Pétanque or Boules? - 3

It's 8.30 in the evening and today we are in the Boules Club of Menton, which is directly opposite the market building (behind me) - the sea is beyond the palm trees. We are watching a lesson in throwing the boule. Are these two father and son? What do you think?

Pétanque or Boules? - 2

As promised, here's a photo of a man just after throwing the boule. It looks like some strange dance, doesn't it?

In the photo below, you see players discussing which boule is nearest to the small boule - look closely and you'll see a tiny orange ball, which, by the way, is called the 'pig.' The idea of the game is to get as close to the pig as possible. It sounds simple but there's great skill to it and a lot of money can be made in top level competition.

Many thanks to Fabrizio from Torino DP who kindly wrote this explanation as to the difference between pétanque and boules, in yesterday's comments:

"It was only in 1907 that pétanque as we know it was born. Its name comes from the provençal "pèd tanco", which means "feet together'. It is played on a shorter terrain and players throw their boule from a rough circle scratched in the dirt, taking no run-up at all." Fabrizio gave the following link too - click HERE. I had also found a good website on the subject, so anyone wanting even more information, try this link - HERE.

Do come back tomorrow and you'll see a photograph of a father teaching his son how to throw.

Pétanque or Boules? - 1

Forget the sterotype of an old man with a beret playing boules. Boules players come in all shapes and sizes - men and women, young and old. There was a pétanque contest in Gorbio on Fête day last Sunday - here's one of the competitors.

Perhaps one of our French contributors can tell me the difference between boules and pétanque. This contest was advertised as pétanque.