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© MC LucatFinally, marking the corners appeared as a way to reinforce the project geometry and to delimit distinctly two entities. The upper part, with fifteen apartments in double exposure, is covered of wood and punctuated of small appropriable volumes. The composition is sitting on a mineral base. Here, the addition of gabion baskets comes to strengthen the dichotomy feeling between the two elements. On the ground floor two public spaces nestle: a tax center and a police station.
© MC LucatOriginally published on August 17
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For several decades during the Middle Ages
The result is a legacy of opulent churches
convents and monuments in the middle of a walled Old Town
This is our embarkation point for a week-long bike and barge trip through Provence and we've arrived early to get over jet lag
My husband and I flew into Charles de Gaulle
We soon realize that rail travel and bike boxes don't pair well as we lug our baggage up and down steep stairs between platforms
struggle to find stowage space on the trains and have difficulty finding cabs big enough for our bikes
we're a little frazzled when we get dropped on a corner in Old Town where the apartment we've booked is on a pedestrian-only street
curving staircase to a huge apartment with tall windows and wrought iron balconies
gives us excellent resto recos and leaves us to enjoy our three days here
My husband takes on the ascent of Tour de France's Mont Ventoux – 1,912 metres in 23 kilometres with an average grade of 7.5 per cent
both of his carbon wheels melt and the tires are trashed
Kind locals stop and somehow manage to stow him and his bike into their tiny Renault and take him to a bike shop
my sister and I wander charming streets within the 14th C walls
Palais de Popes sits atop the highest point in Avignon
He set up the papal capital in Avignon because he was distressed by factionalism in Rome and under pressure to remain in France by the king
through seven popes (all French) until 1377
Having absorbed religious and political history
We try on clothes in several sleek boutiques
How is it that French women can—with a pouf of fabric here and a tug of a sleeve there—make any dress look wonderful
Except for a Little-House-on-the-Prairie pink frilly smock
which the sales lady labels "romantic," but I know is better described as "the doily that ate my body" as I look in the changing room mirror
All too soon it is time to board our barge
The boat we were supposed to have sunk (we see the hull sticking out of the river later on our trip) and I suspect they dusted off Caprice from retirement
My husband and I can barely turn around in our tiny cabin with its two teeny beds
A thick wedge of plastic serves as the "door" to the miniscule loo and there are dead flies around the small porthole
takes us on a 45-kilometre ride through deciduous forests and fruit orchards; across the Rhone; beside fields of pumpkins
flamboyant dill and sunflowers hanging their heavy heads
spent for the season; and through the gnarly
low-slung vineyards of Châteauneuf-du-Pape
is delighted to fondle the pudding stones— —that top the terroir here
The stones absorb heat during the day and keep the vines warm through the night
My husband and I are on light road bikes while all the others ride heavy-weight hybrids so we are cycling very
This doesn't bode well for my caloric burn
which I would like to be high to better enable me to indulge in the Provencal cuisine that I am expecting
Our cook is British and feeds us mediocre curries
intelligent and full of bon humour about the "cuisine." And there is no lack of wine on board
including many bottles of very nice Côtes du Rhône rose
we leave Avignon for another day of cycling through tiny villages
across busy bridges (with ultra-narrow sidewalk lanes with large drops to the roadway
which tends to focus the riding mind) and along lanes lined by huge Sycamores
We stop for lunch (which we make ourselves each morning from an unimaginative buffet of cheeses
meats and breads) at Pont du Gard—a Roman monument built in 1st century AD
It is a three-level aqueduct standing 50m high and allowed water to flow 50 kilometres across the river to Nîmes
Roman architects and hydraulic engineers created a technical masterpiece that took 1,000 workers to build
More cycling takes us to a boutique olive oil mill
The owners explain the process: from "combing" the olive trees (by hand with an implement that resembles a big comb) to pressing the olives (pits and all) to achieve the "virgin" designation
The waste goes to fertilize the vines and to feed "combat bulls" who will "eat anything
they make a fraction of the production that houses in Spain
the owners say "first press" can no longer be sold because it doesn't meet safety regulations
where we sit on deck with some wine to joke about what cook will serve for dinner and hear Daniella tell us about tomorrow's ride
where the river and the Mediterranean meet
heatwaves and droughts are making water sources salty and lands infertile
Scientists in the region say the Camargue risks losing its economic and cultural worth
including its traditional bull festivities
as well as its natural beauty without interventions to help curb climate breakdown
People dressed in traditional Camargue clothes participate in the opening ceremony of a regional type of bullfighting in the arena of Salin de Giraud
For centuries people from across the region have observed Camarguaise bull festivities in the Rhône delta, where the river and the Mediterranean Sea meet. But now the tradition is under threat from rising sea levels, heatwaves and droughts that are making water sources salty and land infertile.
At the same time, authorities are trying to preserve more land, leaving less for bulls to graze.
“Here in Camargue the bull is God, like a king,” said the Aigues-Mortes resident Jean-Pierre Grimaldi as he cheered on from the private arena stands, where he had watched competitions for decades. “We live to serve these animals. Some of the most brilliant bulls even have their own tombs built for them to be buried in.”
Generations of “manadiers”, or ranchers, such as Frederic Raynaud, have dedicated their lives to raising the bulls that are indigenous to the region. Wilder bulls that can win prestigious fighting events are the most prized.
Raynaud, a fifth-generation manadier, has raised many such bulls on his “manade”, a term for ranches in the region just east of Aigues-Mortes. His ranch looks after abour 250 Camargue bulls and 15 horses that graze in semi-wild pastures along the coast. He fears that soon his much-celebrated cattle will not have lands to feed on.
Top left: the Raynaud family emblem at the ranch in Camargue. Top right: Frederic Raynaud rides his horse Greco at the beach next to his ranch. His pastures are slowly sinking as the sea level rises and higher soil salt levels render the land useless. Above: a dyke built to hold back the sea from advancing into Raynaud’s pasture. The dyke was built by local authorities as a temporary solution but is pushed back each year
Now the salt rises up through the soil five or six kilometres beyond the shorelineFrederic Raynaud“The sea level rises on our coast and takes more and more of our land,” Raynaud said. A temporary dyke constructed by local authorities to stop the sea has sunk in on itself, the water passing right through it and into the manade’s pastures. The edge of the ranch is slipping into the sea.
Land that hasn’t been swallowed is becoming unusable as encroaching waters make the wetlands more and more salty. Heatwaves and drought, exacerbated by climate breakdown, are also depriving the land of fresh water, allowing seawater to take over. Raynaud said they used to have salt rising up just on their land nearer the coast. “But now the salt rises up through the soil five or six kilometres [three to four miles] beyond the shoreline where you can see salt encrusting over the vegetation.”
Manadier Jean-Claude Groul fetches his horse at dawn to start the day’s work at the Manade Saint-Louis
The sea level around the town of Stes-Marie-de-la-Mer in Camargue has risen by a steady 3.7mm (0.15in) a year from 2001 to 2019, almost twice the global average sea level rise measured throughout the 20th century, according to the Tour du Valat research institute. Warming, expanding oceans and the melting of ice over land, all results of climate breakdown, are contributing to higher sea levels.
Researchers say the advance of salt into the soil will leave the land barren and uninhabitable long before the sea engulfs it. Some affected pastures have already become bare with little vegetation and the abnormally high salt content poses health risks to organisms not able to tolerate it.
Left: Groul disperses hay for Camargue bulls. Right: hay is stored for the winter months in a silo at the Manade Saint-Louis. When pastures fail to naturally produce enough vegetation to feed the animals, ranchers must import additional reserves of fodder
“Glaciers which are in the process of melting at an incredibly high rate have already passed the point of no return, so probably in the years to come, the 40% of river flow that arrives in Camargue will be reduced to a much smaller percentage,” said Jean Jalbert of Tour du Valat.
During summers plagued by high temperatures and diminished rainfall, the sea water can reach up to 12 miles (20km) into the Rhône. During a heatwave in August this year, the Raynaud family’s water pump in the Petit Rhône, an offshoot of the main river, began pumping salt water. They were forced to move the pump further up the river outside the perimeters of their own ranch to irrigate their land and feed their animals.
