Day 1, Tuesday: 27.08.24
We made the trip from Seville to Pau by taking a plane to Bilbao and then a bus to Pau. It was a long trip because the bus ride is very heavy and because we had to wait a long time in Bilbao, but it gave us the opportunity to walk around the city a little.
Day 2, Wednesday: 28.08.24
We spent this first day in Assat, a small municipality near PAU, at the CLAB initiative (Conservatoire des Légumes Anciens du Béarn) in Assat, where we were warmly welcomed by Hubert Lassus-Pigat (President of the association) and Florence Bacou (Director ). This place is not an ordinary community garden as we know in other places. This association is intended to promote the preservation of biodiversity and ecosystems for the formation and conservation of immaterial cultural heritage in the context of a garden-verger conservatoire.
Its main missions are the mise en culture of variétés anciennes ou ” oubliées “, the préservation of the biodiversité floristique et faunistique, the sensibilisation of the population to the préservation of the environment, the conservation of patrimoine culturel immatériel (PCI) par la mise en place et le développement d’un pôle ethnobotanique.
This garden-orchard participates in the Gardeniser project but also in many other agroecological projects related to nature, food or climate change. It can be visited from May to October at a cost of 4 euros per person. In addition, training workshops and seminars and guided tours and practical activities are developed for
educational centers, families, etc. Along with the above, they have a space dedicated to the sale of vegetables, fruits, especially apples, and native seeds.
The last weekend of August was the annual CLAB party and both María José Molina and I (the rest of our colleagues from Italy and Austria had not yet arrived) spent the entire day helping to prepare the party. First, we cleaned the signs on the fruit trees and rewrote those signs in poor condition. Later, we were preparing the tables and chairs for the weekend party lunch. Fortunately, I speak French better than English, which was an advantage in being able to communicate with the CLAB members.
That day we returned to Pau very tired but we did not miss the opportunity to have some galettes for dinner next to the city castle.
Day 3, Thursday: 29.08.24
On this day we met Alissa and Susanne, our colleagues from Vienna, and Barbara and Cecilia, our colleagues from Italy, at the bus stop that would take us to Pau. We acted as guides a bit since we had already done the same route the day before. Once we arrived at CLAB we found Nicolas Condom, from Pistes Solidaires, who welcomed us warmly and accompanied us during all the days of our stay in Pau.
That morning we were helping again at CLAB to prepare for the weekend party. Back in Pau, we went with Nicolas to visit the Castle of Henry IV of France and III of Navarre. It is a medieval castle that was restored during the 19th century. XIX and currently functions as a museum open to visitors and as a residence for the President of the Republic.
Later, we went to visit the Garden of the Multivert, created in 2021 in a disadvantaged neighbourhood of Pau. The garden is located on public land and has been built by residents next to the city’s Town Hall. It is made up of 16 plots of approximately 30 m2. Next to the entrance there is a covered space with tables and chairs intended for citizens to meet.
Two gardeners welcomed us (one of them spoke German) and explained to us that the garden fulfills the mission of a space of friendship and harmony between neighbors. The community around the garden values it very positively and a very positive synergy has been generated for everyone.
For dinner, all the members of Gardeniser went to the Le Dauphin restaurant with Florence and Hubert from the CLAB garden.
Day 4, Friday: 30.08.2024
We started this day by having breakfast all together at the Mila Bonita cafeteria and from there we went with Nicolas to see the Guynemer garden. It is a project started between the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 by some residents of the area. Currently there are about 10 volunteers who participate permanently and about 20-30 neighbors who collaborate sporadically. The land is public, property of the city, which is transferred to the neighbors. On occasion they receive a small subsidy to carry out a training workshop or some repair in the orchard.
The water is supplied by the City Council’s irrigation network. There is an area of community gardens and another small area of family gardens. For this last area there is a small waiting list. In the centre of the garden there is a huge wooden construction that is used to hold meetings and workshops in a very pleasant space.
