Just another French national holiday ...

Thursday (the day on which the Bastille was stormed 222 years ago, now the Fête Nationale).

A vide-greniers in La Bastide de Sérou ....

followed by a 10km walk along the voie verte to Cadarcet and back ...

followed by a fiesta. Pamiers Fiesta, to be precise. Along with more than 50,000 others we tapas'd and salsa'd and kizomba'd and carnavale'd and oohed and aahed at fireworks until 3 in the morning ...




Friday

More fiesta ... this is the Compagnie Fuente Flamenca who produced some awesomely earthy and passionate flamenco: according to their 'blurb' they aim to "present a flamenco which is as close as possible to its source, without pretension or needless chatter; the artists sing, play and dance because they remember, with the element of mysterious, magical power - el duende - that arouses the memory of things not lived by themselves, but by those who created this art". One definition of duende: "duende is an inner spirit, which is released as a result of a performer's intense emotional involvement with the music, song and dance. If you experience a shiver of recognition, even for an instant, it means the duende has successfully transferred a lifetime's worth of joy and pain from the performer to you". 

I shivered.

And a feast. We ate ....

Accras de morue
Salade exotique
Velouté de tomate-citron vert epicé
Daurade grillé au gingembre frais
Poulet yassa
Mafé de bœuf
Porc à la cannelle et à la coriandre
Ananas
Coupe glacée noix de coco, chocolat, mangue et passion.

Er, yes (ahem). I do mean all of it.


Saturday

Catching up with friends at a birthday lunch, in the sun in the garden, and the Tour de France whizzing through their village. On the way home:

Celtic music at the Celtied'Oc festival.


Sunday

Rain stopped play.