The Raynauds recently bought 10 hectares (24 acres) of land to the north of their property to allow their bulls to graze. “It isn’t that much for 250 bulls, but if one day there’s a catastrophe, that will be a fallback if we ever are forced to start again somewhere new,” Raynaud said.
Top: Jean-Claude Groul operates an irrigation pump. Like all the ranchers in the region, Groul must irrigate his pastures with fresh water from the Rhône in order to keep the vegetation healthy and the soil salinity at a sustainable level. Above left: Groul wrangles Camargue bulls. Above right: Groul’s hat sits on the dashboard of his truck as he transports Camargue bulls from one pasture to another
Less and less territory is being prioritised for the ranches as authorities work to acquire land destined for preservation. Christine Aillet, the mayor of Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer, has said regional conservation efforts are putting nature over her townspeople.
“They tell you on TV that the Camargue needs to be returned to nature,” said Aillet, who is skeptical of schemes aimed at saving the region by limiting global heating and reforesting the land. “The Camargue will be dry without fresh water” if such preservation plans were enacted, she added.
Aillet favours measures such as increasing the number of tidal barriers along the coastline, which she says will help residents, but researchers say these ideas are only a temporary fix and will not withstand the effects of coastal erosion and a fast-altering climate.
Climate experts around the world say sea levels will continue to rise and that drastic action is needed to stop making the problem worse.
A bull is kept in a holding area at Manade Saint-Louis
“For the past five generations the Camarguaise lived with the belief that the balance of Camargue is and forever will be stable, but we are in a delta that is beginning to face climate change,” Jalbert said. “This ecosystem, that we believed to be stable is starting to show cracks.”
For Raynaud, how big those cracks get will determine whether he will be able to maintain a ranch that has been in his family for more than a century. “I’ve always been here, grown up here, the animals have always been here,” he said. “Leaving this place would be awful but if one day the sea arrives here, we will have to go.”
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Spectator tossed several metres into air before landing on her head
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A woman has been killed by a bull who struck her during a local festival in the southern French city of Aigues-Mortes.
The woman, who is from Cannes, was watching a bull race with her husband on Saturday.
As the bulls left the area after the race, one leapt over the fence which separated them from the public.
The bull managed to catch the woman in its horns – tossing her several metres into the air before she landed on her head.
The woman was evacuated by helicopter but she later died in hospital.
According to some reports, the couple had been advised by fellow spectators not to stand directly behind the fence as the bulls departed the track.
It comes after one person was gored and four others were injured on the first day of a traditional bull-running festival in Pamplona in July.
According to the Red Cross, a bull’s horn injured the individual during the two-and-a-half-minute sprint through the winding streets of the city in the north of Spain.
The four others who were hurt suffered from grazes and other minor injuries. All five were taken to hospital.
Around 2,000 people generally attend the event which sees people run with six bulls and six bullocks along a 875m route.
This year the sprint was faster than average and rain from the previous night had meant the ground was left wet.
An average of around seven people are hurt each year on the Saturday during the bull-run which is statistically the most dangerous day of the nine-day San Fermín festival.
At least 16 people have died during the festival since 1910, with the most recent fatality taking place in 2009, but minor injuries are far more common because of falls.
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which celebrates creative interpretations of the natural element
‘floating garden’ comprises a circular form filled with a lacework of carefully-placed grains of salt
the artist sits down in a small space where no particles are laid
simultaneously moving a container of salt in a particular rhythm
a subtle movement which creates tiny cells that mimic bubble-like patterns
each of these thin salt ribbons symbolizes pieces of memories and fragments of time
hurricane-like pattern is used as a motif used throughout east asia to represent life and death
the ephemeral artwork was realized in 45 hours over the course of five days.
the installation is housed within the castle tower at aigues-mortes
the installation ‘labyrinth’ is housed within the castle’s ramparts
the narrow stone passageway has been filled with an intricate maze of carefully-placed salt lines
forming a complex arrangement of delicate matter that snakes through the architecture of the space
these precise outlines lead through the corridor towards a large pile of salt placed at the doorway
the artist carefully outlines small circles using a container filled with salt
tiny cells that mimic bubble-like patterns are formed by the salt outlines
each of the thin salt ribbons symbolizes pieces of memories and fragments of time
‘floating garden’ in progress at the 13th century walled city in southern france
the installation ‘labyrinth’ is housed within the castle’s ramparts
the installation forms a complex arrangement of delicate matter that snakes through the space
grains of salt have been carefully applied the surface of the castle floor
these outlines lead through the corridor towards a large pile of salt placed at the doorway
the installation culminates with a large mound of salt
the salt lines zig zag through the space
AXOR presents three bathroom concepts that are not merely places of function
but destinations in themselves — sanctuaries of style
Photographer Paolo Pettigiani is known for his infrared images
he didn't need any special lenses to inject some pink into the compositions
The bubble gum hue prevalent in this new work is all natural
This micro-algae is plentiful in salt fields like the ones that Pettigiani photographed in the Camargue region of France
And their bright pink appearance allowed Pettigiani to create the surreal atmospheres that he's known for in his work without using any special technology
The Italian photographer used the strong contrast between the pink water
and blue sky to put together a striking set of images
Pettigiani was fulfilling a long-held desire to photograph salt flats
These environments meet his requirements for all of his photo projects due to their geometry
But it wasn't easy to find the perfect setting for his photoshoot
“I have always been attracted by the colors and shapes of the saline but it’s really hard to find a colorful one in Central Europe
A couple of years ago I found some images of the Salin d'Aigues-Mortes in France on the web,” he tells My Modern Met
“The Dunaliella salina is a perfect example of how a natural environment can inspire my creativity: the geometry and the minimalism of the lines created by water and sand
paired with the natural elements of seaweed.”
The minimalist compositions certainly allow viewers to drink in the scenery
And by occasionally inserting lone figures into the photographs
Pettigiani also gives the work a sense of scale
Though the work is different than his typical infrared photos
Pettigiani hopes that it will also stop and make people think
“I would like to bring emotion to people in the same way that I do with my infrared artworks and highlight that nature is something amazing
Beauty can be found in everyday actions and places,” he shares
“If I didn’t explain the scientific reason of why the saline is pink
Is it a digital manipulation of the image or pure Mother Nature?”
