The vestiges of ancient Rome and the scent of Spain in a vibrant French town.

Un grand merci (Thank you so much) to Richard Debroise,who kindly helped me to understand what was happening in Nīmes when we arrived there.

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We had not any idea about the celebration, but as soon as we get out from the train in Nīmes, we realized it was not a common Sunday.
We could not visit the inside of the Arena, because it was reserved to the public of the show but we enjoyed the lively and colourful atmosphere of the town,
where everyone seemed to be involved in the celebration and in the parades.
Ladies of all ages popped out from every street corner wearing traditional costumes and brave knights from Camargue (the Europen cowboys together with Butteri from Tuscany) galloped everywhere, many musical bands added a sound background to the festival.
It was the annual festival of “Cocardes D’Or” (The Golden Ribbon), which nominates every year the best “Raseteur”.
A “Rasetuer” is the man , wearing totally white clothes, who competes with bulls in a typical game, which doesn’t end with the bull’s death like in Spanish Corrida, by the way.

This year the festival was held in Nīmes,next year will be hold in Arles.
The two towns alternate the honour.