Feria d’Arles 2024: An Unforgettable Night in the Old Town
This is unbelievable! The whole day has been a huge party, and I’ve seen everything. I think I won’t forget this for a long time. I’m going back for the live music at the flamenco concert, and maybe I’ll even catch another brass concert. All the events are free, it’s truly incredible!
On the last workday of the week, the first workday of the week, the live maintenance worker, two hours after starting work, came forward. By then, the usual morning routine was done: terraces, potted flowers, trash cans, mailboxes. The rest of the day was spent tidying up the ditch alongside the road. The ditch is two meters deep and three hundred meters long. They brought a lawnmower, which is perfect for mowing the lawn, but unsuitable for the grassy ditch bank. So I’m cutting the grass by hand. This day is not enough.
At the staff meal, it’s strange that the food has been edible for over a week; not good, but acceptable.
I thought I’d sleep through the afternoon after yesterday’s party, because I’m going back in the evening. The fiesta lasts the whole weekend. I can’t sleep, I watch series and eat ice cream. No problem, I’m already in town at eight o’clock; hungry.
I throw myself at the first churros vendor. You can quickly get used to this Spanish sweet. (This is like donuts for them, like for Hungarians.) Meanwhile, bulls run past me on the other side of the fence.
I have no plans for the evening, but I don’t need any. The whole old town is a big party venue. There’s music, dancing, or just plain fun in every square.
During the night, I check out all the temporary party venues; I’m curious about everything. I’ll tell you in advance: this is the old town, an eight-minute walk in diameter.
- The owner of the bistro at the market set up two speakers on the street, and everyone heading towards the town hall stops to listen to Latin pop music.
- A few houses down, the tobacco shop owner, who also taps beer, brought a DJ on a laptop. They’re constantly dancing on the terrace.
- Or a couple of houses down, at Wilson Square, I listen to a Cuban concert.
- In the church opposite the museum, the disco starts at seven in the evening, with lively Spanish music. If it starts raining, I’ll come back here.
- In the former huge church of the Preaching Brothers, they dance Andalusian flamenco. I’ll come back at ten in the evening for the live music. Besides the two guitarists, there’s a female violinist playing solos, while I can admire the dance of two women. The only problem with the venue is that the church has no open windows; at the end of the concert (otherwise disciplined), the crowd rushes out as if fresh air were being given away for free.
- The forum square, the central venue for dance parties at this festival. Last year and this spring, I danced in the crowd all night and every day, but now I don’t feel like it; the crowd is so big that they’re already dancing near the square. Otherwise, it’s a nice square: relatively small, a rectangular area surrounded by restaurants and bars on all sides, with more terraces in the middle planted with trees. Tonight, the artists are on the roofs of the terraces.
- A few hundred meters up in a narrow street, I stumble upon a brass concert, or rather, an instant party! A lot of brass players, in very strange attire: women in hats, men in skirts. They really know something, because everyone is dancing, the whole street is jumping to a rhythm, clapping, singing. One word comes to mind: this is unbelievable! Brides smoking on the corner, miniskirts covering hairy legs, cool tenor horn-playing girls, or twenty brass musicians and an alley filled with abandon! By the way, they were using some Slavic language among themselves; so they’re probably Eastern Europeans too. This is really a party where even the crutches were thrown away. (I saw someone throw them into the corner.)
- At the fountain under Voltaire Square, the Gypsy musicians played early last night, with a bit more routine, not just the kids dancing.
- There were two beer tents at Voltaire Square, one with more retro music and the other with youthful music, but by this time, I’m tired, my enthusiasm has waned.
- On the way back to the town hall square, the Brazilian samba school drum section comes towards me for the third time. They go around the city, in two other places too, making such a loud noise that you can’t help but notice them. Twenty women are playing the drums at the same time. Of course, the audience is dancing with them.
- Before the famous DJs’ party in the inner courtyard of the palace, there’s a one-hour wait. Literally, the whole city is dancing, and these are stuck in one place.
- There are two parties in the market square – packed. Both are creating a great atmosphere with popular music. In the market square, I join in the mood for twenty minutes, but I don’t take part in the celebration in the union courtyard on the other side of the square; I’m drained.
I take myself home on a scooter, before the rain, and put myself on charge.
Did I mention that all the events are free?
Feria d’Arles 2024, September 07, Saturday
