Camargue Travel guide

Wild Camargue

2008-12-07T14:01:00.000-08:00

One place I often visit which is only an hour from Montpellier is the Camargue. Here amongst the marsh land you can find wild horses, bulls, real cowboys, flamingos and gypsies. I'm not exaggerating. The only town in this small region is Saintes Maries de la Mer which lies on the beach. While not a lot of English is spoken, this is a welcoming town where we can go to bullfights and drink sangria. While having paella, bull steak or a seafood dish typical of the region we can listen to live gypsy music. Yes, I'm still talking about France and I think this area could quite possibly be one of my favorites.

Abrivado

2007-02-04T06:42:00.001-08:00

The play consists in for the gardians bringing the bulls in the plan and for the population to preventing some. From good morning the population is in alarm to await the bulls; the ones go to their meeting: out of flower stand, with bicycle and even in the car to enjoy more completely and at greater length the sight di biòu. Certain young people people, wire of Pelots for the majority, go there to horse to help the gardians, because presently they will not be too much to arrive at the plan. The seven biòu are thus on the draio (way), walking on with the accelerated step, surrounded of the gardians and the young riders, the long theory of the flowers stand according to; one approaches the village where all the remainder of the population waits. On an order of the baïle gardian, the riders are tightened surrounding the bulls completely and not leaving any passage between the horses: it is the critical moment, because the least fault of the riders can compromise the re-entry in the plan. Cries get along now, on a command of the baïle: "Abrivado" the troop takes trot... then the gallop... then it is the insane race, the load, "Abrivado" - zou the group seems to have wings; such an amount of worse for those which are in front of, the popular one awaits firm foot; howling, gesticulant, trépignant, deviating only at the last second to avoid being reversed and being trampled, trying with the passage to seize the support of a gardian to create the crack awaited in the hurricane of flesh which enters as a corner this crowd that one would believe taken of a collective madness. If the crack occurs it is one, then two, then three bulls... which escape in crowd. Then to try to gather them again, the gardians lose contact and it is all the batch which égaye, trying to turn over to the pasture. The gardians also turn over them to the herd to seek another race again, ready to start again their ride. Crowd is not contained any more joy and tries to seize one or two escaped animals only they then make run by the streets or avenues of the village. Ah! that the abrivado beautiful, is haloed by a fine dust that our sun of fire transforms into gold powder. It should have been lived to feel to vibrate the heart of people, communicant in the same faith and to include/understand the power which on him the bull exerts. In summer it forms part of its own life, it maintains on our premises: courage, agility, love of our ancestral traditions in this century of modernism and universal standardization. In Arles the last "Abrivado" took place on the String, after the large war, July 14, 1919, on the initiative of goods Arlésiens city council men, of which our friend Marius Fayard, burning aficionado. To warn crowd formerly counters the ill treatments inflicted with the bulls captured (what had made, at time, to remove the abrivado) these goods aficionado, by poster, had launched (into of Provence) a call with the people of Arles, this for. It was thus the last abrivado and being given the quantity from abroad taken refuge in Arles during the two wars, I have good reasons to think that it will be truly the last, the estrambord specifically arlésien being blunted or having disappeared.

