There remains
one more observation – or is it really question – arising from our recent
holiday.
As I said afew blogs back, I was reading Pagnol’s “The Water of the Hills” set, i.e. “Jean
de Florette” & “Manon des Sources”. One of the things that clearly comes
over in these books is the deep suspicion & rivalry between two
neighbouring villages. Part of the reason why what happened was allowed to
happen was that Jean, not only came in from outside, he was born in that
neighbouring village which inevitably made him the most despicable of all foreigners.
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| La Cadiere d'Azur |
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| Le Castillet from La Cadiere d'Azur |
La Cadière d’Azur, where we were staying, is a perched village. Across
the valley is another perched village, Le Castillet. Both were clearly highly
fortified.
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| The 8th century Porte St Jean, La Cadiere |
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| La Porte Mazarine, also in La Cadiere |
I found
myself wondering who they were fortified against. Did similar rivalry exist
between villages, resulting in occasional raids on each other? Or were they
both trying to protecting themselves against a common enemy, rampaging &
pillaging its way north into the heart of France? I wonder…
1 comment:
Really enjoyed this post & pictures. Got to admit that I love the films of the books you mentioned - accuse me of bias if you like!
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