Celebrating creativity and promoting a positive culture by spotlighting the best sides of humanity—from the lighthearted and fun to the thought-provoking and enlightening
Unesco listing for the city’s Roman temple put this city on the map last year
but there are uncharted delights in the surrounding towns as well
The director of a newly refurbished boutique hotel in the old town of Nîmes tells me he has gained and lost a star recently. The hotel’s restaurant, Rouge, run by Benin-born chef Georgiana Viou, recently won its first Michelin star. But the hotel itself, the Margaret Chouleur
has been downgraded from a five-star to just four
Nîmes is feeling good about itself as its Roman temple was added to Unesco’s world heritage sites list last yearToday
this southern French town of 150,000 inhabitants is easily reachable from more distant Britannic regions by Eurostar and TGV
Nîmes is the capital of the Gard department
and a centre of Protestantism (first tolerated
then cruelly suppressed in the wars of religion and the counter-reformation)
The Gard towns’ prosperity waxed and waned either side of the 1789 revolution
then following the points of the compass: 30 minutes (more or less) north to Uzès
south to Aigues-Mortes and west to Sommières (all are cheaply reachable by train or bus but to follow the route without going back to Nîmes every time
offering a twist on the southern French classics) are among my favourite foodie discoveries
Added to the city’s allure this year is an exciting new triennial art festival, La Contemporaine de Nîmes
held around the city in public and museum spaces (until 23 June)
dozens of established and emerging artists from France and beyond will feature work on the theme “a new youth”
Once the locals start arriving, L’Uzès gets that atmosphere of earnest hedonism that’s the mark of a true French bistroTwice a week, there’s a market in Place aux Herbes. After the clothes and food stalls pack up, the cloisters around the square are a good place for a quiet drink. L’Uzès on the main drag (Boulevard Gambetta) feels a bit austere
it gets that atmosphere of earnest hedonism that’s the mark of a true French bistro
It serves French classics with a few Asian twists: or Occitane-style fish and chips
faces are pulled and grimaces barely suppressed when I say I’m heading next to Beaucaire
which is known for having been won by the far-right Front National
saluted UK leavers by renaming a sidestreet rue de Brexit
that Beaucaire also has a fine walled old town
built by merchants who made their fortunes at the annual Foire de la Madeleine
goods from the rest of France and the world were brought by boat
locals made small fortunes letting out their rooms
or even a small camping space in front of their houses
After a day in Beaucaire I spend the night in the countryside at Domaine des Clos
an 18th-century winery converted by a former travel writer and her family (it’s just 9km from town and easy to reach by bicycle too)
Outside are quiet groves of cypress and palm and a pool; inside is all art
My route on to Aigues-Mortes takes me south into the Camargue through a silent landscape of canals and fields where white horses graze. The fortress town overlooks the salty marshland, with the distant hills of the Cévennes biosphere reserve to the north
A brisk walk around the ramparts from the Tour de Constance
once a prison for unrepentant Protestants and their families
I descend from the parapets into what seems like the most touristic of my near-Nîmes experiences
I find myself frowning at the main square with its circuit of bars and restaurants with waiters beckoning you in
The village is dominated by a bridge built in the time of Tiberius
The river Vidourle flows under the bridge and beneath the cobbled streets – until it doesn’t
when the waters reached second-storey windows as a 300-metre-wide torrent cut off the town
More information on Nimes and around from nimes-tourisme.com. Eurostar returns from London to Nimes cost from £180
lagoons and salt pans of the Petite Camargue are a serene setting for a canal cruise
and the local rosé means the fun doesn’t stop once moored up
She was just a Vision 3 SL cruiser with three cabins and a kitchen
But as soon as we leapt aboard and ran around her top deck like excited children
we couldn’t help but think of Duran Duran’s cheesy 1980s video
We were in Languedoc in France to explore the Petite Camargue; the expanse of Rhone delta wetlands which lie to the west of the Camargue
salt pans and phenomenal birdlife – perfect for a boating holiday
the four of us planned to pootle along the Canal du Rhône à Sète
We didn’t even need any boating experience – a quick training session at Le Boat’s boatyard in Saint Gilles and we were off
View image in fullscreenEarly evening near GallicianA local’s guide to Nice, France: 10 top tipsRead moreOur first night’s destination wasn’t particularly ambitious – just 15km west to tiny Gallician
The afternoon light was turning golden as we settled into life at Rio’s soothing pace – no more than 8km an hour
White Camargue horses looked at us from the towpath
even spotting white flamingos at the water’s edge
frogs and crickets started their dusk chorus and fish jumped from the water
pounding stakes into the grassy bank to secure Rio for the night
and sat on deck to watch the sun go down and feast on cheeses
the gorgeously dry pale rosé of the Camargue
No one else was around to disturb our peace
View image in fullscreenMoorings by the medieval walls of Aigues-Mortes.‘I’m Spartacus!’: gladiators galore at Nîmes’ Great Roman GamesRead moreAfter too much wine,we couldn’t resist a late-night stroll along the bank
listening to the faint sounds of cowbells and frogs
Even the mosquitoes didn’t entirely destroy the atmosphere
Sleep came easily in the comfortable cabins
we chugged along to medieval Aigues-Mortes with egrets
View image in fullscreen‘Rio’ moored just outside GallicianAfter such a bucolic journey
but its 8,000-strong population was in the midst of its annual festival
and busy carousing within the town’s medieval walls
The 13th-century Tour de Constance was the starting point for a walk along the medieval ramparts
where we could peek into the town’s trim gardens
as well as the cafe-filled Place Saint-Louis
we had a perfect view of the Petite Camargue
Seemingly endless pink salt marshes spread out as far as I could see as
a trio of Camargue cowboys ambled into town on their white horses to join the festivities
Aigues-Mortes’ Sunday food market gave us the chance to stock up on Languedoc goodies including bull saucisson
with dozens of stalls under the plane trees outside the ramparts,and the smell of roasting rotisserie chickens filling the air
View image in fullscreenSunset on the way to GallicianNîmes’ stunning new Roman museum dazzles in a glass ‘toga’Read moreBack on the boat
we discovered why the skies were so wonderfully blue: a strong wind blowing along the canal was keeping any rain at bay
we could have stopped at Carnon-Plage or Palavas-les-Flots
we battled on to moor at an empty spot just beyond Palavas-les-Flots
where we crossed a pontoon bridge to a little isthmus and visited the half-ruined medieval cathedral
Walking trails snaked between the marshes and lagoons
filled with people enjoying the sunny Sunday afternoon
where kitesurfers swooped along the water in a fantastic show of acrobatics
The last time we celebrated our birthdays together was on a Camden pub crawl in 1989
Now we were knocking back rosé and eating grilled goats’ cheese salad on a boat on a Languedoc canal
Being middle-aged can be a good thing at times
View image in fullscreenWriter Mary Novakovich driving the boatMercifully
the wind had died down by the time we turned back east the following day
and we eased our craft back down the canal in glorious sunshine
But I did fall in love – with life on the water
Boat hire and flights to Nîmes were proviced by Le Boat
which has a five-night Camargue short break on a Vision 3 SL
Looking for a holiday with a difference? Browse Guardian Holidays now to find a range of fantastic trips
The Times and The Sunday Times"}],"headline":"Be a tactical tourist
And for us it was miraculous."},"children":[]}]},{"name":"paragraph","children":[{"name":"text","attributes":{"value":"We get lost easily in France
She likes following the bend in the road and seeing where it takes us."},"children":[]}]},{"name":"paragraph","children":[{"name":"text","attributes":{"value":"On our travels through"},"children":[]},{"name":"italic","children":[{"name":"text","attributes":{"value":" la France profonde"},"children":[]}]},{"name":"text","attributes":{"value":"
over many years now — in the high Pyrenees in the southwest
on the battlefields of the First World War in the north
on the Mediterranean coast — we have stumbled upon places and people and history that
They seem to be lying in wait for"},"children":[]},{"name":"paywall","children":[{"name":"text","attributes":{"value":" me
and mostly in places we never intended to go to at all
Happenstance seems to be essential to this alchemy."},"children":[]}]}]},{"name":"paywall","children":[{"name":"paragraph","children":[{"name":"text","children":[],"attributes":{"value":"Last spring
after long and muddy months of a dreary Devon winter
I arranged to rent an apartment in the courtyard of a manoir in the south of France
It turned out to be a gloomy and depressing place to stay
we decided to leave."}}]},{"name":"paragraph","children":[{"name":"text","children":[],"attributes":{"value":"Clare said: “Let’s just drive south
had a dreadful meal in the cafe that he painted there
We got lost."}}]},{"name":"ad","children":[]},{"name":"paragraph","children":[{"name":"text","children":[],"attributes":{"value":"We drove through a landscape not unlike eastern England’s Fens
But this was the Fens with a difference: pink lakes
and flocks of flamingos in their thousands
One of us then remembered we had seen an old film set in these marshes of the Camargue
spirits soared."}}]},{"name":"paragraph","children":[{"name":"text","children":[],"attributes":{"value":"We arrived outside a nearby town
These carousels were beginning to fascinate me; the colours
Neither of us had ever heard of it."}}]},{"name":"paragraph","children":[{"name":"text","children":[],"attributes":{"value":"We trundled our cases along cobbled streets
who had left from this town on his crusades
Here was a lovely 18th-century building that seemingly had changed little in 50 years
showed us up an impressive staircase into a large room with stone walls and wide creaky floorboards
we looked down into the walled back courtyard where we would have our breakfast
and where there was a small pool — not for people
