Narbonne in autumn-winter
things to do
Fête de la Nautique
Port-la-Nautique, 2nd weekend in September
For a wonderful end to the holidays on the shores of the Bages-Sigean lagoon. On Saturday, it’s the festival L’Étang Danse with classical vocal music, rock and funk and a big electro concert. There’s visual art – or one might say performance – as well: canvases are cut up and distributed among the audience. There are plays, stories, musical siestas, writing workshops; and for the kids, clown performances and an introduction to the arts of the circus. On Sunday, it’s time to try out all sorts of water activities on the lagoon under the watchful eye of the Nautical Society.
Festival Identi’terres
Narbonne Mediterranean Regional Nature Park, 2nd week in October
In the middle of the autumn, a nomadic festival throughout the Narbonne Regional Nature Park is organised in close collaboration with the villages in the park area. How to discover the environment in an artistic and cultural way and how to grasp a territory’s identity? The answer is in the multiple and deliberately varied activities which the festival has to offer: exhibitions, theatre, concerts, poetry, story walks and cinema events.
Christmas Fairytales
Narbonne, three weeks in December
A high point of Narbonne life, eagerly awaited by the children and with a growing attendance. There’s a special theme each year – Russian Christmas, Canadian Christmas – and the heart of the city undergoes a total transformation with a forest of white Christmas trees and little chalets and a Christmas market, ideal for preparing end of the year festivities. There are chestnuts, chocolate, oysters, foie gras, crib figurines, wooden toys, Christmas decorations – and of course Father Christmas, larger than life as he crosses the town with his reindeer and sled or soars over the City hall square. The high point in Christmas fairyland is the show on Christmas Eve, complete with surreal snowfall. It’s dreamtime!