The hut of gardian

2007-01-06T03:04:00.000-08:00

When one undertook into 1987 work of motorway A 55, connecting Nimes to Arles, one discovered ten archeological sites up to that point unknown. Most important is on left bank of the Small Rhone, in a loop which the river in direction of north makes. There the farmhouse of Augery is. The excavations made it possible to update the foundations of a medieval village which one named Augery-of-Corrèges. At the time of an exposure suggested during the winter 1987-1988 to the airport of Nimes-Let us park, one presented the model of one of the reconstituted dwellings: a large hut rather similar to the current hut of the gardian. In all the countries where areas marshy producing of reeds are found, the local peasant built a dwelling containing this cheap material laid out on a wood reinforcement. He is thus in the Spanish Levante, Portuguese Ribatejo, the Italian Pontins marshes and of course the Camargue. In old times, walls and roof were made same manner. The stone not existing in the delta, those which could make some come made build solids farmhouse, even castles; the hut remained the housing of the agricultural personnel, the shepherd and the gardian. When the cement bricks ("agglos") made their appearance, the walls of the huts were made up of it - called cachofais, one surrounded them of barbed wires to prevent that the bulls do not rub there... or do not devour them! -, but the roof remained and remains made reeds, the sagno. Initially round, with a central opening to highest of the cover for smoke, the hut was reduced to its simpler expression, a kind of tipi Indian or Eskimo igloo, the reed replacing the skin of animal or the block of ice. The evolution of the hut towards a vaster dwelling remained related to the climatic conditions; the violence of the mistral made that one adopted the circular form in north in order to give less catch to the wind (it is in this part that one preserved the room). The walls lengthened according to the needs to place kitchen and living room and the southern face became vertical, in order to open there more conveniently the door of entry and to establish there an arbour (laupi) also in reeds which preserved the interior of the hut of the hot season of summer. As well as wrote of Elly in its Camargue gardiane: "the art of the cabanier lies in the clothes industry of this cover, which must be perfectly hermetic with water of storm, and the difficulty resides, it is guessed, in the fitting of the round part of the roof, which finishes in cone. It does not remain any more whereas to let exceed with the outside on the roof, the acrin, the end of the joist obliques of the bottom, which comes to be pressed on the ridge, to receive either a horn of bull, or a short transverse bar, thus forming the cross of the hut." The frame is of a biblical simplicity; a ridge purlin relating to two pillars; of this beam to the walls, joists which are joined together by branches of willow or ash (coundorso). On this lattice, one sews with the wire the sheaves (manoun) of reeds. The technique can "be modernized" while covering initially with battens on which the liteaux ones are nailed. The roofer serves of a wood instrument known as paseou to clear with the wire the passage between the sheaves. When the cover is finished, one extends on the ridge, armed with a netting, a mortar cement and lime; in the same way for "falling", along the pinion of frontage. One uses seven packages of reeds to the square meter and two experienced men pose ten square meters of roof in the course of the day. The raw material, the reed, are collected with the autumn, when the sheets fall. The place of predilection of this collecting is, in the Small Camargue, in communal the vauverdois which skirt the channel of the Rhone in Sète, with height of Franquevaux, or the channel of Crapettes which skirts the road of Gallician in Iscles. One uses boats flat-bottomed to leave the sheaves the marsh. They are stored on the banks of the channel. Let us add that the hut, in the beginning "remains the poor one", became sometimes luxurious residence, inn, relay of hunting. It takes sometimes a small "Mexican" air, but it should well be recognized that the landscape puts up with it as well as possible, even if if sometimes its presence is invading by the multiplication of the buildings.

The sheep-fold

2007-01-04T05:46:00.000-08:00

It is at the XVIIIe century that the sheep-folds in the Camargue appear. Previously, the animals lived in formed parks of wood trays, called "spot", furnished with sagne (reed) to protect the sheep from the wind, or even in "coufes" which were not that networks of vegetable fibre cords made supported by stakes. Little by little, the shepherds protected the ewes suitées in "vanades", made shelters of reeds and forks and spoons of sagnes, and one arrived from there at the sheep-folds such as one still finds some (but less and less) in the Camargue, suitable for shelter two ovine miles on a surface of seven hundred square meters. Initially made reeds assembled on wood trays, the external walls, very low, are then built "into hard": intermediate brick pillars, which support the frames, and lighter hardcore filling. The cover, always in sagne, to stiff slope (45° in general) offers a consequent insulation by the thickness and the nature of the product. But this nature even of the product condemned the process which required a maintenance become little by little too expensive. And the tile replaced the reed. And then the tile, become in its turn too expensive, yields the place to the Asbestos cement. The "sheep-fold camarguaise" most accessible to the tourist is of course that of the farmhouse of Bridge-of-Rousty which was selected as tallies of Museon camarguen, in 1974, and we treat in addition. It is another which one can see rather easily, because registered within a framework of commercial animation, that of the farmhouse of Chassagne, in the plain of Meyran, where the Jalabert family proposes demonstrations known as folk. Most beautiful is in Crau, in the north of Port-Saint-Louis. It is named Favouillane. It is not easy to reach it; it is necessary to cross the farmhouse of the Raft, the way being impracticable in bad season. Directed North-South, it is fifty meters long on twelve meters broad. Side walls: one finds every five meters there an inclined buttress with 45° in the prolongation of the frame. One meter tops, these buttresses out of concrete related to lime, are covered on crawling of square stones of Fontvieille of forty side centimetres on ten centimetres thickness. Frame: on each nine pair of buttress come to rest, in their prolongation, two beams meeting on the level of the ridge tile. A punch supported by a tie-beam which connects the two beams comes itself to support the ridge tile. This punch, in addition connected to the two beams and the ridge tile by struts, is a vestige of the median post that the buttresses made it possible to remove. The principal beam of the apse comes to be based on a nineteenth buttress located in the median axis of the sheep-fold. This apse of five meters ray is consolidated with middle height by a horizontal structural member, arched according to the contour of the apse, coming to be pressed on tie-beam and the punch of the last farm. The breakdowns sand pits are engravées at the top of the buttresses; three other breakdowns are laid out every two meters on each slope. Rafters laid out every forty centimetres come to supplement this splendid frame of which all the parts are pinned except for the punch which is bolted with tie-beam. Pinion walls: it is out of coarse concrete related to the lime and fact covered compared to the roof. All the breakdowns come y engraver. Like the buttresses, this pinion wall is crowned of a stone pavement of of the same Fontvieille dimension. It is coating the stuff with lime on the part of concrete. The 4,30 height meters principal opening, is of installed stone semicircular arch. Another opening, of reduced size, makes it possible to clarify the housing of the shepherd arranged over the width of the first span in the east to be with the shelter of the wind and the rain coming from south-east; what is a proof of the absence of recent wood door, to two leaves, now comes to close this principal opening. Cover: it is made of sagne and it is undoubtedly the only sheep-fold still in activity with being thus covered. In 1976, this cover was in a lamentable state, to entirely remake. It was feared whereas the sheep-fold does not disappear fault from care. The foundation of the Park was moved some; it even thought of making dismount and to transport the building to Bridge-of-Rousty but the expenses considered were enormous and, in spite of a subsidy brought by the port authority of Marseilles, the project did not have a continuation. But to preserve the building, one made it classify and the commune of Port-Saint-Louis expressed his interest for his conservation. In 1981, one leads to a solution of restoration of the sheep-fold left in situ. Thanks to the financial support of the port authority, with the efforts of the Foundation and commune, the cover of thousand square meters was remade entirely in the technique of origin.