but for goldfish — and there were a couple of tortoises mooching about
Seventh heaven."}}]},{"name":"paragraph","children":[{"name":"text","children":[],"attributes":{"value":"We had no idea how best to explore the region
Madame had a friend who lived out on the marshes
who took travellers like us on safari into the Camargue in her Land Rover
It was arranged."}}]},{"name":"inlineAd1","children":[]},{"name":"paragraph","children":[{"name":"text","children":[],"attributes":{"value":"The next morning
we met up with Anne-Sophie Deville and her Land Rover
and she told us something of the history of this unique region
Already she was pointing out the birdlife: the egrets
We quickly understood how important salt was in this place."}}]},{"name":"paragraph","children":[{"name":"text","children":[],"attributes":{"value":"Anne-Sophie
A respected academic from Montpellier University
she was making their conservation in the Camargue her life’s work
She had written a magnificent book about them
showing us the islands in the lakes where they breed."}}]},{"name":"paragraph","children":[{"name":"text","children":[],"attributes":{"value":"Then she took us to the site on her farm where the Roman invaders had come two millennia before and built a fort
when the German army invaded and occupied the Camargue
they built a gun emplacement on top of the Roman fort
against the probability of an allied invasion
The Americans disobliged them and landed further down the coast
still standing."}}]},{"name":"paragraph","children":[{"name":"text","children":[],"attributes":{"value":"We discovered the next day
a wonderful modern museum in a great barn that tells inventively
we went to stand on the windswept beach where Van Gogh stood to paint his picture of fishing boats on the sand."}}]},{"name":"inlineAd2","children":[]},{"name":"paragraph","children":[{"name":"text","children":[],"attributes":{"value":"So
the alchemy of wild white horses and black bulls and pink flamingos and carousels and pink salt lakes and the marshes
and a family growing up there in the farmhouse where Anne-Sophie Deville lives
whose magnificent ramparts we walked around
Read the first three chapters at "}},{"name":"link","children":[{"name":"text","children":[],"attributes":{"value":"thesundaytimes.co.uk/morpurgo-extract"}}],"attributes":{"href":"https://www.thetimes.com/article/michael-morpurgos-flamingoboy-exclusive-book-extract-rzd9qslnf","type":"article","canonicalId":"michael-morpurgos-flamingo-boy-exclusive-book-extract-rzd9qslnf"}},{"name":"text","children":[],"attributes":{"value":"
and get a 40% discount on the book at "}},{"name":"link","children":[{"name":"text","children":[],"attributes":{"value":"harpercollins.co.uk/flamingo"}}],"attributes":{"href":"https://www.harpercollins.co.uk/9780008134631/flamingo-boy/"}},{"name":"text","children":[],"attributes":{"value":" — use the code 40flamingo
Doubles at the Hôtel Les Templiers start at £111 ("}},{"name":"link","children":[{"name":"text","children":[],"attributes":{"value":"hotellestempliers.ellohaweb.com"}}],"attributes":{"href":"https://hotellestempliers.ellohaweb.com/en-GB/"}},{"name":"text","children":[],"attributes":{"value":")
easyJet or Ryanair"}}]}]}]}]},"summary({\"maxCharCount\":200})":{"type":"json","json":[{"name":"paragraph","children":[{"name":"text","attributes":{"value":"We discovered the Camargue quite by accident
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Flamingo Boy","id":"a17e767e-1e1f-11e8-95b1-6ede71e17390","label":"FRANCE","publicationName":"SUNDAYTIMES","publishedTime":"2018-03-04T00:01:00.000Z","updatedTime":"2018-03-04T01:38:14.000Z","section":"travel","shortIdentifier":"mrdfl6pd6","shortHeadline":"The War Horse author was entranced by the delta’s salt lakes
read an exclusive extract","seoDescription":"We discovered the Camargue quite by accident
And for us it was miraculous.We get lost easily in France
She likes following the bend in the road and seeing where it takes us
Flamingo BoyThe War Horse author was entranced by the delta’s salt lakes
read an exclusive extractMichael MorpurgoSunday March 04 2018
The Sunday TimesTrot on: the region’s famous white horsesMIKE HILLMichael MorpurgoSunday March 04 2018
The Sunday TimesWe discovered the Camargue quite by accident
Happenstance seems to be essential to this alchemy
We drove through a landscape not unlike eastern England’s Fens
We trundled our cases along cobbled streets
We chose the first hotel we came to: the Hôtel Les Templiers
Wade in: flamingos live in the national parkGETTYThe moment we walked in
We had no idea how best to explore the region
We quickly understood how important salt was in this place
showing us the islands in the lakes where they breed
Then she took us to the site on her farm where the Roman invaders had come two millennia before and built a fort
we went to stand on the windswept beach where Van Gogh stood to paint his picture of fishing boats on the sand
and the German occupation and Van Gogh and the Roma people — all this made me determined to write my own story of the Camargue
I called it Flamingo Boy
InspirationMore from InspirationCLAIRE IRVIN
The TimesThe first few hours on the Rhône à Sète canal in the Camargue were among the most tense I’ve known on a holiday
It wasn’t the handling of the boat (modern craft are as easy to manage as a fairground dodgem)
nor was it the traditional holiday bickering over choice of beds
featureless expanse of the Camargue stubbornly refused to cede ground
What landmarks there were — an abandoned fisherman’s hut
its faded layers of peeling paint picked out against the cloudless sky
or a tower atop the fortified ramparts of Aigues-Mortes — seemed to hover on the horizon for ever
Isn’t the start to a holiday so often like that
My personal journey to acceptance came in three stages
For the first hour I found myself straining my sinews as I sat at the wheel as if coaxing a Morris Minor into maintaining momentum up a sharp incline
pondering the interminable hours I would have to spend steering the boat (it’s remarkable how much attention this requires) as the family lounged around the deck
it was as if my eyes had adjusted after stepping from shade into bright light
and I started to take in the untrammelled beauty of my surroundings
The harbour town of Le Grau-du-RoiGETTY IMAGESThe Camargue’s famous white horses (“actually a white horse is known as a grey,” my 11-year-old corrected me) trotted alongside our boat
flocks of pink flamingos stood immobile in the wetlands that surrounded us and I started to pick out other riverbank life: families of otters and ducks taking early-morning dips
herons and egrets foraging at the water’s edge
No wonder the Camargue is known as a wonderland for nature lovers
The 60-mile canal connects the Rhône in the west with Sète on the south coast
It took 60 years to dig out in the 18th century
and you sense you are witnessing a landscape that has changed little in the intervening years
with huge commercial barges ploughing up and down
tree-lined stretches I remember from teenage holidays on the Canal du Midi
The Rhône à Sète does have two big advantages
besides the huge vistas: there are no locks and you are never far from some of the best beaches in the south of France
If you have a young family in tow or feel the heat
and knowing that you are never more than a 20-minute cycle ride from a dip in the Med makes the unrelenting summer heat all the more bearable
We had picked up our vessel and bikes from the boatyard at Saint-Gilles
With a full week you can make it all the way through the saltwater lagoon of Étang de Thau and on to Port Cassafières on the Canal du Midi
which fellow travellers told us was the more interesting and picturesque section
But with only four nights we would have to double back at Frontignan
where a hydraulic bridge guards the lagoon’s entrance
fortified in the 13th century by Louis IX and the embarkation point of the Seventh and Eighth Crusades
On a beautiful sunlit evening we moored beneath its ancient walls and wandered its pretty streets (at €37
it was the most expensive berth of the trip
Aigues-Mortes probably wears its tourism most heavily
with its knight-themed sweetshops and fashion boutiques
but it still has a historic charm and you can easily escape the crowds by ducking down shady side streets to eat beneath bougainvillea amid the chatter of locals
The next morning we got on our bikes and headed down the towpath to Le Grau-du-Roi
a picturesque harbour town with echoes of past grandeur and now a happy hubbub of cafés and ice-cream shops
It also offers access to the wild dunes of Espiguette
Ernest Hemingway was such a fan (of the town
The dunes of EspiguetteALAMYBack on the boat
an island marooned between the canal and a spit of beach
and the unlikely location of an 11th-century cathedral
a summer escape for the pontiffs during the Avignon Papacy
I can see the draw — it’s an extraordinary setting and feels as if it’s on the limits of the known world
the ruined cathedral hosts a medieval music festival
without hooking up to water or electricity
plans to enjoy supper on deck were abandoned when the Camargue’s notorious mosquitoes locked in on us and we had to retreat below deck with the windows shut
It wasn’t the most comfortable night in the stifling heat and perhaps explains why most opt to stay in official moorings in the towns
Next morning we set off early for Frontignan
We had hoped to make a quick foray into the lagoon to a fishing village and lunch on local oysters and mussels
or visit the Noilly Prat cellars at Marseillan
but the bridge is raised only twice a day and the timings didn’t work
so we took the bikes on the train for the 15-minute journey to Sète instead
it’s an unpretentious working port dissected by canals around the hill of Mont Saint-Clair
well worth a visit for its sandy coves and restaurants by the harbour wall
By now it was time to set the boat for home
a purpose-built holiday town and marina where we chanced on a very good market and more seemingly endless sandy beaches
and then a final staging night at the tiny village of Gallician
and then finally back to Saint-Gilles for 10am the next day
it felt an age since we had last been there
I swear I saw the hands on my watch speed up as we readjusted to normal time
Need to knowTony Turnbull was a guest of Le Boat. A four-night short break on a Calypso-class boat, sleeping up to eight, costs from £1,131 in July. Daily bike hire costs from £7 for adults and £4 for children (leboat.co.uk; 023 9280 9136)
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“I started working on the collection with the obsession to restart from nothing, like a white page,” Jacquemus told Vogue.
