Eygalieres is one our favorite nearby towns so we started our day at the Friday market there again this morning. It is a quiet town with lots of greenery and flowers. Many of our favorite vendors were there, the people are pleasant to be around and friendly.
We had a nice lunch at Les Gilles after Allan and Clay warmed up with some raw oysters from a lively market crew and we drove back to St. Remy for a short rest.
This evening we attended one event of the Féria, a local city-wide celebration in Arles marking the start of the spring bullfighting season. The Féria is simply a three day party with a lot of Spanish music and festivities. The Friday evening event follows a Camargue bull run through the streets, controlled by Guardians (cowboys) on Camargue horses (we opted to miss the bull run). Warming up to the event, we enjoyed a spirited band on the steps of the amphitheater and again on the floor of the arena. Clay commented that he could not remember ever seeing anyone enjoy their job more than this bandleader.
The 4:30 PM event in the Roman amphitheater in Arles is one of several events throughout the year that make use of this structure built in 90 AD. The seats at the top have, of course, been built and added to the amphitheater–they block the arched entryways. 
Today’s event was the Course Camarguaise, a contest between man and bull where the men (razateurs) try to remove strings and rosettes made of yarn from the base of the bull’s horns. At this razet there were two teams of eight (6 razateurs and 2 young men who enticed the bull) competing with each other and a small but strong and agile Camargue bull. Each bull competed for 15 minutes and we saw 6 different bulls. Mignon, last year’s champion bull and Joaquim Cadenas were the stars of this year’s show and it was thrilling and interesting.
Attached to the base of the bull’s horns are strings and two rosettes made of white yarn. The razateurs are trying to remove the rosettes; the bull is trying to stop the razateurs! We had many close calls, but no bulls, no razateurs, and no spectators were seriously injured today. Two of the bulls did repeatedly jump the fence and trot around the outer ring sending spectators into hiding or the center ring! We were fortunately in the second row and safe from stray bulls.
We enjoyed the two and a half hour event and along with everyone else cheered both the razateurs and the bulls. In the end, Joaquim Cadenas (razateur) and Mignon (bull) were this year’s champions.
Arles was quite busy after the event, so we drove home and walked to Bistro Decouverte for a late dinner.
Nancy
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