Les Saintes Maries de la Mer

2007-01-03T02:26:00.000-08:00

Les Saintes Maries de la Mer, the capital of the Camargue, is situated on the Mediterranean coast in the heart of Camargue's 'Park Naturel' with a small population of about 2300. The Provençal Legend Around the year 40 A.D. , a boat was launched from Jerusalem, without sail, oars or supplies, and drifted across the Mediterranen until it drifted ashore at this site. The refugees in the boat were Mary Jacobe, the mother of James and the sister of the Virgin; Mary Salome, the mother of the apostles James Major and John; Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary Magdalene and Martha; St. Maximus; Cedonius, who was born blind and cured, and sarah, the servant of the two Marys. After landing safely, the group built a small oratory to the Virgin. The disciples wandered off their separate ways. Mary Magdalene went to St. Baume, and Martha went to Tarascon. Mary Salome , Mary Jacobe and Sarah remained in the Camargue, and were later buried in the oratory. The tomb of these three saints became a cult object, and has been the attraction of pilgrimages for the past 19 centuries. They were reburied beneath the chancel during the Barbarian invasions, and then removed and enshrined in 1448 by Good King Rene.

Manade Yonnet

2006-12-14T06:03:00.000-08:00

The Mas la Bélugue, only a short distance from The Vaccarès pond,dates back to the 15th century and is the home of Hubert Yonnet and hiswife Francoise. For five generations the Yonnet family has been breedingthe famous fighting bulls and Camargue horses on their 5000-acre estate.While Francoise works her magic in the kitchen, Hubert will answer all yourquestions about the traditional life of a « manadier » of the Camargue.

Manade Mailhan

2006-12-14T06:01:00.001-08:00

The estate of Jacques Mailhan stretches acrosshundreds of acres of wild tamarisk, saltwort, andswamplands. A natural environment for his herds ofblack bulls and Camargue horses. From his farmhouse,the Mas de Bernacles with its private arena, all-day visitsinto the wilds of the Camargue can be organised.By reservation only, he can also accommodate between 30 and300 guests in his dining rooms to enjoy some traditional Delta menus preparedwith AOC meat from the bulls, and the organically grown rice of Jacques Mailhan.

Manade Jalabert

2006-12-14T06:01:00.000-08:00

The Jalabert family has been raising pure-bred Camargue horses, and fighting bulls for fourgenerations on their 1000-acre estate in the heart of the Camargue Regional Natural Park.They specialise in arranged visits to their free roaming herds, and to their bio-agricultureorganic rice fields. All the traditions of the Manade are presented in their private arena, fromdemonstrations of horsemanship, to the « jeux de gardians », « toreros », and « razeteurs ».Visits usually end with a celebration of the regional cuisine faithfully prepared by their caterers

