This year, the Menton Fête du Citron celebrates its 80th anniversary. For this milestone, the city, located on the borders of Italy, the Principality of Monaco and the County of Nice offered its thousands of visitors an invitation to travel and adventures with Victor Hugo’s The Journey Around the World in 80 Days which inspired the theme of the floats.
Menton enjoys a micro-climate that could almost let winter be ignored. The valley of Menton is a paradise for growing citrus, especially its world-famous lemon, with its flesh rich and balanced in acid and fragrant essences, which make of it a popular product and highly regarded by chefs for its gustatory and olfactory qualities.
In ancient times, it was even a sacred fruit for Hebrew, used in certain ceremonies, such as the Feast of the Tabernacle or used by the Greeks in wedding festivities. As every year for 80 years in February, the city of Menton organized in its honor the Fête du Citron with parades of floats expressing themes made with lemons and oranges, embellished with street entertainment, bands, visual artists. This year, Menton celebrates 80 years of the Fête du Citron (Lemon Festival) and took the gamble of The Journey Around the World in 80 Days. The Boviès gardens offers a dive into the pages of the famous novel with tremendous reconstitutions of places, temples, monuments encountered by the adventurous traveller. The parades of floats and animations evoke many adventures and encounters of Jules Verne’s hero, Phileas Fogg, the countries he visited and the various means of transport he used. But.. but Phileas Fogg’s voyage included a mysterious stage, never evoked. This is fixed, as, from February 16 to March 6, Menton was the Secret Stage on the famous traveler’s journey. Here are images of the first Fête du Citron corso on Sunday 17. With suitcases full of lemon and orange, let’s embark towards adventure and dream!
Travel the world with the corso – Click on pictures to enlarge
In the Biovès gardens, set out to discover the world – Click on pictures to enlarge
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