I was walking in the streets, pondering my fortune. I realized this is the Feria, a festival where the French try to pretend they are Spaniards for a few days… even though they failed to import the soul of Spain to France, I still had fun.

Well…we went to the Corrida, where they let BULLS LOOSE IN THE STREETS! A few bulls galloped rapidly down crowded, narrow streets surrounded by hundreds of alcohol and adrenaline-fuelled revellers…. the atmosphere was saturated with music, dancing, and festivities….and GOD it was exciting!

Here I am standing innocently in front of the bull with my Camera… It is not the best video ever, but i am learning how to use a camera.

Moving on to the second part of this post. Bullfights

I have always disliked this part of my Spanish heritage, but it is cultural, and because I pretend to be open minded, I feel I can’t get away with judging it… but truth to be told, I will never go to a bull fight because I realise how brutal these things are and because I am so disturbed by the way these animals are murdered that I can’t focus on the artistic or cultural aspect of it… 

In Spain being a matador is one of the highest paid professions, it is also one of the most respected… the matadors are the most loved celebrities; they end up marrying super models and living their super modelish lives in bliss.

It is one thing to watch the corridas in the street, but another thing all together to watch a bull fight inside the Les Arenes de Arles… so I was not watching the bull fight inside with those who are strongly pro the cultural history of it all.. but I happened to be standing outside, with those who were strongly anti the horridness of it all.  We caught the outside show, a few moments after the bull’s death….  There, I got my confirmation to why I should be anti- bull fights…

if you are against it, or if you are weak at stomach… please don’t watch, because it is beastly…but if you are curious to know what happens after the bull dies… please be aware that those trucks belong to restaurants that serve the most refined cuisine in Arles… restaurants that passed from father to son and that the date way way back… if it up to them, apparently it would be dating further than Adam!

Ahhh and remember curiosity killed the cat….

I slept most of the time during the flight… last thing I remembered was the plane taking off… I forgt  how afraid of flying I am… especially at taking off and landing… the rapid change in pressure terrifies me….

Although Charles de Gaulle is one of the biggest airports in the world (and worst) …my connecting flight is from Orly airport, which is the other side of Paris!  I honestly and wholeheartedly will not complain… I can think of a worse fate than going by bus through Paris… PARIS!

6:30 AM

Bus is late; I am getting nervous that I won’t make my flight…

I CAN’t believe they made me pay the bus trip! Air France must be THE worst airline on earth…service sucks!

10:00 AM

I am here in Marseille… Men are beautiful, women are beautiful, children are beautiful, buildings are beautiful, even dogs are beautiful…. and the light! Oh my God I can’t believe the quality of light here… it is so bright that I felt like a vampire who is getting out of darkness… no wonder all those famous painters came here… the light is BRIGHT!

8:30 PM

On my plan for the first day was a trip to the public beach… Apparently there is no such thing as a private beach here… no Mariotte hotel , no Mevenpick… no need to pay 50 or 30 JDs to access the beach… the beach belongs to the everyone… not only those who can afford it …

I obviously had the “shat il 3am” in Aqaba in mind… garbabge everywhere and unattractive guys staring with those dirty,  hungry looks….Needless to say I was not excited about the prospect of getting wet and salty in a public beach…. but could not tell my hosts since they are being all generous and perfectly companionable…

Ohh…. the public beach…it was like bringing a picture in a perfectly glossy magazine to life!……It is the most beautiful spot on earth…it is clean… human beings are chilling there in peace…  everyone is busy with their own thing, no one is staring (except for me of course…) I wonder what would happen if these ladies go on the public beach dresses or undressed, they way they are there…  Everything is just beautiful.

 Got to go for another meal… that bagutte they eat here… i can safely wonder if the french invented breads…. with that thought…. je vais etre de retour …

Sand Castle

Public Beach

 

Those men are actually fishing!

On a different note, i have been reading The Black Book… . It’s PERFECTLY CORKING…. and no… i am not reading it because of the silly Turkish series fad… I’ve been hearing about Orhan Pamuk all my adult life, but I had no idea he really wrote so well; I always suspected him of going largely on his reputation… but honestly that guy trully deserves his Nobel prize…