Manade Fernay

2006-12-14T05:59:00.000-08:00

Sophie and Olivier Fernay have been breeding their herds since 1953. When you visit them you cantour the estate, which is near to the roman town of Arles, and see the famous black bulls and whitehorses of the Camargue roaming free, as well as their rice fields. Close to the fine old farmhousewhere you will be offered an aperitif and a chance to taste the culinary riches of theSouth, is the private arena. Here you can witness the traditional « spectacle of the bulls »and the «jeux de gardians»

Manade des Chanoines

2006-12-14T05:58:00.000-08:00

Only a short distance from the ancient town of Arles is the Manade des Chanoinesrenowned for its life stock breeding in the true tradition of the Camargue. Guests are takenon a hay wagon guided tour to see the herds of black bulls and white horses, which roam free.There are demonstrations of livestock branding (ferrade) and « jeux de gardian ». Also available, safariby four-wheel drive transport, and special Camargue days and Camargue weekends. In the evening guestsdine to the accompaniment of gypsy music.

Manade Jacques Bon

2006-12-14T05:56:00.000-08:00

Lucille and Jacque Bon run a 1200-acre estate in the heart of the Camargue where they canwelcome guests throughout the year. The farm is divided between rice production and grazingpastures for their herds of bulls and horses. During a visit you can witness some of thetraditional actives of the Delta. There is the Festival of cattle branding (ferrade), the « jeux degardians » and the « course à la cocarde ». There are two reception rooms available : La Cabanodis Ego which can accommodate between 40 and 1600 guests,and the 19th century Bergerie du Mas dePeint that can accommodate between 40 and700 guests.

Manade Blanc

2006-12-14T05:47:00.000-08:00

Spreads across 250 acres of the Camargue. The estate is home to a herd of wildbulls and horses that roam the landscape at liberty. Here you will also find cropsof rice and hard wheat. The farmhouse (« mas ») is one of the oldest in theCamargue delta and during a visit you can dine in the fully restored 18th centurywine cellar. For your pleasure watch the « spectacle of the bulls », and otherthemes of the Camargue.

The Camargue - a land where the bull reigns supreme

2006-11-06T06:13:00.000-08:00

The men who raise them under the sun of the Camargue and the Crau revere Bulls and the Camargue horses reared to drive the herds. Pure breed bulls are the reason for the abundance of white farms and ranches in the Rhône Delta. The bull meat has an AOC label. And the Corrida? It belongs to another ancient Mediterranean tradition. In the villages other bull games are popular: Camargue races, bull running or “cocarde” racing where the competitor, on foot, has to lift pom-poms and ribbons from the horns of the bulls, which are often to be seen leaping the barriers to chase after the brave, white-garbed competitor. There are also “abrivados”, when bulls are driven through the villages during the annual fetes by ranchers on horseback, and “ferrades” where young bulls are branded with a red iron. If there is an element of the Far West in all this, there is also antiquity: these games have been played since the pre-Christian Greek era. It is a fact that the Greeks of Phocea founded Marseille 2,600 years ago so were in the area several centuries before the Romans. The Camargue is a primitive and ancient land where the gods are closer to nature than to man.

The cultural heritage

2006-09-19T03:50:00.000-07:00

Between September 2003 and May 2004, the Camargue Regional Nature Park carried out a preliminary inventory of the architectural heritage of Arles, using a method developed in consultation with the Service Régional de l'Inventaire and the Service Départemental de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine. In all, 690 edifices were listed, described, photographed (around 7,000 digitised views were produced) and integrated into the park's MISTRAL data base.

The park was chartered in 1970 and is located at the mouth of the Rhone River. It extends across the entire river delta area. The Camargue is a major world heritage wetland and is host to many fragile ecosystems. The exceptional biological diversity is the result of water and salt in an "amphibious" land inhabited by numerous species. The Rhone Delta drifted periodically until the end of the 19th century. These geological and geophysical characteristics have made this vast expanse what it is today, the result of successive sedimentation from the ebb and flow of the river and the sea. Camargue has not always looked like it does today. It is the result of an incessant struggle between the river, the sea and man. For centuries, the elements tried to reclaim land that the inhabitants had worked so hard to shelter from flooding and tidewaters.It was not until the 19th century that the sea and river were somewhat tamed and the inhabitants could start extending their farmland to feed the growing population. First, construction of a sea dike in 1859 limited the rise of tidewaters in south Camargue. Ten years later the Rhone was embanked to control flooding that periodically submerged the farmland. The Camarguais then could farm irrigated vineyards, and after WWII, rice was grown extensively. These two crops were an incentive to extend the irrigation ditches, permitting desalinization of more land, but required much more water control equipment.
The artificial networks, which were improved in the 20th century, were also used to channel and manage water resources to cope with dry spells and tailor water to growing seasons.Ponds and marshes cover a large proportion of the river delta. Partly dry in summer, the shallow (20 to 80 cm) marshes are subject to the unpredictable seasonal weather patterns of the Mediterranean climate. They are nevertheless, with the ponds, habitats of choice for migratory and sedentary birds, egrets, night herons, bitterns, mallards and wagtails are common guests in this fragile ecosystem. Pink Flamingos, now the emblem of the Camargue, have a population here that can reach 20,000 couples grouped into flocks. This is the only place in France and one of the few around the Mediterranean where they nest. They are protected by the park. In order to learn more about the rich cultural heritage of the Camargue, we went along with the guardians (caretakers) of the park during their selection and round up of the bulls just as their ancestors have done for centuries. This was a unique opportunity for our group to learn the importance of cultural as well as natural preservation.

