A Colombian Beach on the Banks of the Seine

Rejoice! For five days, Parisians and tourists visiting the City of Light will be able to enjoy the colour and the joy of a Colombian beach on the banks of the River Seine, in the heart of Paris! The #Colombiamiamor beach will extend along 100 meters, between Les Invalides and Alma bridges.

Paris Plages is one of the most traditional summer dates among Parisians. Since 2002, every summer, the banks of the Seine become an artificial beach, ready to host tourists and leisure activities.

“This is Colombia’s year for international promotion. The world is closely following our process of transformation and the France-Colombia Year is proof of the interest that exists for the country’s cultural and tourist offer, as well as the business opportunities that are opened thanks to the peace process..” Said Felipe Jaramillo, president of PROCOLOMBIA. “ProColombia has developed a very important agenda on this second half of the year, in order to support Colombian entrepreneurs in the French market. ParisPlages is a unique showcase, but we will also be present at other events such as Salon du Chocolat; a Business Matchmaking with 200 Colombian entrepreneurs and 200 businessmen in Paris, and we will also be accompanying businessmen from the regions of Colombia to the key events of tourism promotion.”

#ColombiaMiAmor

The Colombian beach will be divided into nine different spaces, which will allow visitors to enjoy countless samples of Colombian culture and options, such as reading a good book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez reclining on a hammock with the view of the Eiffel Tower, or enjoying the country music, and even learn to dance salsa with some of the best teachers of this rhythm.

The variety of products imported from Colombia will allow visitors to the beach to know some of the products of the country’s exportable offer such as bathing suits, cosmetics and handicrafts from different regions of the country, in addition to the typical food tastings, exotic fruits and natural juices to quench the thirst of the Parisian summer. The smaller ones will also entertain themselves with traditional Colombian games like ‘La rana’, as well as a collective space enabled to paint.

About the France-Colombia Year 2017

The participation of Colombia is led by the Ministry of Culture, and its technical chair of the Intersectorial Commission responsible for the implementation of the The France-Colombia Year 2017, as well as the Commissioner-General, delegated by the Colombian government, Fabián Sanabria.

The Intersectoral Commission is also composed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism; The Ministry of National Education and the Administrative Department of the Presidency of the Republic. Likewise, it has the support of state allies, such as ProColombia and the Colombian Embassy in France, and public and private sponsors of the institutional, business and media sectors.

In the French case, the team in front of this task is led by Commissioner-General, Anne Louyot, and the French Institute, the agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for cultural diplomacy, which for more than thirty years has carried out the initiative of the Cultural Seasons (Saisons culturelles), which in this edition, have the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development; The Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research; The Ministry of the City, Youth and Sports; The Ministry of Agriculture, Agri-food and Forestry, the Embassy of France in Colombia and the Network of French Alliances of Colombia.

The beach will be inaugurated on July 26 at 7:00 p.m. and will count with the participation of the Colombian Ambassador to France, Federico Renjifo, and ProColombias’s President, Felipe Jaramillo.

Charlotte Giver

Charlotte is the founder and editor-in-chief at Your Coffee Break magazine. She studied English Literature at Fairfield University in Connecticut whilst taking evening classes in journalism at MediaBistro in NYC. She then pursued a BA degree in Public Relations at Bournemouth University in the UK. With a background working in the PR industry in Los Angeles, Barcelona and London, Charlotte then moved on to launching Your Coffee Break from the YCB HQ in London’s Covent Garden and has been running the online magazine for the past 10 years. She is a mother, an avid reader, runner and puts a bit too much effort into perfecting her morning brew.