Where to lunch, that was the question. L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue! It’s Saturday and the madness is on a Sunday. The markets are enormous and having the greatest number of antique stalls and shops outside Paris, makes it a huge drawcard. We arrived relatively early and dropped into Café de France for le petit-déjeuner – coffee, croissant and orange juice. It can be very comfortable revisiting favourite spots, and this was one of ours. We wandered through the town, found an antique shop or two to explore, reminisced with the woman whose shop was below the apartment we had rented years ago and found a perfect spot for lunch.
It was as we were heading to Saint Remy that we talked about the festival that was on and our parking options. I became very anxious. What if the streets were closed? Yes, pay the extra to park just metres away in a secure park. Absolutely put in the address of the parking garage. We arrived at the garage. Of course we have to get the key and the garage door opener at the apartment. John had received so much information he was overwhelmed. Fortunately, a fellow on a scooter arrived, opened the garage door and we explained – using mime, signing, assorted poorly pronounced French and expressed anxiety, all the time emptying the car of all our belongings – that we wanted to park the car in the allotted space. And due to my level of anxiety it took twenty-seven thousand goes at reversing our huge beast into a tiny space where the owner had hung a tyre on the wall for obvious reasons. The amazing scoter man waited patiently then closed the door.
Next we had to find the apartment. We had been sent all the information, and we really should have read it carefully as access to number one was actually down a dead-end street between numbers 3A and 5. Eventually we arrived.
We deserved a drink. We wandered just metres down the street and found ourselves in Place Fevier, settled in with a pichet of rouge and were serenaded by an exceptionally talented musician playing flamenco. One of the duet Chico & Matteo. Bliss! Our location was amazing. Right in the centre of Saint Remy.
Saint-Rémy de Provence hosts Fétes Votives – Festival celebrating local traditions. This involved a fair with sideshows, a Grand Ball, Spectacle Pyrotechnique, Abrivado, Course Camarguaise, and a very serious Grands Concours de boules. We saw Course Camarguaise the last time we were in the Camague.
The final day of the festival, Sunday and we got to see the Abrivado, when the gardians (ringers) run the bulls through the streets. It is exciting and fun. They are very skilled and while it looks dangerous apparently there have been very few incidents of anyone getting hurt. Surprising, given the ridiculous risks the lads take trying to ride the bull while it is being manoeuvred down the street.