Camargue Delta overview

2006-08-31T08:47:00.000-07:00

Deserted Mediterranean beaches glow white along a warm sea as the last authentic French steam paddleboat puffs up into the mouth of the Rhone River.

Just to the north of Arles, Provence’s chief Roman metropolis, the river Rhône divides into two : to the west the "petit Rhône" flows down to the "petite Camargue", Aigues Mortes, and les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, and to the east the "grand Rhône" which embraces the salt works (Salin de Giraud) and the petro-chemical industrial complexes of Port St.Louis, Port de Bouc, and Fos. Between and around them lies the vast delta of salt marsh known as the Camargue. Created by the ebb flow and collision of the great river from the north, swollen by melting Alpine snows, and from the southeast buffeted by a robust riposte of the "houle" (sea swell) which douses the salt flats, forever re-designing intricate patterns of pools, ponds, and lagoons "étangs", among sandbars and desolate marshland.
The capital city of Arles was a celebrated Roman port city, and sits on a stony hill at the point of the triangle. This is the center of Vincent Van Gogh's colorful Provence. The spongy triangle of river delta (noted in pale yellow on the map) is bordered by the sea along its broad foot, and embraced by the two arms of the Rhone River (the Petit Rhone and the main channel) along its right and left edges.
Here, on this damp spit of salty earth that slopes gradually upward to the fresh bath of the Rhone waters, have flourished wild white horses, bulls, and the Gardians and the Manadiers who manage them, as well as sailors, gypsies, tourists and flamingos.

The distinctive white horses and wild bulls are everywhere in the marsh. Manhood (meaning bragging rights in the local pubs) is earned by working with these horses and bulls. Many of the local attractions offer visitors an opportunity to see the Gardians in action, prodding the bulls with their long working sticks (one wouldn't want to lasso on of these wild bulls) and cage-like stirrups that encase the toe so that Gardians can work stampeding stock in difficult marsh areas.

Hiking and biking are both popular activities throughout the Camargue and Provence in general. Guided tours of various sorts are available in the village of Stes. Maries-de-la-Mer. And then there is Arles, just 36 km to the north, and all of the Roman structures, the wild flowers, and the history of Van Gogh.

touristic routes

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accommodation

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leisure

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events

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partner links

2006-08-15T02:43:00.000-07:00

Camargue Delta

2006-08-02T08:48:00.000-07:00

With an area of over 930 km² (360 sq. miles), the Camargue is western Europe's largest river delta (technically an island, as it is wholly surrounded by water). It is a vast plain comprising large brine lagoons (étangs) cut off from the sea by sandbars and encircled by reed-covered marshes which are in turn surrounded by a large cultivated area. Approximately a third of the Camargue is either lakes or marshland. The central area around the shoreline of the Étang de Vaccarès has been protected as a regional park since 1927, in recognition of its great importance as a haven for wild birds. The Parc Régional de Camargue was created in 1970.
The Camargue is like its own little country. Once you're a few minutes south of Arles, you enter the atmosphere of the area, with its series of long, level roads criss-crossing the marshes and farmlands. Eagles, hawks and harriers soar in the blue skies and muskrats swim along the little canals, often making unsuccessful attempts to cross the roads. Black bulls and white horses graze in the fields, and lines of horseback riders file into the brush to observe the nature first-hand. Cyclists peddle against the winds, along the roads or off on lanes forbidden to motor vehicles.
The Camargue is home to more than 400 species of birds, the brine ponds providing one of the few European habitats for the greater flamingo. The marshes are also a prime habitat for many species of insects, notably (and notoriously) some of the most ferocious mosquitos to be found anywhere in France.