Arles Easter Feria

Arles

http://www.provence-pays-arles.com/en/circuit/arles-world-heritage-site-day-trip

Sophia and I celebrated Easter in Arles.  When we woke up Sunday morning we not only noticed that the Easter bunny left us chocolate eggs around our house but also that the time had changed an hour ahead.  So our early morning start became a not so early start. Arles is about 1.5 hours from our home and we arrived at the hotel around 12 noon.  We checked into the hotel and made our way into town.  

http://www.takingrootinprovence.com/Map.html

Arles is located on the Rhone river not far from the Camargue to the south and Avignon to the north (check out my previous blogs on these two places) and just about an hour from Marseille to the southeast.  Besides being in such an ideal location, Arles is known for its Roman monuments, being the home of VanGogh for a short time, and for the Feria.  

The Easter Feria is a time when the streets are filled with the running of the bulls, bullfights in the arena, music and dancing in the streets and people out and about for a good time.  All this fun stuff happens in a city that is filled with Roman history, art and culture. On a normal day, there is too much to see and do in one day in Arles, during the Feria it is even more difficult to decide what to do.  We decided to focus on the Roman theater, street music bullfight and bull running.

Théâtre Antique d'Arles

We started at the Roman theater or Théâtre Antique d'Arles.  Built in the time of Augustus, the theater could originally seat 8000 spectators on 33 tiers.  Today it is still used as a theater and you can enjoy different cultural events in this historic location.   The theater was used as a quarry in the middle ages and many of the stones were used in the construction of the city.  There are only two original Corinthian columns that stand in the theater, everything was restored.  

Singing in the rain

Original columns and modern stage

 As we approached the arena, we could hear the music of several bands playing loudly. This band, The Malepere Warthogs, were playing at the top of the steps in front of the arena.  They had great sound and so much energy!

 There was another band playing in this narrow alley. They played all kinds of music: traditional spanish bullfight stuff, Adele songs, pop songs from the radio and even the Beatles.  It was so much fun to stop and listen

Spanish Bullfighting in France

When Sophia asked me if we could go to the bullfight, I said yes because I thought we would be seeing the French version.  I should have known better, Feria is a Spanish word!  After we were in the arena and I was reading the program I understood that we were about to witness a true Spanish Corrida.  There are many differences between the two styles but without going into details, the Spanish one is more violent.  We focused on the cultural responses of the crowd, the movements and costumes of the men in the ring and the ritual of the event.  El Juli, a famous Spanish bullfighter and a younger Peruvian bullfighter, Roca Rey, were the Matadors that afternoon.  In the end,we both decided that we never need to go to another bullfight again.  

Opening Ceremonies

Magenta capes

El Juli

When the bullfight was over we decided to go see the bulls run down the street.  The Camargue horses herd the bulls up and down the street while crazy people run in front of the bulls.  We never actually saw the bull because it was running so fast and the crowd was so big.  The activity came to a halt when someone was injured - not sure if someone got injured by the bull or not.  Before we returned to the hotel we sampled some wonderful food and I had sangria!  We only spent a few hours at the Arles Easter Feria but we learned so much in the short time we were there.  

Before the bull runs

Paella - beautiful street food!

Camargue horse waiting for the action to begin

Take a look at these youtube videos about the Arles Feria. 

music feria - link to see bands

music and dancing - gypsy music and dancing

running bulls and people - crazy people running with bulls