Peter in France

[trevnhil]

I agree with you about the health and safety but it has always been so. It seems to be on the news every year and someone always gets injured.

Trev..

[mpprh]

The "bull running" is a demonstration of the horsemens skills. There are various different skills - the-languedoc-page.com/tourism/languedoc-camarguaise-glossary.htm
One of them is supposed to represent the movement of the bulls back from the market, and bandits try to hijack the bulls en route. This is where village kids try to capture the bulls.

We have lots of fetes involving animals :

Driving bulls and young horses along the river this morning



Count the legs


Herding


Transhumance - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumance -


Pig racing





Humans get to do the Triathlon, too

[WillowTheWhisp]

France is looking more and more appealing to me - especially with all the riots and rampaging here over the past few days.

It's quite a big village by the looks of it Peter. Some of the places we've visited in Limousin seem much smaller than that, apart from where our friends live where there is a lot of new development, but they live in one of the older original farmhouses. I love the older properties.

[mpprh]

Most of the villages are under 1000 population. Towns that are bigger have special features - roman roads, bridging points, fishing ports, monasteries, etc and have usually grown over the last 50 years.

My village is Saussines (pop900) with the aerial view above.

Most of the animal pics above are Sommieres - about 3km away.

Sommieres :



Sommieres medieval centre (market place with trees) :



It is a very old market town with 100 businesses, shops, doctors, banks, estate agents, fire station, police station etc. The population is under 4000 but it has served the surrounding villages for 1000 years.

Notes : the-languedoc-page.com/articles/languedoc-villages-sommieres.htm

Sommieres pics to come.

Peter

[mpprh]

A better photo from last Saturday -




Peter

[accykeef]

Looks just like Appleby without the yobs fighting.

[mpprh]

A few more photos ...

Cascade de Sautedet


Sauve


Savignargues (young bulls are run through the village in spring; The active ones go on to fight in the summer and the passive ones get an appointment with a Scottish restaurant)


Sete (former island developed as a port by the Greeks as it provides shelter from Tramontaine and Mistral winds; now a fishing and ferry port joined to the mainland by sandspits - Satellite view of Sete : maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=43.404174,3.687544&spn=0.053254,0.132093&sll=43.40215,3.696624&sspn=0.129779,0.256119&vpsrc=6&t=k&z=14)

Satellite view of visitors marina and lighthouse : maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=43.396321,3.700764&spn=0.001664,0.004128&sll=43.40215,3.696624&sspn=0.129779,0.256119&vpsrc=6&t=k&z=19





(Looking from Mt St Clair, Sete across Etang de Thau to the oyster farms at Bouzigues)


Joutes Nautiques ( said to date back to the time of the crusades; a local sport with leagues - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Jousting )


Video : www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MW0TF2-Lmo

Sete is on the Etang de Thau, a lagoon used for shellfish production. The canal du midi and Rhone à Sete meet at the lagoon to form a 17thC canal route linking Switzerland, the Med and the Atlantic.

Satellite view of Etang :maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=43.380848,3.681793&spn=0.213097,0.528374&sll=43.40215,3.696624&sspn=0.129779,0.256119&vpsrc=6&t=k&z=12

Zoom to see oyster farms : maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=43.417595,3.621544&spn=0.000832,0.002064&sll=43.40215,3.696624&sspn=0.129779,0.256119&vpsrc=6&t=k&z=20



Peter

[WillowTheWhisp]

I love that picture of the waterfalls Peter. It looks beautiful there.

[mpprh]

On with the pics ...

Sommieres is the nearest town to me - about 4km away. It has a long history and has been a market town for about 1000 years - it is the crossroads of the N-S river and the E-W roman road and located in a wine/olives/leather/textile/silk/ producing area.

Floods 2002






Normal


















Peter

[baybird]

Hi Peter, thanks for sharing the nice picture's with us , I enjoy looking at them.

[mpprh]

MAN 0 - BULL 1



Venezuelan Fabio Castaneda was spectacularly injured by his last bull during the Nimes Feria des vendanges yesterday.

Clip : www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFBUVbRJsCs

Can happen to the best of them. The pic below is El Juli, the highest earning bullfighter ever.

www.eljuli.com


This guy survived :




Peter

[mpprh]

Back to the more boring pics ...

Abandoned Cathar chateau


Sunflower cultivation is quite rare here :


Wild poppies


St Jean de Bueges


Stes Maries de la Mer




(St Sarah who is black, and carried into the sea once each year)






Special quiz - What sort of tree, and why was it planted ?

Peter

[baybird]

Its a olive tree,and it is used to shade the area from the sunlight.

[mpprh]

Good try. Olive trees are pruned to grow low for easy picking. The leaves are smaller and paler. Olive tree :



It is actually a mulberry tree and the leaves were fed to silk worms. And it shelters the restaurant ! Many old villages still have them as the leaves grow rapidly creating an almost horizontal canopy.

Silk production pretty well died out in the 50's due to competition with cheap far eastern production and nylon.

Brief summary of Languedoc economic history : www.the-languedoc-page.com/business/history.htm

Peter

[baybird]

Oh well you learn something everyday.