Rachel Antonoff Spring 2023 Ready-to-Wear
Medievalists.net
Abstract: Arguments as to why St Louis diverted his 1270 crusade to Tunis from Jerusalem have been raging ever since the expedition returned to France
Although historians have recently agreed that the diversion was the decision of Louis himself
this consensus has not led to exploration of his reasons for crusading to a north African port city
This essay argues that the diversion to Tunis is best understood in terms of Louis’s ideas about conversion in general and his policy towards the Jews of his land in particular
The close parallels between Louis’s Jewish policy and the Tunisian strategy suggest that these conversion policies led Louis to Tunis
Louis IX of France took the cross for the second time
His concern for the Latin settlements in the Holy Land had not waned since his disastrous first crusade some twenty years earlier
That expedition had not only resulted in the capture of the king and his army in the Nile Delta
by precipitating the collapse of the Ayyubid dynasty of Cairo
had the unintended effect of bringing to power one of the most formidable opponents the crusader states would ever face
Under their sultan Baybars they set out to eliminate the crusader states and by 1265 they appeared well on the way to achieving their goal
given the danger facing the crusader states and Louis’s concern for their welfare
that when the crusade finally departed Aigues-Mortes in July 1270
a north African port city just across the Straits of Messina from Sicily
Though geography alone would suggest that Tunis posed little threat to the Latin settlements in the Holy Land
Louis and his men besieged the city through the height of an African summer
That very same day
Louis’s younger brother Charles of Anjou arrived from Sicily
he quickly negotiated a truce on terms favourable to himself
In this way he brought to an end the last crusade of his elder brother
a future saint and the last European monarch to lead a crusade in defence of crusader Syria
Click here to read this article from the University of Minnesota
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the Crusades have gained more intense contemporary resonance than for many centuries past
his research focusing on the beliefs that suddenly
prompted armies of westerners to attempt to conquer the Holy Land
and to pull off against apparently insurmountable odds what was seen as a miracle: a divine intervention in the affairs of the world comparable to the incarnation of Christ
What motivated thousands of well-heeled French
German and Italian laymen to walk away from their daily existences and risk everything
How did the papacy justify such a radical – indeed
subversive – innovation in terms of Christian theology
How was this extraordinary concatenation of ideas and events moulded into an institutional structure to sustain the territorial consequences of this transformation in geopolitics
How was it then deployed to legitimise Christian violence elsewhere
View image in fullscreenJonathan Riley-Smith was a founder member
of the Society for the History of the Crusades and the Latin EastSome German and French historians had addressed some of these questions
but Riley-Smith answered them with an unprecedented clarity and directness
founded on a far wider and more systematic reading of theology and canon law as well as of narrative sources and documents
His primary interest was always what people thought
whether the inchoate spiritual fervour of illiterate lay Crusaders
or the elaborate theological and legal contortions of popes and their advisers
His devout Catholic faith gave him a clear insight into the mentality
but did not in any sense make him an apologist
fighting – that quintessential lay aristocratic activity – ceased to be a sinful necessity in a fallen world
and became instead an expression of devoted and meritorious service to Christ as lord
Crusading became a manifestation of lay piety
as the territory sanctified by Christ’s terrestrial presence – Christ’s very patrimony – was retaken from the infidel and defended in his name
The traditional metaphor of the monk as soldier fighting in Christ’s cause through prayer was actualised
In my favourite Riley-Smith book – The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading (1986) – he showed how the diffuse elements in the original proclamation of an armed pilgrimage by Pope Urban II in 1095 were fused and transformed in the aftermath of the taking of Jerusalem in 1099 by the historians who wrote accounts of the triumph of a lay monastery on the march
It was this interpretation that was adopted by subsequent popes
1095-1131 (1997) meticulously tracked down every identifiable participant
and sought to reconstruct his likely motives
Riley-Smith’s arguments had already been sketched out over a much longer timescale in his trenchant What Were the Crusades
and in a seminal essay with the characteristically provocative title Crusading As an Act of Love (1980)
The Knights of St John in Jerusalem and Cyprus
c.1050-1310 (1967; 2nd edition 2012) dealt with the subject of his doctoral research
the Knights of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem
one of the orders of soldier monks that crusading engendered
The Feudal Nobility and the Kingdom of Jerusalem
1174-1277 (1973; 2nd edition 2002) showed how the system of western feudal law was imported into the newly established kingdom of Jerusalem by the settler nobility
There were many more books on the same and similar themes, which tapped into the wider public interest that Riley-Smith had been a leading light in promoting. This August he launched a massive internet calendar of the charters and other legal documents of the Latin East
he was the son of William Riley-Smith and his wife
The Riley-Smith family had prospered from its involvement in the Yorkshire firm of John Smith’s Brewery
he spent a lot of time at the racecourse at Newmarket
but less conventionally acquired for himself a copy of the massive 19th-century French edition of the crusading chroniclers
After graduating in 1960, he embarked on research. At the time, Sir Steven Runciman’s three-volume history of the Crusades
Riley-Smith developed an approach that surpassed its mellifluous narrative
by focusing on what legitimated Crusades and motivated Crusaders
His first lecturing post was at the University of St Andrews (1964-72)
old-fashioned (he was forever enveloped in a miasma of pipe smoke
He evinced a boundless generosity of spirit
Michael Edwards joins this week-long cruise through one of France’s most beautiful regions
six-night river and canal cruise takes passengers through the Camargue’s unique delta landscape
the Petit Rhône and the Canal du Rhône à Sète
Cruisers take in the Camargue’s big sky views as the wetlands slide towards the Mediterranean
The Camargue is like no other region in France
marsh reed thatched cottages and black bulls grazing – all of these mark out the Camargue as a remote and hauntingly beautiful landscape
One week, the epic Charming Provence cruise sails south-west from Arles
the hotel barge sails from Sète on the Mediterranean coast
Purpose built as a small hotel barge in 2014
the MS Anne-Marie is the very essence of French life
Carrying a maximum of 22 passengers in just 11 cabins
intimate atmosphere on this floating French hamlet
En-suite bathrooms have showers with good water pressure and room to dry off after a shower
sun-umbrellas shade half-a-dozen bistro style tables
so some passengers rise early to sip a coffee at this impromptu café as morning mists rise from the river
while others enjoy a night-cap long after the sun has set
perhaps even a touch of the famed and feared Mistral
guests gather in the indoor lounge by the bar
By the sun-loungers on the top deck there is a mini-Tour de France style bike-park
