"Performance can be seen by non francophone spectators" : this mention figures about every fifth item of the 400 pages-thick Avignon's theater festival programe. This illustrates a fact : many theater performances are actually dance-drama, circus or music shows and a limited grasp of french is necessary to enjoy them. The street performers are not counted among those, and the clowns, acrobats, dancers who throng the streets are often non-french speaking.
My personal "coup de coeur" goes to an English speaking blonde girl, ( maybe German ?) an acrobat and mime, last seen performing under southern walls of the Palais des Papes in the tiny square formed by rue Peyrollerie and rue Vice-Legat, close to La Mirande hotel. A big blonde girl with a ponytail, a demure expression and decidedly retro miniskirts. She plays a" Do you wanto marry me" number with delighted macho frenchies picked in the crowd. ( I was not selected.)
This year' s Avignon festival seems to be a great success, frequentation is at a record-high. But most residents are counting days until August. The city will be at its most enjoyable after this month-long party is over, and the billboards unfastened. There will still be a lot of shows to pick from, notably a lovely jazz festival, but in a more relaxed atmosphere..
While I was working, in a previous life, as a consultant for a governement agency in Madagascar, putting together the data for the WorldHotelink website of this country, I became aware of the different meanings of " sustainable tourism", depending on one's cultural background.
The WHL team ( Mostly anglo-saxon, and living in developed countries) was expecting us to put more emphasis on large operations, with a recorded track of sustainability ( focusing on things like waste treatement, renewable energy, donations to NGO's...). They wanted no information on social issues, (minimum wages, local recrutment or ownership). The "Sustainable" hotel who won first price that year was a US-owned luxury palace in a large track of private rainforest in Central America. (Sounded like an ex United Fruit plantation painted green to me !).
I was advocating the potential of small ( 5 to 20 rooms) units, family owned, located in small cities... My cultural model of sustainability was that of a french provencal Auberge ! Not illogical, if you consider that their modus operandi has been sustained for several centuries, without negative impact on the environment nor trendy herbal-spas. But let me come to the point: A holiday in Avignon is a case in point of sustainable, low-emissions tourism.
Green-minded tourists can have the time of their life here, eating proper food, and minimising their carbon imprint. To do so, you could arrive by train ; rent a pushbike from an automated ( an solar powered) docking post of the Velopop' system (pay per ride, city operated), then cycle your way around town. It's Avignon's answer to Paris's Velib bike-hire scheme or the Barclay's cycle hire launched in London today.
If you don't feel quite fit enough, call a cycle rickshaw ! Velo cite (www.velo-cite.fr, phone 06 37 36 48 89, e mail : velociteavignon@gmail.com) is a team of four hardy cyclists, ready to wheel you around town on comfy contraptions, british-built but looking very much like designer's version of Indian rickshaws. Avignon is rather flat, but the cyclists are helped by electric batteries and sharing their experience of town with the clients is one of their priorities.
Crossing the Rhone river on the electric ferry is also a must ; from the landing point, on the green Barthelasse island, you can walk to vegetable growers , and buy organic food . Several organic farmers exist in the so-called " green belt" within Avignon municipal limits, and inside town are also excellent retailers selling organic ( here we say "bio") fruits and vegetables. ( My favorite is La Courgette en Folie, rue Saint Michel). Many other opportunities abound in the city, for instance to understand the potential of solar energy in homes, or the organic food market organisation... all the while enjoying a pleasure trip in an inventive city that has remained little changed since about 700 years. For lovers of the planet, it beats jetting to Central America, in my opinion.
The world's largest theater festival opened today in Avignon. More than one thousand differend theater companies ( from one-person shows to huge performing teams) vie for your attention in the streets and venues of the city - schools, shops, gym rooms etc being all converted in makeshift theaters. An estimate of five thousand performers enjoy the city athmosphere, and their banter, stunts and laughs make everybody else happy. Their combined repertoire goes from farcical to decidely mystic. We elected to welcome a company from the Indian ocean - actors, dancers and musicians from Reunion, Madagascar and Mauritius, so our place, fully booked by now until August, takes a creole flavour.
EScale Théatre
U-topie
I feel the festival's mood this year is set both on the plays of classical times - 17th and 18th century, ( top left is a photograph of a company performing Moliere and Shakespeare Viva la Commedia!- and also on political shows. The Wahrschein Kabarett ( photo, left)is a remarkable play by Philippe Fenwick et al, revisiting propaganda discourses both sides of the Berlin wall. Escale theatre has a long history of performing in rural villages and out of the way places. They play every morning in the Agricol Perdiguier garden next to St Martial temple and the tourist office. Another politicallly minded show is U-topie, a play on the 1871 Commune de Paris, every night at 21.30 in the College de la Salle, a big affair with choir singers, puppets, giving a voice to the " voiceless people in history".
A stone’s throw from the crowds munching a standard meal on Place de l’Horloge or in the tight maze of pedestrian streets, the Hermitage restaurant enjoys one of the most carefully laid open air dining area in Avignon, rue Figuière, a very central square shadowed by the fresh walls of the church of St. Didier and ancient plane trees. The chef is from Avignon, but inspired by his early career experiences in Asia. His eye for detail and creative alliances is already a mark of this restaurant-cum-wine bar that is the opposite of a tourist factory, while maintaining low prices. The menu is resolutely oriented towards fresh produce of Provence, but in a "fusion cuisine" perspective. Check the excellent goat cheese and honey nems, the salmon tartare with fresh spinach, the rather amazing duck breast with gingerbread, and even the fillet of sole cooked in a banana leaf ... For wine, if the reasonably priced menu allows for a little luxury, give priority to the great classics of the region, including the Crozes Hermitage, a heady cote-du Rhone which inspired the name of their restaurant to Freddy and Jo, the two young managers from Vaucluse. After extensive training, including in the Opera Cafe, they run their first own business here - after having completely renovated it themselves, including the dining room with its vaulted ceilings.
Acces: Carpark Halles or Jean-Jaures. Easy walking access, 100 meters from the Rue de la Republique (follow the small street between McDonalds and Fnac, and then enter rue Figuière, past the House of poetry and Utopia Republique cinema.)
