Nîmes' great passion is bullfighting, and its ferias are acknowledged and well attended by both aficionados and fighters at the highest level. The wildest and most famous is the Feria de Pentecôte, which lasts five days over the Whitsun weekend. A couple of million people crowd into the town (hotel rooms need to be booked a year in advance), and every Tom, Dick and Harry opens a bodega at the bottom of the garden for dispensing booze. There are corridas, which end with the killing of the bull, courses where cocards are snatched from the bulls head, and semi-amateur courses libres when a small posse of bulls is run through the streets and the daring try to snatch the cocards from their heads. In 1996, Nîmes witnessed the acclamation of the first-ever woman matador, Cristina Sanchez, though she took an early retirement in 1999, blaming the machismo of the profession. Two other ferias take place: one at carnival time in February, when the inflatable roof of the Arènes is pulled over for protection from the weather; the other in the third week of September at grape-harvest time, the Feria des Vendanges. The tourist office can supply full details and advise you about accommodation if you want to visit at feria time.
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