Often the MS Anne-Marie moors up by a tempting towpath of easy scenic cycling
and when the ship moors up alongside any area of gravel that could pass for a court
the purser is always keen to whip out the boules set
a hot tub provides a decadent way of watching the Provencal countryside slip by and the sun set
become a much-loved part of the day’s routine and ritual
purser Hans has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the aperitifs which he shares in immaculate English and French
Hans even has two names for a tasty blend of two parts burgundy wine and one part blackcurrant: Communard from red-wearing lefties or Cardinale from crimson robe-wearing clergy
This is a culinary voyage through the tastes of Provence
chef Jonathan Nicoise announces the menu in the elegant light restaurant
A four-course lunch always starts with a crisp salad and the day’s chosen dressing
seafood from France’s largest fishing port at Sète
rosé and white wine is offered with both lunch and dinner
obviously served before dessert in these parts
diners take a tour of France’s great cheeses
an award-winning Occitan-Basque cheese made from sheep milk
Breakfast is buffet-style with plenty of fresh fruit
A waitress is on hand to pour coffee and take orders for eggs
There is a culinary theme to some of the excursions too
cruisers are introduced to the art of blending different species of olives into olive oil at the Moulin de Coquille: a farm where over 10,000 olive trees are shaken for their olives every autumn
Arles’ link with Van Gogh and its annual international photography competition make the town a magnet for art lovers
Although Van Gogh’s house was obliterated in 1944
his strong blues and yellows still feature throughout the town
takes in the lagoon at The Étang de Thau which farms some of France’s finest oysters
on one of the most serene stretches of France’s coastline
salt has been key to both preserving food and providing taste
with a backdrop of the sturdy ramparts of Aigues-Mortes
Photos capture salt hills reflected in the pink algae tinged lakes
Walled by 1.6 kilometres of well-preserved medieval ramparts
the name of Aigues-Mortes literally translates as ‘waters dead’
the town found itself five kilometres from the Med
the port was a departure point for Crusaders heading to the Holy land but nowadays life around its pedestrianised cobbled streets
One memorable excursion takes in Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert
classified as one of the most beautiful villages of France
A gourmet cruise through one of France’s most beautiful
Small-ship cruising on the MS Anne-Marie is quintessentially French
taking cruisers through charming French towns to a spectacular Mediterranean coastline
Departing 15th October 2022 or on various dates between March and August 2023
prices for the seven-day cruise between Arles and Sete start from £2,380 per person for the cruise with all meals and drinks
Call CroisiEurope on 020 8328 1281 or visit croisieurope.co.uk
Earth View is a plugin from Google that replaces blank new tabs in Google Chrome with stunning satellite imagery taken from across the globe
Photos range from the Béchar Province of Algeria
It first launched in October 2014, and is available to download here
We've picked out 37 of the most beautiful and striking below
but there are literally thousands more just like them
Seventeen Euro TV titles premiere in or return with a new season to the US in November
first non-English-language series produced by HBO
To see the complete list of Euro TV shows available in the US and UK, see the Euro TV Shows by Language section. Viewers in the US can check the ongoing updates of titles released throughout each month on the Euro TV Viewing Guide page
All programs listed below are shown in their original language with English subtitles
Trailers may or may not have English subtitles; for those without
you should still be able to get a sense of the story through the visuals and program descriptions
Based on Tomas Arvidsson’s first two novels (not translated into English)
this new comedy-drama series stars Sissela Kyle (Miss Friman’s War
Crimes of Passion) and Lotta Tejle (30 Degrees in February
see below) as sexagenarian friends in Kalmar
Jenny Bengtsson (Tejle) is a math teacher who didn’t get much of a settlement in her divorce
is a doctor whose stock market investments were failures
In realizing that their upcoming retirement years will be anything but bright
Cecilia and Jenny decide to do something drastic to secure their financial futures: rob the main branch of the Stockholm Bank
Except they experience one hiccup after another when trying to execute their plan
This crime drama is the original version of the American remake of the same name. Created by best-selling Danish author Elsebeth Egholm
the series follows a (fictional) unit of the Copenhagen Police that specializes in serial murder investigations
lead by criminal investigator Katrine Ries Jensen (Laura Bach
The Eagle) with help from forensic psychologist Thomas Schaeffer (Jakob Cedergren
Playing the other team members are Lars Mikkelsen (The Team)
Those Who Kill premieres in the US on Tuesday, November 6, exclusively on MHz Choice and the MHz Choice channel on Amazon
The Adulterer: Season 2 (Overspel) (The Netherlands)
Opening a year after the Season 1 finale, the new season of this Dutch thriller finds photographer Iris van Erkel-Hoegaarde (Sylvia Hoeks, The Girl in the Spider’s Web, Blade Runner 2049) and lawyer Willem Steenhouwer (Fedja van Huêt, The Neighbors, Black Widow) living happily together
Willem is set to testify against Huub Couwenberg (Kees Prins
This could create all sorts of scandal for Huub
who doesn’t want anyone digging up anything about his shady business dealings with Martin Royackers (Frederik Brom
This crime thriller stars Jannis Niewöhner (Maximilian
nicknamed Beat — a promoter in Berlin’s most famous techno club who lives for drugs
and every other excess of nightlife in the German capital
Beat’s connections to the underworld lead the European Secret Service to recruit him; they need him to infiltrate a notorious organ smuggling ring following a murder in the city’s seedy clubbing subculture
Once Beat becomes their undercover insider
he discovers the shocking extent of corruption in his close network
The seven-part series features Christian Berkel (Valkyrie)
Beat, a Prime Original series, premieres in the US on Friday, November 9, exclusively on Prime Video
The Sandhamn Murders: Season 1 (Morden i Sandhamn) (Sweden)
Based on the novels by Swedish author Viveca Sten
this mystery-crime drama series stars Alexandra Rapaport (The Team
Codename Hunter) and Jakob Cedergren (Those Who Kill
Arn: The Knight Templar) as former classmates who reconnect by way of murders on the idyllic island of Sandhamn
and summer resident on Sandhamn; Cedergren plays Thomas Andreasson
The first season’s three-part story finds Thomas and his partner
investigating the murder of a man whose corpse was found by Nora
Another suspicious death happens soon thereafter
and Thomas must prevent Nora from becoming a victim
Dar Salim (Dicte, Spring Tide, Borgen) stars in this crime drama as CC, a war veteran struggling to readjust to civilian life. He is plagued by guilt over his final mission, which resulted in the death of his best friend, Peter (Jakob Oftebro, Hamilton)
is a police investigator involved in the battle with a rough biker gang in Copenhagen
With CC not experiencing the post-war peace and normalcy he hoped for
he offers to help Louise by infiltrating the gang
Warrior, a Netflix Global Original series, premieres in all Netflix territories outside of Denmark, Finland, and Norway, on Tuesday, November 13, exclusively on Netflix. (You can add it to your queue now.)
