July 2017 - Feria, Ferry and Fleur

July started off with a bull chasing festival; then a concert in nearby Carcassonne and ended with a visit from one of our good friends from Alice Springs. In between, we watched some of the Tour de France, dropped into Andorra and went to Corsica - we will talk about those trips in separate chapters. Life in Limoux continued with dinners and parties in the courtyard and with us enjoying the café culture in the main square.

Feria de Limoux
This is a 4 day festival that includes Spanish dancing, election of Miss Premiere Bulle (wine queen not bull queen), Spanish music, gypsy music, DJs, rock bands, inter-village games and of course the running and chasing of the bulls.

We were surprised to see the main road through town was blocked off to all traffic for 4 days! The detours would have been very difficult for the big trucks. On either side of the road the boules courts and the car parks were taken over by bars, dancing schools and side show stalls. In the area where the bulls would run – about 500 metres – the road was lined with barriers. These were to keep the

bulls in, not the people out, and people walked through the barriers as desired even when the bulls were on the track. We did see some OH&S though – they wouldn’t let the bulls run whilst an inebriated man stood in the middle of the track.

After the bulls were run up and down the track escorted by the cowboys (who look they were riding Camargue horses) participants got to chase the bulls and hold their tails. We are not sure if there is a winner e.g. how long you hold onto the tail, or whether it is just for the glory. It is good that people can’t get gored although probably quite annoying for the bull. It was also interesting to see that some young men could hold the tail in one hand and a beer in the other. We love Limoux.

Concert at the Medieval Cite de Carcassonne
We were excited to get tickets to see Bryan Ferry – for the young ones – he was a famous singer in the 1970s. The concert was one of about 120 concerts, shows and events that happen during the Carcassonne Festival. The amphitheatre in the medieval city is such a beautiful setting; it must be great for the performers to play in such an intimate, amazing place.

Bryan Ferry was great and he sang all his old songs as well as new songs. He had a massive band backing him up.

The biggest surprise of the night was the support act LP. She was incredible and we recommend to everyone to listen to her music – she has had 1 or 2 hits in Australia. She had many passionate fans

at the concert and she wandered the amphitheatre with them mobbing her. LP is tiny. She shook our friend Jackie’s hand and she continues to remind us of that moment even today. Every time we visit Jackie she is playing the LP album.

Alice Springs in Limoux
At the end of the month our friend Fleur and her girls and Matt visited. As Fleur is our dog sitter for a year John wanted to know why she did not bring Tallis to enjoy the French café scene - it's a dog life here - they are everywhere and accepted as part of life - you would never see water bowls given out at restaurants in Australia.

Fleur's visit, sadly was only for a few days so we did the essential tourist stuff – day trip to Carcassonne and local sights. It was really

great to see Fleur and meet Matt. Prior to departure Matt got suspected food poisoning (maybe the seafood) so Fleur got in the driver’s seat and they continued on their massive journey.

We wait in anticipation to see what other surprises we will discover in Limoux

Next: Tour de France Trip – Limoux to Alus les Bains