I’ve just returned from a short summer holiday in Provence (which, at this time of year, is overwhelmingly dominated by blonde Dutch families with their requisite 2.4 children in tow). I was so happy to revisit many of the spots I checked out during my backpacker adventure down here a year ago, plus a couple of new discoveries.
It may be the most tired bandwagon to jump on to, but I absolutely adore Provence. If I thought I could get work down this way I’d move here in a red hot minute. The pine trees, the dry oak forests, the cicadas, the apricots, the wine, the Roman architecture. Idyllic doesn’t even begin to cover it. Even though my French roots are from the cold and wet region of the north-west, there’s something about Provence that taps into something deeper. Or maybe I just enjoy being in warm dry climates.
On one particularly hot and dry day, I decided to tackle a very ambitious walk through the Gorges du Verdon. As the day was closing I hadn’t even got half as far as I’d expected (which is apparently what happens when you fail to take topography into account) but luckily found a last minute campsite along the way. With just enough energy to pitch a tent before collapsing into a heap before the sun set, I decided I’d probably seen enough of that bit of rocky landscape for this trip. All part of the adventure eh?
Finally, I took a quick tour around the Arles and the Camargues region, close to the Mediterranean coast. Bicycles were ridden in the wrong direction, wild flamingos were seen feeding in the depressingly polluted saltmarshes and I got a tan on my lower back that turned my skin a kind of deep mahogany colour that I did not know was possible…
I also watched some fit young men in tight white attire chasing bulls around an ancient Roman arena, as you do…A popular sport in the Camargues region is the ‘course Camarguaise’, where the aim is to remove a tassle tied between the bulls horns using a ‘crochet’ in a time limit of fifteen minutes per bull (normally a match involves several bulls). It’s a fun sport to watch, lots of action and while some might still questions its ethics (the bulls can get a bit agitated and scratch themselves up sometimes), it’s certainly not at all bloodthirsty like the Spanish equivalent.
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