see below) narrates this documentary that commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Armistice
newly-released archival footage and news clips
and restored color footage from more than 50 sources
it depicts the interwar period (1918-1926) and the rise of nationalism while an apocalypse — one with a new world order and the demise of once-powerful empires — looms on the horizon
Apocalypse, la paix impossible premieres in the US on Wednesday, November 14, at 8:30 PM ET, on TV5Monde USA
My Brilliant Friend (L’amica geniale) (Italy)
This highly-anticipated period drama and coming-of-age tale tells the story of the tempestuous friendship between Elena Greco and Raffaella “Lila” Cerullo
After the now-elderly Elena learns that Lila
she turns on her computer and starts writing the story of their friendship
starting from the point when the two girls met during their first year of primary school in Naples in 1950
Newcomers Elisa Del Genio and Ludovica Nasti play Elena and Lila as young children
Portraying them as teenagers are Margherita Mazzucco (Elena) and Gaia Girace (Lila)
This eight-part drama is the first of what will be four miniseries based on the titles in the “Neopolitan Novels” book series, written by an Italian author whose pseudonym is Elena Ferrante
It is also the first non-English-language series that HBO has ever produced
A production of HBO, RAI Fiction, and TIMvision, My Brilliant Friend premieres in the US on Sunday, November 18, at 9 PM ET, exclusively on HBO
Nicolai Cleve Broch (The Half Brother) stars in this crime drama series as Aksel Borgen
a successful businessman who has spent the last 20 years in Asia
following his acquittal for the murder of his high-school sweetheart
When his hometown’s cornerstone business is threatened by bankruptcy
Aksel returns to save the place that once turned its back on him
the past has not been forgotten; his arrival tears old wounds apart and new conflicts arise as the man who pleaded not guilty is still being judged
Acquitted: Season 1 premieres in the US on Tuesday, November 20, exclusively on MHz Choice and the MHz Choice channel on Amazon
Antonia Liskova (Good and Evil) and Massimo Poggio (Bulletproof Heart) star in this drama as Elena and Pietro
a happily married couple with two beautiful daughters
an elegant villa on the outskirts of the city
But their bliss is shattered when Pietro is kidnapped and Elena must deal with this nightmare as well as her memories of having been abducted herself 20 years ago
Elena is unaware that the same group of people who kidnapped her when she was a teenager is now involved in her husband’s abduction
She also doesn’t realize that Pietro isn’t the upstanding man and role model he appears to be
The same can be said for Giordano Testa (Kaspar Capparoni
the officer who rescued Elena all those years ago and is the lead detective in the new investigation
The Sandhamn Murders: Season 2 (Morden i Sandhamn) (Sweden)
The second three-part story of this Swedish mystery series finds Nora hosting a viewing party for the Round Gotland yacht race
is competing as a member of Team Juliander
But the festivities are short-lived when the team’s captain is shot dead
Enter Thomas with new partner Mia Holmgren (Sandra Andreis
whose forensic work points to Nora’s house as being one of only two possible locations of the shooter
The case gets complicated when someone connected to the first victim is also murdered
and Nora finds herself in a situation that could get her killed
In addition to Andreis, Lotta Tejle (The Simple Heist) joins the cast as a series regular this season, which features Anu Sinisalo (Easy Living) and Gustav Levin (Missing)
The Sandhamn Murders: Season 2 premieres in the US on Tuesday, November 20, exclusively on MHz Choice and the MHz Choice channel on Amazon
The Bureau: Season 4 (Le Bureau des Légendes) (France)
Continuing the threads from Season 3
the fourth season of this spy thriller finds Malotru (Mathieu Kassovitz
War & Peace) trying to negotiate his return to France from Moscow
where the PTSD-suffering Marina (Sara Giraudeau
Les bêtises) begins her new undercover assignment in the midst of hackers
former CIA director “JJA” (Mathieu Amalric
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) is the DGSE’s new director of internal security
He is planning to cut heads and has Marie-Jeanne (Florence Loiret Caille
the Bureau des Légende’s new director
Budapest) suspects his mission is actually a cover for a secret operation targeting the French jihadists he’s been tracking
Joining the Season 4 cast are Grégory Fitoussi (Spiral)
and Gilles Cohen (Spiral) reprising their roles
The Bureau: Season 4 premieres in the US on Wednesday, November 21, exclusively on Sundance Now
The new season of this interactive series opens with Adil (Ambroise Michel
Plus belle la vie) focusing on the organic farm
Plus belle la vie) prepare for the arrival of their baby
Cherif) takes up journalism as Charles de Kervelec (Antoine Stip
Meurtres en Haute-Savoie) must deal with all that he has lost in his life
Cut: Season 5 premieres in the US on Thursday, November 22, at 2:30 PM ET, on TV5Monde USA
Goya Awards winner Paz Vega (Sex and Lucia) stars in this thriller series as Magda Escudero
a Spanish ex-model who appears to have everything
She is the wife of Mexican tycoon Alejandro Guzmán (Julio Bracho
and the owner of a luxury mansion located in one of the most exclusive areas of Mexico City
But her life isn’t as bueno as it looks
Magda and her children live in constant threat of those with whom Alejandro has dirty business deals or scores to settle
while he’s on a business trip in Spain
Only their abduction is one that she planned and organized
a camouflage for their escape from both her husband and his enemies
Costarring José Manuel Poga (The Plague), Mercedes Sampietro (La Riera), and Roberto Álamo (Águila Roja), Fugitiva, a Netflix Global Original series, premieres in all Netflix territories except Spain on Friday, November 23, exclusively on Netflix
Agatha Christie’s Criminal Games: Season 3 (Les Petits Meurtres d’Agatha Christie) (France)
Blandine Bellavoir (Maison Close) as journalist Alice Avril
and Elodie Frenck (War and Peace) as Swan’s loyal secretary Marlène
Agatha Christie’s Criminal Games: Season 3 premieres in the US on Tuesday, November 27, exclusively on MHz Choice and the MHz Choice channel on Amazon
Peter decides to launch his own investigation into Thorgrim’s murder
as well as Ellen Claussen (Laura Christensen
the more they uncover and the more they put their lives in mortal danger
The new season features Iben Akerlie (The Little Drummer Girl), Anders Danielsen Lie (Nobel), Laila Goody (Valkyrien), Dennis Storhøi (The Heavy Water War), and Nicolas Bro (The Killing), with Ingjerd Egeberg (Eyewitness) reprising her role as Eva Verås
and Anna Bache-Wiig (Acquitted) returning as Inger Marie Steffensen
Mammon: Season 2 premieres in the US on Tuesday, November 27, exclusively on MHz Choice and the MHz Choice channel on Amazon
The Sandhamn Murders: Season 3 (Morden i Sandhamn) (Sweden)
In this mystery series’ third three-part story
a girl playing hide-and-seek with her friends lets out a shrill scream when she finds a decaying dismembered human arm in the woods
The investigation leads Thomas and Mia to a case involving a teen girl who disappeared a year earlier
the detectives think the two disappearances might be connected and are trying to figure out how
The now-divorced Nora discovers a lead for Thomas
who’s recently reconnected with his ex-wife
But the danger Nora inadvertently puts herself in this time extends to her children… and to Thomas
Ane Dahl Torp (Codename Hunter) joins the cast as a series regular in this season
The Sandhamn Murders: Season 3 premieres in the US on Tuesday, November 27, exclusively on MHz Choice and the MHz Choice channel on Amazon
Twenty years after a devastating terrorist attack in 1983 halted the course of Poland’s liberation and the subsequent downfall of the Soviet Union
Hotel 52) and a disgraced police investigator (Robert Więckiewicz
Walesa: Man of Hope) stumble upon a conspiracy that has kept the Iron Curtain standing and Poland living under a repressive police state
the leaders of the regime enact a secret plan made with an unlikely adversary in the 1980s that will radically transform Poland and affect the lives of every citizen in the nation — and the world
What the two men discover has the potential to ignite a revolution
and those in power will stop at nothing to keep it a secret
The eight-episode alternative-history spy thriller features Michalina Olszańska (Jack Strong)
1983, a Netflix Global Original Series, premieres in all Netflix territories on Friday, November 30, exclusively on Netflix. (You can add it to your queue now.)
This drama is loosely inspired by the true story of the “baby squillo” scandal of 2015
middle-aged men paying for the services of underage prostitutes in the Parioli district of Rome
The story explores the unseen lives and experiences of Roman teenagers through following a group of Parioli high schoolers as they defy society in their search for identity and independence against the backdrop of forbidden love
The eight-episode series features Benedetta Porcaroli (Tutto può succedere)
Alice Pagani (Il permesso – 48 ore fuori)
and Claudia Pandolfi (Romanzo Siciliano) in the main cast
Baby, a Netflix Global Original Series, premieres in all Netflix territories on Friday, November 30, exclusively on Netflix. (You can add it to your queue now.)
