Le Carnaval de Nice and la Bataille des Fleurs

Getting ready for the Bataille des Fleurs!

Mardi Gras, Fashching, Fastelvan, Karneval or Carnival, whatever you want to call it, are festivities celebrated throughout the world. In the United States some people may be familiar with Mardi Gras in Louisana, Texas or Flordia and Carnaval in Quebec.  The origins of this celebration go way back to pre-Christian cultures that celebrated the end of winter and the arrival of spring .  During this period of celebration social norms were thrown out the window, rules were allowed to be broken and people could become anything they wanted to be with masks and disguises - a complete reversal social roles.  People would eat and drink to prepare for the hard months where there food would be less abundant until the new spring harvests. 

This is part of the night time parade
 Corso Carnavalesque Iluminé

The end of winter celebrations continued with the advent of Christianity.  At first, these pagan festivities were not accepted by the Christian customs. Eventually, the Church realized that they could not stop the celebrations and with some adaptations, they were accepted as part of the Catholic liturgy. Carnival/Mardi Gras is often celebrated in the weeks prior to Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.  Since Lent is a time when people would often fast and give up meat, people would "go wild" and stock up for the 40 days of Lent. Today there are many people who celebrate Carnival without realizing the historic origins to pagan rituals or to Christianity.  

OK, enough history!

This float is paraded at night.  Watch the official video to see both parades - click here

February 13 was the first day of the Nice Carnival and we decided to go to the Bataille des Fleurs (battle of flowers) parade.  I have never been to Nice, and knowing that it is about two hours away, we left early in the morning to make sure we could find parking.  I followed the advice on the Nice website and we parked for free in a garage on the outside of the town.  The tram station was attached to to the garage and it took us to the parade area in 15 minutes - No headache!!! I decided to buy seats in the viewing stands because I had no idea how long we would be standing there and hey, as my mom would say, "you only come 'round this way once".  

This year's theme is the Roi des Medias (King of Media) and all the flower floats had some sort of media theme (film, newspaper, magazines).  The floats were beautiful! The parade route is circular and as the floats passed by, float attendants threw out sprigs of yellow flowers.  After the first three laps, the attendants and other helpers started taking the flowers from the floats and throwing them to the crowds. People were screaming and waving for roses, birds of paradise, tulips, orchids and other flowers.  Since we had first row seats, we ended up with a huge bouquet of fragrant flowers.  
 

In between the floats were different groups of musicians, dancers, acrobats and people in wild costumes.  Sometimes they stopped in front of our stand and dance, sang or egged the crowd on.  One guy stole several children from the stands, danced with them and gave them back to their parents.  Some performers had streamers, others had confetti but all wanted crowd participation.

These people covered us in streamers!

The guy took the kid out of the stands, danced and handed him back to his family!

After the parade we escaped all the streamers, gathered our flowers and walked in the crowds toward the tram.  The wind was blowing and the waves on the beach were big.  We had such a fun time watching the parade!

Ben and Jen being swallowed up by the flowers!

Big waves

In order to get back to the car we had to walk past the parade grounds for the evening event.  The King and Queen floats were there as well and the stands ready to hold thousands of people.  I am happy that we decided to go to the Flower parade.  I know I will go back to Nice soon to visit the beach, museums and beautiful sites.

View of parade grounds

Good night Nice!

Rainy day exploration - Montfuron and Reillanne

It was raining the other day and I wanted to get out of the house. Sophia is on vacation and I wanted to explore the area without a long drive.  Because I could not stand seeing my child play AJ, a computer game, for one more minute, I decided to make her accompany me on an exploration of two nearby villages: Montfuron and Reillane.

