Bergerac en fête...

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Bergerac is looking very pretty at the moment, decked out with thousands of garlands of flowers hanging across the streets and buildings. The occasion is that Bergerac is hosting La Felibrée - a fête to celebrate of all things Occitan. Every year a different village in Perigord hosts this fête and the decorations are amazing, so colourful. For those that don't know, Occitan is the old language of  Perigord. Perigord is the name of the region of Aquitaine that includes Bergerac. A hundred years ago, most people in the region spoke Occitan, the local language but unfortunately very few speak it now. To my ear, it's a sort of mix of French and Spanish, similar to other local languages like Basque and Catalan. The red and yellow represent the Occitan and the blue and white la Feblibrée.

Every street & alley way has been decorated with canopies of garlands...

Even Cyrano de Bergerac is admiring them...

The squares are looking beautiful...

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& down on the old quay a gabarre has been decorated too.
A gabarre is a flat-bottomed boat traditionally used to transfer wine to & from Bergerac...

The old bridge across the Dordogne hasn't been forgotten with a curtain of garlands on each side, really pretty as you drive across...

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There will be lots of traditional events over the weekend to enjoy...

Walking back to the river, I noticed the other Cyrano was enjoying the shade....

& this water fountain tucked in a wall, providing wonderfully cold drinking water on such a hot day...

While we were in Bergerac we had a little promenade along the river, taking in the wonderful scenery...

watched a gabarre moving gracefully up the river...

& eyed up some houses too! Like these facing the old quay...

& my favourite, hiding behind the picket gate...

Harley and J enjoyed it too, although I'm not sure who was walking who!

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Next week I'm off to on holiday to Malta with the family - yippee! Can't wait!

Kelly is going to take over the baton for a week so watch this space!