued the theme with paella and sangria for lunch! We took the lull in the days programme to have a look around Arles. This is the town we are currently living closest to. Vincent Van Gogh lived and died here. His famous street cafe at night painting is of a local street and we visited the hospital he stayed in. Today it is no longer a hopsital but a beautiful garden which Tim and Gabriel can be seen in in our photo!
We then rejoined the days programme for a Grand Spectacle Provencal at the the Amphitheatre. We started off with non-lethal bullfighting which involved bull 'fighters/runners' removing tassels and charms from the bull's horns. It was mainly skinny boys in white jumping over fences as the bull thundered towards them!
The main content of the show was displaying the Gardians' skill and culture. This involved games such as young cowboys on horse back trying to remove ribbons off each others sleeves and men (also on horse back) lancing a ring off a hook at full pelt! The women did some side saddled syncronised horse dancing. Oh la la!
The finales show cased the Garidans' skills with the bulls. They subdued bulls using long poles (non-contact), wrestled a young bullock to the ground, as they would for branding, and herded a group of four bulls by surrounding them in a triangle of horses
(see photo!). One of our favourite parts of the day was when a young bullock leaped over the safety barrier, scattering onlooking Gardians much to the delight of the crowd. As the wrestled it back into the ring it then charged after the horse, thus the chaser became the chased!
All the fun of the fete for just 8 Euros!
Thank you for allyour comments, glad you're enjoying our little escapades!
We then rejoined the days programme for a Grand Spectacle Provencal at the the Amphitheatre. We started off with non-lethal bullfighting which involved bull 'fighters/runners' removing tassels and charms from the bull's horns. It was mainly skinny boys in white jumping over fences as the bull thundered towards them!The main content of the show was displaying the Gardians' skill and culture. This involved games such as young cowboys on horse back trying to remove ribbons off each others sleeves and men (also on horse back) lancing a ring off a hook at full pelt! The women did some side saddled syncronised horse dancing. Oh la la!
The finales show cased the Garidans' skills with the bulls. They subdued bulls using long poles (non-contact), wrestled a young bullock to the ground, as they would for branding, and herded a group of four bulls by surrounding them in a triangle of horses
(see photo!). One of our favourite parts of the day was when a young bullock leaped over the safety barrier, scattering onlooking Gardians much to the delight of the crowd. As the wrestled it back into the ring it then charged after the horse, thus the chaser became the chased!All the fun of the fete for just 8 Euros!
Thank you for allyour comments, glad you're enjoying our little escapades!
posted by Tim Yau @ 11:27 pm
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