Beachgoers check out French seaside libraries
Thomas Cook drops SeaWorld holidays over animal welfare concerns
ÉTRETAT, France, July 30, (AFP): Going to the beach can be tough work, but if you need a break from all the gruelling swimming and sunbathing this summer, a trip to one of France’s pop-up seaside libraries could be just the thing.
Lulled by the gentle cries of seagulls in the distance, flocks of readers have been heading to the book-filled beach huts that authorities have opened along the coast of Normandy in northern France and elsewhere.
“It’s a perfect break for reading and relaxing between two dips in the sea,” said 52-year-old hairdresser Isabelle from her deckchair at the library in Etretat, a Normandy resort famed for its dramatic white cliffs.
“Since I’m not going away on holiday, this is my treat every afternoon,” she said, before diving back into a detective novel.
Etretat is one of 12 local resorts where authorities have set up library beach-huts this summer. Open from July 7 until Aug 26, each of the wooden huts has been filled with 1,000 books.
Normandy launched its “Read At The Beach” scheme in 2005 with three huts and by last year was welcoming more than 38,000 bookworms along this stretch of the coast.
The idea has since taken off elsewhere in France, with the Herault region in the south attracting 21,000 readers to its own beach huts last year.
Similar schemes have also been launched in other countries including Australia, Bulgaria, Israel and Spain.
Readers
In Normandy, anyone is welcome to dip into a book, with no registration needed -- but readers must stay in the deckchairs provided, rather than taking them down to the sea to get sand between the pages.
This year 400 chairs are up for grabs around the region at the beach huts, which are open every day between 2 pm and 7 pm, with some books in English, German and Italian provided for foreign readers.
On a recent sunny afternoon in Etretat, a dozen readers -- aged between nine months and 70 -- come to transport themselves to other worlds from the hut, overlooking the sea.
“We need more of this kind of place,” said Romain Mace, an engineer on vacation from the city of Rouen, enjoying a volume of poetry as his baby slept beside him -- a rare pleasure for sleep-deprived young parents.
Since the books cannot be taken off-site, the hut’s two librarians will happily put aside a novel you’ve started so that you can pick up the story where you left off the next day.
Corinne Ait Amar, 47, had returned to delve back into the thrilling exploits of gentleman-thief Arsene Lupin while her daughter was engrossed in a Japanese manga comic.
“It’s perfect,” said the nurse, on vacation with her family from the eastern city of St Etienne.
“My daughter and I have been saying to ourselves that we might meet up with the rest of the family a little later than planned ...”
Also:
LONDON: British holiday firm
Thomas Cook will stop selling trips to animal parks which keep captive killer whales, including SeaWorld in
Florida and Loro Parque in Tenerife, their CEO announced Sunday. “We have actively engaged with a range of animal welfare specialists in the last 18 months, and taken account of the scientific evidence they have provided”, Peter Fankhauser wrote in a blog post.
“We have also taken feedback from our customers, more than 90% of whom told us that it was important that their holiday company takes animal welfare seriously,” he added, confirming that tickets to such attractions will no longer be sold from next summer.
Animal welfare concerns over the treatment of orcas in captivity have been amplified since the critically lauded 2013 documentary Blackfish, which argued that the highly intelligent animals are psychologically traumatised in tourist attractions such as SeaWorld.
Fankhauser said the decision came after an introduction of a new Thomas Cook animal welfare policy which recognises “that customer expectations were changing when it comes to animal attractions” and “the important role tourism has to play during the transition to ending practices that are known to harm animals.”
Animal rights campaigners People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have been campaigning for Thomas Cook to drop the holidays for the past 12 months, with 150 protests around
“This momentous victory means that Thomas Cook has now become the world-leading travel provider for animal welfare that it had claimed to be,” wrote PETA manager of special projects
“If other travel providers hope to maintain a shred of credibility with animal-loving British holidaymakers, they must follow its lead,” she added.
“There’s no humane way to keep these highly intelligent animals in captivity, let alone force them to perform cruel circus-style tricks for food.”
In 2016 SeaWorld announced it will stop breeding orcas and no longer keep any in captivity after the current generation dies.