Outdoor Mix Festival

In mid-May every year, I go to a sports and music festival located in a town called Embrun. Embrun is a pretty, 2.5 hour drive through the mountains from Grenoble. It's also right next to a lake, more precisely the Lac de Serre-Ponçon. 

It's a cute town and a nice spot to relax. My friends and I like camping there, and for this year's festival, we rented a couple little bungalows in a campsite. They were perfect with inside space devoted to beds and storage and a nice large terrace equipped with all the kitchen essentials. It still felt enough like camping since the toilets and showers were down the road, but it was a good alternative to tent camping since it rained a bit everyday.

The lake is a nice idyllic spot in a mountain setting. In May, it's still too cold for me to swim, but there's a few brave souls that try. Later in the year, it warms up nicely. In fact, two years ago we were camping there and there was an inflatable obstacle course on the water. That was fun!

Outdoor Mix is a sports and music festival that happens annually towards the end of the school year (I've finished my exams and am doing a summer internship at the moment) and is a time to relax and enjoy some fresh air. It also always happens on a holiday weekend, so it's nice to take advantage of three days off to travel a bit. During the day, there are extreme sports to watch, including rock climbing, kayaking, kite surfing, bmx and dirt bike competitions, longboard races, and my particular favorite, jumpline. Jumpline is a relatively new sport, where people use a slackline to do acrobatic tricks. Check it out :

The sports competitions last all weekend long, with the finals usually on Sunday or Monday, and competitors come from all over the world. This year there were BMX riders from France, the USA, Colombia, Brazil and more for example. At night, there are concerts to check out with live music starting at 8pm. My group likes to check out a concert one night, but stay and hang out at our campsite for the other nights we're there. 

I really enjoy this festival and I expect it won't be the last time I go. It's a great combination of friends, camping, mountains, interesting sports to watch, music to dance to and laughs to be had.

Fête du Citron

A couple years ago, I stumbled across a picture on the internet of some crazy sculptures created with lemons and oranges. It seemed weird but fun. I thought about this picture for a couple years, thinking it would be fun to check it out but never having the opportunity since it was a festival in a little town in the south of France on the French Riviera. Forward to this year, and I finally made it!

What I'm describing to you is the Fête du Citron (Citrus Festival) that is held in Menton, France each year around the time of Carnaval. The small city is known for its micro-climate in which citrus fruits grow at an alarming pace. What does the city do with the extra lemons and oranges? Well they put on a festival with enormous citrus sculptures and a parade.

Every year, the festival has a different theme. This year, for their 85th anniversary, the theme was Bollywood! Sculptures had themes related to Bollywood such as elephants, Indian dancers and a Buddha. The parade performers all had elaborate costumes and floats covered in citrus fruits as well.

Confetti galore!

While the event goes on for two weeks and the sculptures can been seen at any time, the parade only occurs on Sundays. Other special events also go on other days and times. The entire festival also coincides with Carnaval, which can be experienced in nearby Nice and other surrounding villages.

My advice for a nice visit to the Fête du Citron, arrive mid-morning on a Sunday to see the sculptures in the morning. Grab a bite to eat (like some lemon and ricotta ravioli - to die for!), and stay for the parade (called Corsos des Fruits d'Or) that starts at 2:30 pm. It goes on for about an hour and a half, so it'll be time for happy hour on the beach when it's done. Enjoy!

Menton has a beautiful beach on the French Riviera