Fete de la Renaissance

One cool thing about the Cote d'Azur being a touristy place, is that they organise plenty of festival, village fares, and such like, especially during the summer months. So since Mathilde's dad Joel and Francoise came over for a couple of weeks, and were staying in Villeneuve-Loubet, we decided to check out the Fete de la Renaissance in Villeneuve-Loubet village.

The fete actually celebrates a real historic event that took place in this medieval village (located just next to Cagnes-sur-Mer, where we live) in 1538. That year, Francois I spent three weeks in the castle of Villeneuve-Loubet, the occasion being the signing of the peace treaty with Charles Quint, which put an end to the 8th Italian war (??).

We were very impressed with the show the locals had put up! There were medieval workshops, archery demonstrations/competitions, sword fights, and loads of other fun activities for children and adults alike. Not to mention loads of folks in period costumes. The festivities culminated with the royal parade that finished at the big parking (cunningly disguised to look like an, erm, mediaval square or something) next to the old village.

After enjoying some refreshments and enjoying the spectacle, we headed into the old village where there was more entertainment to be had, products on sale and so forth. We walked all the way up the medieval castle, which wasn't open to the public, unfortunately...

Nonetheless, and impressive spectacle, and great fun!

The next day, we invited Joel and Francoise over for lunch. After devouring a rather huge chicken (naturally purchased at the Cagnes-sur-Mer farmer's market) , we headed down to the seaside for a bit of exercise (had to burn off all of those calories, after all...). The weather was a bit weird, with ominous clouds making an appearance - which actually resulted in some pretty nice pictures!