Montfuron is a small village about 15 minutes from Sainte-Tulle. It is perched at 649 meters on the ridge of the mountains overlooking the Durance and Luberon valleys.  Sophia and I decided to go exploring in the rain and we did not let it stop our fun.  Our first stop was Notre-Dame-de-Saint-Elzéar.  This small church dates from the 13th century.  It was named after  Elzéar de Sabran who, while passing through the area, performed a miracle returning sight to a blind person.  Saint Elzéar is the patron saint of the parish and he is celebrated the 22nd of June each year.

cemetary - Notre-Dame-de-Saint-Elzéar

 View from the ruins 

Windmill from the village ruins

This sign was posted on the door of the windmill.  You can visit on Saturdays.  It costs 2 Euros for adults and it is free for children

I found an article on a website telling all about the reconstruction of the windmill.

By the time they were able to renovate the structure the roof had collapsed and much work was needed to fix the building.

http://moulindeprovence.canalblog.com/archives/2015/02/01/31441569.html

On our way to Reillanne from Montfuron, we pass by Les Granons. It's not really a village, but many people know it for the pizza place and bus stop.  That's all there is!  There is a barn with some graffiti on it that makes us aware that the French can be ecologists and humorists.  The initial graffiti demands "Stop ITER" - the local atomic fusion research institute.  Someone added an extra L to the word so it say "Stop ITLER" (pronounced in French - Stop Hitler).

Our next stop was Reillanne, another hilltop village.  We've been passing by this village for months, spying the church steeple in the distance.  I knew that I would eventually visit the village and its church on the hill.  Our first visit was in November when we went to the Sunday market.  We bought a roasted chicken, roasted potatoes, olive oil and bread for our noon meal.  We did not have time to climb up to the church but I knew I would eventually come back.  

Saint Denis and Saint Pierre (ruins) on the top of the hill

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Église de l'Assomption

Le marché du dimanche - Sunday market

This village dating back to Roman times has two distinct parts, the "turnus" - upper village and the "burgus" - lower village.   The marché is held in the "burgus".  In this area there is a beautiful church, a fountain and stores.  

We climbed up to the "turnus" to visit the highest point in the village and see the church and ruins.  There were different information boards explaining the history of the summit.  We first visited the l'Église Saint Denis, whose bell dates from 1859,  and the ruins of la former Église Saint Pierre which date from the 12th century.   They are the prominent structures on the highest point of the city that at one time was where the fortified chateau "castrum" was located.

The remains of Saint Pierre - all that is left is the vault and the spots where the bells were hung

The views from the top are beautiful.  I think these are cherry trees that are in full bloom.  You can see the lower part of the town "burgus" and the church that dominates the square.

These are the gates to the "la porte des Forges".  The signs say that this gate was  probably the exterior wall of a tower leading into the churches.

Église Saint Denis and its bell tower

We walked back down to the lower village and the square where our car was parked.  We passed through the old neighborhoods and the old gate.  We were amazed that the car could fit through the gate!  We were wet and cold when we arrived at the car but we enjoyed our exploration through the streets of the village.

 

Manosque

Manosque is a town of about twenty-two thousand residents located in the south-east of France about one hour north of the French Riviera and one hour from the southern Alpes.  The city is located in the French department of Alpes de Haute Provence and at the eastern edge of the Luberon Natural Regional Park.

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Manosque was our initial choice to relocate for my sabbatical year.  The city has an international school and there are many different people who come from around the world to work at the nearby CEA (Centre d'Etude Atomique) and ITER, a nuclear fusion research site.  We decided to apply to the international school for my daughter who entered 6th grade in September but unfortunately it is very difficult to be admitted to this school because priority is given to the children and families of ITER.  We happily found another arrangement of school and housing in a neighboring village.  Everything is good!

But more about Manosque!  There are legends that say that Maneasq (Manosque ) was in existence as early as 218 B.C. when Hannibal, his army and his elephants marched up the Durance valley to reach the Alps and the border of Italy.  Another legend tells of a Roman general who camped near the walls of the city during a Roman invasion of Provence.  Ok, it is an old city!

Today, there are some remnants of the former ancient city. Manosque was once a fortified town and although the walls were taken down to widen and modernize the streets, some former gates are still present.

