Converted into a mobile home, this ambulance is parked at the highest entrance of the village.
Friends at the entrance, welcoming the newcomers. Entrance fees are at a free price.
An information map in the middle of the village. It indicate where everything is located but also the "no-go zones" around the village where angry farmers forbid unsolicited visitors.
A vintage bus transformed into a movie theater.
Most of the places have outdoor living rooms to enjoy the heat of summer.
A camp site established in a nearby fallow. It is filled with tents, but mostly hand made mobile homes.
The entrance of the caves by night.
The place is celebrating its 20th anniversary. People came from all around to join the resident for a week long festival where non-stop concerts, performances, exhibitions and parties will be accessible in every corners of the village.
A large sphere made of thin steel bars soldered and bent together is built on a tree. It contain lights, a couple of hammocks and kids playing in it.
Inside the underground caves several shows where created according to the situation. Sophie is looking at the underground ghost train rails.
A large oil paint used as a background decoration for the underground ghost train ride.
Some of the private caves were transformed into taverns for the event.
A friend rolling his joint sitting on the my car's bonnet to enjoy a short lift from the camp site to the village.
The amounth of details everywhere is making any walk in the village mesmerizing.
A library filled with self published books is available for anyone interested.
A circus has been mounted on the field nearby to provide a scene for the performing artists.
Sophie is welcomed during breakfast by a puppy coming from the trailer next to our tent.
A painted board asking to avoid defecating in the woods.
An outdoor crowd-sourced kitchen.
The camp site shower consist in a big box made of tarpaulin and pallets.
While the shower offers cold tap water, the water itself is recycled on site therefore users have to clean themselves with natural cleaning products.
The village has multiple levels. Two underground levels and the surface level where alternative homes were constructed.
Like most of the things there the houses are made of recycled materials.
A sink made of a recycled shower tub installed in the woods.
Concerts and performances are everywhere days and night during the celebrations.
A dark corridor near an underground wine bar.
At dawn in the camp site, some people are creating a construction tape made security net around a fainted person to prevent a car accident.
At the crowd sourced kitchen a Colombian guest is tasting the cook of a Taiwanese guest.
The campers consume about 1000l of water per day. Since the village as limited water supplie, it takes several hours each day to refill the water tank with a low debit garden hose.
Many kinds of workshop are available in the village.
A Circassian teaching juggling to the children.
The information desk at the lower entrance of the village where guest can buy food tickets for a fair price.
A stand selling croque-monsieurs at lunch time.
Stealing cherries.
A pay what you want outdoor tattoo saloon has been installed for the guests during the festival.
A lot of the travellers use mobile home made of old vans and lorries. Most of them live in them with their pets.
Composting toilet where built at different locations around and in the village.
At lunch time the crowdsourced kitchen is the occasion to meet all the newcomers.
Another kind of travel.
The festival mess is offering pay what you want diners.
Sophie watching the fireworks.
A fainted man in the rain.
After being awakened in the middle of the night by a man fainting on the tent, Sophie feels anxious about going out.
A freely accessible Internet room.
Every couple of days, volunteers prepare and bake bread for the community.
A barbecue grill made of scrap metal by a local sculptor.
Visiting a troglodyte village in celebration
Le voyage de Sophie
In the middle of summer 2017, I followed my friend Sophie while she was discovering an underground village and its peculiar occupants. During our visit, the village was hosting a week long festival to celebrated their 20th anniversary.
