Carnival in France

This may be a little late in coming since Carnival is underway in most places and finished in some others, but France offers a lot of partying at this time of year. Maybe next year it could be on your radar screen to go to the south of France and celebrate. This from the French government tourist office website:

THE 2009 CARNIVALS IN FRANCE:

A little history:
Carnivals, generally associated with the Christian feast of Mardi gras or Fat Tuesday, are a common festival celebrated throughout Europe and in South America.
The word carnival is Italian in origin: carnevale, made up of carn (flesh or meat) and levare (to take away), because people traditionally ate lots of meat to make up for what they would have to give up during Lent.

It is generally a time when the people in a town or village can dress up, with masks or makeup, and come together to sing and dance in the streets, throw confetti, and sometimes watch a parade.

According to the religious calendar, carnival begins with Epiphany (January 6), which marks the end of the Christmas holidays, and it ends on Mardi Gras, the eve of Lent.

Disguises of all kinds, masked balls, and going out on Dimanche Gras (Fat Sunday) and Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) are traditionally the various forms of entertainment during Carnival.

Some of the key Carnivals celebrated in France:

• The Carnival of Dunkirk: January 30 to March 14, 2009

A huge celebration where thousands of carnival-goers line up, arm in arm, and sing traditional songs.

• The Carnival of Nice: from February 13 to March 1, 2009
  
  2009 will be the 125th year that the celebration is held, with the key moments of the corsi carnavalesques and the famous battles of flowers. The entertaining and pretty parades include the papier maché or flower floats, street performers and musical groups.
• The Carnival Biarnés: from February 13-24, 2009
  
  10 days of celebration in Pau, an event that remains faithful to the carnival tradition of Béarn. Research done on the characters, the costumes, staging, music, songs and dances creates a festive event that goes back quite some time in history.
  
• The Carnival of Paris: February 22, 2009
  
  The Carnival of Paris was, for many centuries, one of the most important in the world. It grew in importance in the 16th century, replacing the Feast of Fools. The star of the parade is a Limousine breed cow, named Pimprenelle, who embodies the fatted calf.
  
• The Carnival of Granville: from February 21-24, 2009
  
  4 days of feasting and some 20 satirical floats, thousands of carnival-goers and tons of confetti take over the streets of Granville.
• The Carnival of Sarreguemines: from February 8-25, 2009
  
  The biggest carnival in the region of Lorraine is held in Sarreguemines each year during the week before Shrove Tuesday. It takes place according to the same ritual with a Prince and a Princess, the Kappensitzung, the great Cavalcade and masquerade balls (Balla-Balla). It ends on Ash Wednesday with the sentencing of the Prince.

Carcassonne Tour News

As mentioned previously in this blog; we have redesigned the Carcassonne Countryside Tour. Below is a a note from Tom, in our France office, who went out to work on the route books recently.


Discover France has set up a new tour for 2009: Carcassonne country side biking.
The team in France is settled in the region of Languedoc (the tour starts close to our office, in the magnificent village of Saint-Guilhem le Désert), so it has been our pleasure to select and double check every roads and itineraries for some of you -lucky travelers- who will ride on these roads.

I’ve been living in this region for quite a while but I must say that I didn’t expect this tour to be so beautiful and amazing. Our region expert did a brilliant work, the result is simple: I have totally rediscovered my own region!

There is such a variety of landscapes: beautiful vineyards all the time but it never come with the same surroundings. Sometimes it’s a typical Provence landscape, then its mountains and rocks, sometimes there are red rocks and lakes, or typical country side of France (so lovely that you will be overwhelmed), not to mention the world famous canal du midi.

As a result, the landscape will change every day and quite often, it will change within the same day! As if it is not enough; you will pass through villages full of history. Of course, Saint-Guilhem le Désert and Carcassonne are must see, but you will also admire and be charmed by other places that are not so famous, surprisingly.

This tour is an off beaten path, no one else will take you on these roads, so if you are looking for a great tour that show you a lot of the many typical colorful landscapes of France and a lot of historical places (Churches, Castles, medieval Cities, Abbey…), this tour is what you need.

As a result, I can say that I love my job and I feel so lucky to have seen all these gems of my own region.
We checked this tour on a cloudy day, and even with such weather, we were amazed.

I can’t wait to ride my bike on sunny days and impressed my friends with our region!

Photos can speak louder than words… Just be aware that we did not stop to take pictures of the famous places, we just stop for some of the off beaten path marvelous places, yet there is a lot more to see and even more stunning!