Looking at this map of the downtown area you can see the shape of the former walled city

Porte de la Sauniere

When we go to Manosque, we often park in the garage near the post office.  The Esplanade François Mitterrand sits on top of the garage and it is a wide open space with a fountain and benches.  On a clear day the view of the mountains is beautiful.

In September we saw some exhibits for the Correspondences Festival.  There were different "stations" set up throughout Manosque where one could read quietly or write. 

" Since it started in 1998, Manosque Correspondences Festival has been promoting living literature in dialogue with other forms of creativity. It is an event for today’s writers to express themselves, with readings and performances. It calls on actors and musicians to create new literary encounters between text, music, images and voices. It offers a profusion of readings, meetings and writing places to transform Manosque into a real literary stage open to all." 

http://www.france-voyage.com/events/correspondences-festival-55.htm

Saturday morning is market day in Manosque.  The streets and squares are filled with fruits, vegetables, household items and clothing. Almost all the shops are open and people are busy purchasing different things for the noon meal.  I love to go to the market and see the different fruits and vegetables in season.  Some vendors give out samples of their foods.  The last time we went to the market in Manosque we purchased different kinds of North African sweets which were so delicious.

Left: view of the market 

Right: I'll take one of everything! Looking in the the Boulangerie window.  YUM!!!

Busy Saturday morning in the streets of Manosque

Colorful Clementines

Saturday Marché
Olives

Clothes and bags

So far, we've visited two churches in Manosque.  The first one, Eglise Saint-Sauveur (Saint Savior Church) is located on Rue Grand.  The Saint-Sauveur church was built between the XII and XIV centuries and has both Roman and Gothic styles.                             This lovely fountain is in the square in front of the church.  At one time in the history of Manosque this was one of the only two places to find running water within the city walls.  I like the swans on the fountain!

Left: Facade of the church

Right: Surprisingly modern windows 

Interieur of Saint-Sauveur

Campanile of Saint-Sauveur

 Left and below: This is Place de la Mairie - City Hall Place.
When the weather is nice the cafés put out their tables and everyone enjoys the sunshine

Café au lait - Morning stroll in Manosque

The other church that we have visited is Église Notre-Dame de Romigier (Our Lady of Romigier) located in City Hall square. Construction on this church probably began in the 10th century and was finished sometime in the 15th century.  Throughout the years it has endured renovations and reconstructions and today its architecture and sculptures are open for the public.  Notre Dame de Romigier is famous for its Black Virgin statue that was found by a farmer around 974 in the fields near the remnants of a former church dedicated to the Sainte Vierge.  The current church was erected to shelter the statue and since then it has been a religious center for Manosque.

pretty tile on the church floor

This sarcophagus is said to have held the statue of the Black Virgin that was found by the farmer in the field.  It is now used as the altar in the church.








 Side view of sarcophagus, image of Adam and Eve and the snake. 

Mont d'Or and Jean Giono

 Mont d'Or is a hill in Manosque where the Counts of Forcalquier once had their castle.  Today you can drive up to a belvedere and then walk to the summit. To get to the peak you have to walk on a path through olive groves and eventually you arrive at the ruin of one remaining wall.  This wall is lit at night and you can see it from miles around.  We always know we are almost home when we see Mont d'Or.  

Walking up to the top of Mont d'Or

Sophia and Bubbe - view from Mont d'Or

Olive trees - Mont d'Or

"This beautiful round breast is a hill; its old earth only has dark orchards.  In the spring, a solitary almond tree suddenly lights up in a white fire, then goes out.
In this way, from the top of this round and feminine hill one can see the wide countryside. 
Jean Giono
"Manosque des plateaux"

This sign is located at the beginning of the trail to the summit of Mont d'Or.  It quotes Jean Giono, a famous writer from Manosque. You can see his name everywhere: schools, streets, offices and institutes are named after this wildly admired author whose works were set in Provence.

I'm glad we chose this area.  We are near the sea, the mountains and close to the small city of Manosque.  We have the best of both worlds here, we can go to town in the morning and walk the trails in our village in the afternoon.