Tourism in Spain
to mind? I'll bet that the bullrunning in Pamplona is probably top
of your list. But what about the other major festivals?
every parish sends out elaborate floats carried by parishioners. A
procession can go on throughout the night returning home early the
following morning. Two weeks later Seville celebrates the April
Fair which must go down as one of Europe's biggest parties.
Valencia in March is the 'Fallas' when huge papier-mache figures
are burnt in the streets every night after a year has been spent
building them. And in Bunyol in August it's La Tomatina, the
world's biggest tomato fight. These are certainly some of the
biggest annual festivals as far as foreign tourists are concerned
but what about all the little festivals that take place all over
the country?
own unique fiesta and it's the smaller, local festivals that can
prove just as rewarding to the visitor. In Miraflores de la Sierra
in the Guadarrama mountains of Madrid we used to always go to the
annual village festival of San Blas in February. The whole village
heads out to a local hillside where a shrine to the village's
patron saint stands. Everyone is equipped with chairs, tables, food
and wine and huge pots are put on open fires where 'bacalao con
patatas' (cod and potatoes) is prepared for the whole village. By
late afternoon all the villagers have returned to the bars which
remain packed throughout the night. During the Carnival
celebrations in the same village there's a day when a sardine is
buried (El Entierro de la Sardina), a custom which I cannot explain!
Book store:
Weather in Spain - Madrid, Granada, Barcelona
music and the arts notably the Granada International Festival of
Music and Dance which takes place in the grounds of the Alhambra
Palace. San Sebastian in the Basque Country is packed to the seams
during its annual jazz and film festivals and the Benicassim
Festival has become an important European music festival in a small
town north of Valencia.
country and some bizarre festivals some of which involve donkeys
and church roofs, but we won't go into that right now! In the
coming months and hopefully years we'll be including interesting
festivals both national and local in our newsletter and hope you'll
enjoy hearing from us.
What's new in Spain in july 2008
What a summer it's been to be in Spain if you're a sports fan. Rafa Nadal won his fourth consecutive French Open tennis tournament at the start of June just as the Euro 2008 football championships were starting in Austria and Switzerland. Three weeks later Spain beat Germany in the final to win their first major tournament since 1964 then yesterday to round off an amazing month of sport, Rafa became Wimbledon champion.
On the Spanish festivals front, Zaragoza is hosting the Expo 2008 with state of the art train services now linking the capital of Aragon with both Madrid and Barcelona.
In Pamplona it's San Fermin, the famous running of the bulls which always begins on 7th for a week. The Festival de Cordoba is an International guitar festival that takes place in the gardens of the Alcazar whilst San Sebastian attracts some of the top jazz performers to its annual San Sebastian Jazz Festival.
If you're on the south coast on 16th you'll come across a range of different celebrations of the Día de la Virgen de Carmen. Most commonly you'll see a statue of the Virgin carried in from the sea by a flotilla of fishing boats often with some impressive firework displays.
On the 25th it's the Día de Santiago in with the celebration of the Feast of St James when thousands of pilgrims who have walked the Camino de Santiago congregate in Santiago de Compostela where the Saint's tomb lies in the Cathedral.
Spain - European Football Champions 2008
In international football it isn't always the best or most exciting team that wins the major competitions yet this time it surely was as Spain beat Russia (twice), Sweden, Greece, Italy and Germany on their way to European glory. As the final whistle blew at the end of the final people all over Spain headed out into the streets to celebrate the victory. Unlike in other countries there are never stories of 'violent clashes with police' etc. when the people of Spain celebrate. Now all talk is about becoming world champions at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Rafael Nadal - Wimbledon Champion
When I first moved to Spain I quickly became a big fan of RCD Mallorca who were a mediocre football team with an old stadium right in the centre of Palma. Their star player at the time was a talented midfielder called Miguel Angel Nadal who would later move to FC Barcelona and become one of Spain's most famous international footballers. Just a few years ago I noticed the name of Rafael Nadal appearing on the tennis pages of Marca (the national sports paper) and learned that he was the footballer's nephew. Rafa is now pushing Roger Federer to be the world number one after beating his rival in the final of both Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
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Festival of the Month I - Expo2008 in Zaragoza
Now let's get back to Spain. In Zaragoza there is a major world Expo exhibition taking place until 14th September 2008. Around 100 countries will be represented at the exhibition and an estimated 7.5 million visitors will attend. The specific theme of the Expo is "Water and Sustainable Development". There are superb high speed AVE trains serving the city from both Madrid and Barcelona
Focus on Monasterio de la Piedra (Zaragoza)
I can't remember the number of times I've driven between Madrid and Barcelona and every time I used to think that we should pay a visit to Monasterio de la Piedra. Only last summer did we find the time to do so and how worthwhile it was. The monastery was originally a Moorish fort that was later occupied by Cisterian monks for 700 years. Today it is a paradise of beautiful waterfalls and caves set within a national park some 100km short of Zaragoza on the road from Madrid. It's well worth planning a stop there if you have time.
Festival of the Month II - San Fermin in Pamplona
The Pamplona running of the bulls is possibly the best known and most visited of all Spanish fiestas. Its origins can be traced back as far as the 13th century. Nowadays it is an annual event with the first bull run at 8am on July 7th (see 2007 Bullrun Video link below). The festival lasts for a week attracting vast numbers of people from Spain and all over the world. As well as the running of the bulls the whole week is one enormous street party. Too many (mainly non-Spaniards) forget the danger of this event after a night on the sangria which has contributed to 15 deaths and over 200 serious injuries since 1924.