Later we moved to see the Berlioz project, which I really liked. They are the land of an old farm that has been converted into a community space where we can find an area of vineyards, an area of beehives, several community gardens, a kitchen area, iron and wood workshops, etc. In addition, there is a huge “Tree House” for artists who come to collaborate on the project and need to spend the night in Pau.
Very close to the Berlioz project and linked to it, are the Lauga Gardens, where an old waste dump has been converted into community gardens. Here we were able to see a circular garden area created by a Japanese landscaper.
After this visit, we returned to the centre of Pau and visited the Les Halles Market, a two-story building with fruit, fish, meat and cheese shops on the ground floor and bars and restaurants on the upper floor. On the upper terrace we all had lunch together enjoying the landscape and the good weather.
In the afternoon, María José and I returned to Assat and collaborated in cutting and crushing the apples that would facilitate the production of juice the next day.
At night we returned to Les Halles since there was a gastronomic festival and we were able to enjoy concerts and other activities. A wonderful atmosphere floated in the atmosphere around the market.
Day 5, Saturday: 31.08.2024
An intense program of activities took place on both Saturday, August 31 and Sunday, September 1. On Saturday, a Literary Meeting took place with writers from the region in which they presented their works and debated with the audience that came.
At noon we had lunch with the entire Clab team. Later, an Apple Pressing took place to show the public the first step in the preparation of apple juice. Finally there was a lecture by Huber Lassus-Pigat entitled “Les légumes: légendes et secrets d’une épopée gourmande”.
Then, María José and I accompanied Jacques, a local artist, who wanted to show us his artistic project. He had bought an old restaurant with spectacular views of the Pyrenees and was installing his sculptural and pictorial works. He had called the space “Domaine en Solitude”. Both inside the building and outside there were many sculptures and paintings with messages of protest, political or related to religion, mythology, etc. He even had a reproduction of the cave paintings in the Lascaux cave in the basement…
Day 6, Sunday: 01.09.2024
The day began at CLAB with a Local Producers Market with 23 stands. A beautiful occasion to meet local, old, new and discover quality products. Romain’s vegetables stood out among the stands ” Le fil des saisons “, the vegetables of Daniel et Marie ” Les Jardins des Confluences “, the flowers of Constance, the appetizers of Stéphanie’s plants; In addition, the ice creams of Lait Pot d’vaches, the honey of Julien “Les ruchers du gave”, the pain bio of Guillaume, the biscuits bio of Gloria, the spiruline des Pyrénées de Julien et Anthony”, the products based on châtaigne béarnaise de Christine, the seeds of Elise…. This market was open throughout the day. I was helping in the installation of the stands and later in taking care of a stand selling CLAB apples.
At 10:30 a.m. there was a guided tour of the garden and at 12:30 p.m. the festive lunch took place. At this time, María José was making crepes and I was helping with the barbecue, cleaning plates and glasses, collecting utensils, etc.
After lunch there was a conference on cereals, especially on the importance of native wheat. Later, colleagues from Italy and Austria presented their garden projects with images in both Rome and Vienna. Finally, I gave a conference on Community Gardens in Seville.
That night we have dinner on the Avenida de los Pirineos with views of this famous mountain range that separates France from Spain.
Day 7, Monday: 02.09.2024
The return trip was quite an odyssey…. We left Pau on Flixbus and a few kilometers later the bus broke down so we were stopped for an hour on the highway. The bus continued but only for 15 minutes and stopped next to a tollbooth. There we waited for 2 hours until another bus came to pick up all the passengers and this bus dropped us off on an isolated street in Bayonne without any explanation or proximity to the train or bus station. Flixbus’s performance was deplorable. Because we had to get to Bilbao airport to catch our flight to Seville, we had to take a VTC Bolt and travel for two hours from Bayonne to Bilbao airport. Finally we were able to arrive on time and take the plane to Seville.
