THEO ARIFONT OFICIAL GUIDE
By Théo Arifont (EI)
The European heritage days
You can join me on these days in two visits:
- Lake Annecy: Guided tour
Immerse yourself in the sumptuous landscape of the Bay of Annecy, which has become the cradle of seaside tourism. From the formation of the lake to the arrival of the first visitors: a whole history!
Saturday 21 September at 9.30am, 11am and 2pm. Meeting point on the Pâquier, promenade Jacquet in front of Sylvie de Meurville's work L'Echapée.
- A stroll with Rousseau
Follow an emblematic figure from Annecy's historic centre on a literary stroll. Rousseau made no mistake: ‘When you want to travel, you have to go by foot’.
Sunday 22 September at 10.30am, 1pm and 3pm. Duration: approx. 1 hour. RDV in front of the balustre d'or, Conservatoire courtyard, 10 Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau
For the full programme of the JEP24, click on ‘La Prog’.
VAH
I was delighted to join Natacha Blanchard's team in Annecy's Ville d'art et d'histoire (Art & History City Label) department on July 15th. My main task is to set up the procedure for renewing our Ville d'art et d'histoire label, but you can also find me on some of the tours of Annecy offered by the department.
To access our seasonal programme, click down bellow!
Nocturnes
This summer I had the great pleasure of repeating my experience as a guide/actor at the Château de Menthon-Saint-Bernard during the dramatised nocturnes.
In the role of the tutor, I accompanied visitors to meet the zany characters who still inhabit the Château of the Menthon family.
A candlelit experience in an exceptional monument!
photo : Mehdi-Luis Aboudya
Culture and sport in Seville
One of my missions for Naturanda Turismo is to lead tours of Seville! The tours we offer are designed to be dynamic, as opposed to the usual walking or bus tours! They can be done by bike through the streets of the city, or by kayak on the Guadalquivir river that runs through it. Two tours that promise to cultivate your knowledge at the same time as your summer body!
You can discover the great exhibitions of the 20th century that took place in the Andalusian capital. On the one hand, the Expo92 area on the Isla de la Cartuja offers the architectural panorama of a futuristic, vintage district. This is now Seville's technology park. On Sundays, there's no-one there, and when you add in the old abandoned pavilions, you get the impression of passing through a ghost town!
Then there's the Plaza de España and the area around the 1929 Ibero-American Exhibition. With its casino, grand hotels and pavilion-palaces in the colours of the former Spanish colonies, this area takes you back to the excesses of the beginning of the last century.
In between, we visit the old gypsy quarter of Triana. After seeing Seville's only skyscraper, we continue along the quays of Triana, past the famous Isabel II bridge and along Calle Betis.
Sevilla !
I am very lucking to be in an internship in a tourism company in Seville until the 14th of July. Then, I will be happy to welcome you again in Annecy for the summer tours ! If you want to book a visit after this date, don't hesitate to contact me !
See you soon !
Beautiful stories from old grimoires ...
Once upon a time, in a castle, there was a very old library where stories were told. Among the 12,000 centuries-old books, we chose one. Luckily for us, it was a book of tales...
For the very first time on December 16, 2023, I lent myself to the game of storytelling. Faced with fifteen or so children and their parents looking for a bit of magic in the middle of the December cold, I offered an hour of stories. Many thanks to Jean Michel Grigoroff for the texts and for this wonderful opportunity.
"Souviens-toi"
As part of the 30th anniversary of the Annécian Imagespassages association, Romane Truc and Rémi Cneude proposed a stage performance in which they invited me to take part. "Souviens-toi" is a tale of grains of sand and memories on the road to a castle of light.
We spent a morning recording together so that the black-hatted traveler, Merlin and the Raven could move around the stage as I recounted this unsettling epic.
I'm delighted to have lent my voice to this intimate and singular project!
To listen to an extract, click here!
"I've had the pleasure of working with Théo on several occasions, and his good humor is contagious! I've called on his talents as a speaker and actor to record voice-overs: he makes the texts his own wonderfully and adapts without difficulty to the desired moods. He's also very good at advising on both textual and stage writing, so thanks to him!" Romane
"It's been a real pleasure working with you! Your incredible voice was perfect to counter our performance at the Mikado. What's more, your good humor and advice were most welcome during our preparation time! Many thanks for everything! "Rémi
Your official tour guide is also comedian !
The theater had a decisive role in my decision to become a tour guide, and I still sometimes get out my old suits and take the stage!
Focus here on my last two theatrical tours.
I was lucky enough to be invited to take part in the guided and dramatized tour Sur les pas d'Eugénie, as part of the European Heritage Days 2023. On September 14, to accompany my colleague Aude Thierrin, oficial tour guide at Annecy Ville d'Art et d'Histoire, three actors from the Compagnie de l'Araignée played Eugénie de Motijo, Monsieur and Madame Levet, and entrusted me with the role of Napoléon III. These four characters followed Eugénie's footsteps, bringing back to life for today's Annecians a few moments from the imperial couple's visit to Annecy in 1860, following Savoy's incorporation into France.
The Château de Menthon also organizes theatrical tours, in which I usually take part. Here, you can see me in the role of the cook, upset with his assistant who has lost the key to the smokehouse! For the second year running, I'm taking on the role of chef for the nightly dramatized tours. The last date is scheduled for the Night of the Castles on October 28, 2023, and this time I'll be playing the role of preceptor, accompanying groups to meet the castle's characters.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Autumn 23
At the moment, you can find me giving tours of the Château de Menthon-Saint-Bernard on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and for Annecy Ville d'Art et d'Histoire on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2:30 pm.
I'm also available on request for private tours of Annecy!
Annecy city of Art and History
I did my senior year internship at the Art and History department for the City of Annecy. This five month internship was the last validation for my Master's degree in Heritage and Museums, Cultural Mediation. I conceived and lead my own visit "Discover old Annecy" and I started the renewal process of the Art and History Label which the city keep since 2004.