NON-PREMIERE TITLES ADDED TO PROGRAMMING SCHEDULES
Crime à Aigues-Mortes (Murder in Aigues-Mortes) (France)
Vincent Winterhalter (Nicolas Le Floch) and Florence Pernel (Paris) reprise their roles as Captain Paul Jansac and Assistant Prosecutor Elisabeth Richard in this telefilm
part of the “Crime à…” mystery series
The story follows Jansac and Richard after he reopens an unsolved rape case following the murders of a young lawyer and an estate planner in Aigues-Mortes — victims with matching DNA results
Featuring Samuel Labarthe (Agatha Christie’s Criminal Games), Pierre Perrier (The Returned), Romane Portail (Frankie Drake Mysteries), and Xavier Robic (Spiral), Crime à Aigues-Mortes airs Friday, November 2, at 9:25 PM ET, on TV5Monde USA
in the Hautes-Alpes in southeastern France
where they settle in at the Chalet des Glaces
Little do they know the danger that awaits them
are welcomed to the renovated Chalet des Glaces by the owners
While Manu’s childhood friends are en route to the chalet for his wedding
a rockslide demolishes the bridge that is the only access to Valmoline
are physically cut off from the rest of the world
They soon discover that electronic communications are down
so they can’t call or email for help
are secrets from the past and actions to exact revenge
Header photo credits: The Simple Heist (© Ulrika Malm) courtesy of Acorn TV; Full Disclosure courtesy of Eurochannel; My Brilliant Friend (© Eduardo Castaldo / HBO
TIMvision) courtesy of HBO; Acquitted courtesy of MHz Choice; Baby (© Francesco Berardinelli / Netflix) & Warrior (© Karoline Tiara Lieberkind / Netflix) courtesy of Netflix; The Bureau (© Jessica Forde) courtesy of Sundance Now; Cut (© Alain Issock / FTV) courtesy of TV5Monde USA; The Adulterer courtesy of Walter Presents
Did you miss any of the new shows and program additions from previous months? Check the Euro TV Viewing Guide 2018 Archives to find out
For details about the November premieres of shows from the UK, Canada, and Ireland, visit The British TV Place. For those about the debuts of programs from Australia and New Zealand, visit The Down Under TV Place
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Summertime in France brings with it the joy and colour of medieval markets
Some of the larger events are complex affairs
But increasing numbers of tiny villages are holding their own medieval markets
the candles ready-made and the chicken roasted in a food truck
la belle saison is not complete without a day trip back to the 12th century
No-one knows for sure exactly what people were wearing or eating between the collapse of the Roman Empire around 450 and the beginning of the Renaissance – hundreds of years in which almost anything might have happened
It means that the term medieval is often very loosely interpreted to include fantasy and role-play elements
and even include re-enactments of local events from the medieval period
Arguably the biggest in France is the Médiévales de Provins near Paris from 25th - 26th June 2022
up to 100,000 visitors are expected to enjoy the dance and acrobatics displays
and tickets for the paying attractions are half-price if you come in costume
The theme is Bâtisseurs so expect demonstrations of carpentry
The bi-annual Fêtes des Remparts in Dinan often attracts around 100,000 visitors
will be their Les Fêtes Médiévales du Grand Fauconnier with the theme La Défense de La Vallée de Mordagne (meaning lots of armour and archery)
You can even hire costumes for between 10 and 50 euros
Then on 28th October to 6th November there will be exhibitions of the banners used in the medieval festival
with an artist in residence from 4th to 6th November demonstrating how to make them
Joan of Arc’s life and gruesome death are commemorated annually in Orléans with a week-long festival in early May
and in Rouen with a weekend at the end of May
Read more: Are the English really guilty of Joan of Arc’s death?
Another lesser-known heroine is celebrated in Beauvais (Oise) with the election of a local girl to represent Jeanne Hachette
and she made a name for herself in 1472 during an attempted invasion by the Duke of Burgundy
one of the attackers had scaled the battlements and planted a flag there
Jeanne threw herself upon him with her axe in hand and hurled both the man and his flag off the wall
thus rallying the flagging courage of the 300 defending men-at-arms
Louis XI held a procession in her honour and paid for the heroine to marry Colin Pilon
A statue of her was erected in 1851 and there is an annual medieval fête to celebrate this courageous female warrior
a young local woman is elected to be Jeanne Hachette
and the last weekend of June sees the centre of the town transformed into a medieval village complete with tavern
but exceptionally cheerful) brass bands from all over Europe
The cobbled streets are packed with visitors enjoying demonstrations
The town also holds winter medieval guild parades connected to the Christmas Market
The Rassemblement Médiéval d’Aigues-Mortes on 27th and 28th August is a particularly atmospheric festival
held in the walled town of Aigues-Mortes on the salt flats of the Camargue
There will be combat demonstrations and medieval sporting competitions
organised by the Fédération Française Médievale & Renaissance
constructed between 1242 and 1254 as a fortified lookout post
By the end of the 14th century it had imprisoned 45 Templars
After the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685
Protestants were effectively outlawed and forced to convert to Catholicism
The Tour was then used as a prison for women
a devout Protestant and the sister of a clandestine pastor
was arrested in 1730 and incarcerated in the Tour for 38 years
and when she and the other women were finally liberated
a single word was found scratched into the stone: resister
It is said that Marie Durand spent the decades of her incarceration scratching the word into the stone with her fingernails
One of the joys of dressing in medieval costume is that most garments are very simple and can easily be made at home
If you’re not handy with a needle you can often rent costumes from the organisers of medieval events
but if you want to buy new clothes and accessories
you can visit shops that stock everything a medieval heart could desire
The glorious Mandragore in Lyon is one such place
Tucked away down a side alley off Rue Jean in Vieux Lyon it’s easy to miss
tricorns and drinking horns all jostle for space alongside writing materials
You’ll also find an amazing selection of 18th-century clothes and accessories at Mandragore
and for those who really are living the timewarp
there is even a special collection of medieval-style silk wedding clothes and wedding rings
If you’ve ever wanted a blown-glass drinking horn for 60 euros
Their website, www.boutique-mandragore.com
also has medieval screensavers to download
Le Comptoir du Château in Bouguenais near Nantes is another treasure trove
including a variety of leather holsters for your precious sword
Their website, www.comptoir-du-chateau.fr
jewellery and also offers a range of services for people planning events including medieval battles
For more details see facebook.com/latanyere.chauvigny
don’t miss the medieval centre on the hilltop with its multiple castles and palaces
The views are great and even the so-called ‘modern’ part of the town is unspoiled and packed with independent boutiques
This year will be their 16th Medieval Fair on 20 - 21 August. Entry is free and for all the activities check here
If there isn’t a bricks-and-mortar shop nearby
medieval aficionados even have their very own quarterly magazine
which can be ordered from newsagents or requested from your local médiathèque
The internet is also bulging with possibilities
Just Google the search term boutique medieval France and take your pick
Choosing those with an address and a phone number in France is wise
as there are all too many sites selling shoddy clothing from China which bears little or no resemblance to the photos on the site
Having sorted the dates and made some costumes
you might want to acquire some medieval skills
and there is a wide choice of classes available although you may have to do a little research
Skills like sword fighting are probably best learned in person
but skills including medieval cookery can be learned from YouTube videos
and there are lots of books available on medieval crafts like candle making
To find classes and associations in your area
ask if they know the organisers of any annual medieval events in the area
If you specifically want to learn to pluck a chicken or use a longbow
Going to nearby medieval events and talking to people at them is also a good way of finding out what’s happening in your area
An inspiring example is the website www.la-belle-assemblee.com
which has tutorials and videos of medieval
The association also offers costume workshops and classes in medieval music and singing
A surprising number of sword fighting, falconry and archery clubs exist, and there’s even an association which lists dates of competitions (www.longbow-archers-association.org)
A Google search for tir à l’arc médiéval brings up a nice selection of clubs and associations if you want to liberate your inner Robin Hood or Maid Marion
To find a medieval event near you, check www.adagionline.com/calendrier
Maison de Jeanne: The French house with a 550-year history
Lavoirs: How these communal wash houses changed French culture
1,000 years of travel: Meandering history of France’s Bayeux Tapestry
Eight pairs of tickets for this summer’s festival are available exclusively to Connexion subscribers
The 27th edition of the Fête de la librairie indépendante will take place tomorrow (April 26)
Cow’s milk cheeses dominate as winter comes to an end
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Simon Lloyd assess the achievements and legacy of France's idealised royal crusader
at a fort constructed on the site of ancient Carthage
the saintly king of France and crusader par excellence
the latest victim of the dysentery or typhus that had been sweeping through the crusaders' encampment in the intense summer heat
It was clear to all of those close to him that his end was not far away; he knew it himself
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