The mayor of Beausset referred to the idyll: The tourists went with chemical clubs against the cicadas.
For many it is an idyllic summer holiday on the Mediterranean, but for some tourists in France, the cicada cirque in Provence is simply too loud. The mayor of the picturesque village of Beausset in the southern French department of Var reported complaints from unnerved holidaymakers: Already five groups of tourists had become his representative, said George Ferrero on French radio.
The hours of ear-deafening noise robbed them of the last nerve. In vain he had tried to explain to the tourists that this is just the soundtrack of the lovely Provence and music in the ears of their inhabitants, said Ferrero.
But the passengers would have been interested only in what chemical weapons they could use to feed the animals with their infernal noise. “This is completely crazy, imagine, they sprinkle the trees under which they later sip their aperitif,” the village chief revolted. Incidentally, the complainants were by no means only Parisians – these are particularly unpopular with many Provencals – but also people from eastern France and Britain.