Año Santo Xacobeo 2010 Galicia
Año Santo Xacobeo is the designation for those years in which the 25th of July (Saint Apóstol Santiago) coincide with a Sunday. This happens regularly each 6-5-6-11 years, which means that every century just 14 Años Xacobeos are celebrated. The first Año Xacobeo was established by the Pope Calixto II in 1126, the last have been celebrated in 1993, 1999 and 2004. The one after this year will be in 2021.
The celebration of the Año Xacobeo comprises a series of cultural and social events that you can check clicking on the following link: programacion2010.xacobeo.es
Galicia
Galicia is the Westernmost region in Europe, the Roman Finis Terrae, the beginning and the end of the pilgrimage to Santiago. It is a small universe of contrasts: it is the sea, the calm ría and the wild, cliff-lined coast; it is also the inland area with its rivers and springs, a green, exuberant and deep place – sometimes rugged and always welcoming.
Galicia is bounded by the Cantabrian Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in a rich and life-filled coastline that stretches 1659 km. It is on the Galician coast that we can find the unique Atlantic Islands of Galicia National Park, made up of the Cíes archipelago in the river mouth of the Ría de Vigo inlet, the Ons archipelago in the Ría in Pontevedra, Cortegada Island opposite the port of Carril in Vilagarcía de Arousa, and Salvora Island, also located in the Ría de Arousa.
It is home to prestigious ports, amongst which is the largest fishing port in the world, located in Vigo. It also boasts first-class commercial ports and marinas, such as A Coruña, Ferrol, and Vilagarcía amongst the commercial ports and the Real Club de Yates de Baiona, the Marina de Sanxenxo, and the Náutico de Rodeira in Cangas, amongst the marinas.
Inland Galicia is the land of a thousand rivers and also a thousand mountains; elderly, eroded mountains with plains and deep valleys of which 66% are covered in woodland.
It is a land of traditions, with festivals and processions throughout the year, in particular the gastronomy-related gatherings, whether for seafood, cheeses, wines, bread, the empanadas (savoury pastries), the cuttlefish or any other delicacy that Galicians adore – and the countless summer festivals, such as those at Caldas, Guitiriz and Ortigueira.
The Galician infrastructure network links Galicia with the rest of the Peninsula and the high speed AVE train is also planned for this region, which should be up and running in 2015.
Santiago de Compostela
The Galician capital is known worldwide for being one of the most important spiritual pilgrimage centres for Christianity since the Middle Ages. In 1985, UNESCO declared Santiago de Compostela World Heritage Site for its great cultural and architectural richness.
Nowadays, with a population of 93.458 inhabitants (2007), Santiago has turned into a dynamic and young city. Very influenced by university life, Santiago offers a wide range of activities, art galleries, concerts, film festivals and above all the peace of its medieval streets that contrasts with the lively nightlife of the city.
Camino de Santiago
Despite being essentially religious in its origins, today, thanks to its cultural and landscape elements, it has turned into a route that brings together different peoples and cultures. This led to the Council of Europe declaring it the first European Cultural Itinerary and thus turned this ancient route in a way for art and spirituality.
There are several routes to go on a pilgrimage to Santiago, but the Way is not a goal in itself but the means to get to the goal: St James' grave.
Official routes
- The French Way, the most visited route nowadays, it enters the Iberian
Peninsula through Roncesvalles and gets into Galicia through O Cebreiro.
- The Northern Way, it goes along the Cantabric coast and enters Galicia
through Ribadeo.
- The Primitive Way departs from Oviedo and leads the pilgrim to Santiago.
- The English Way owes its name to the influx of British pilgrims that travelled
by sea, disembarked in A Coruña or Ferrol and continued from there by foot.
- The Portuguese Way goes through Portugal until it reaches Galicia via Tui.
- The Southeast Way - Silver Route, arrives from Sevilla, Mérida, Zamora and
enters Galicia through the province of Ourense.
For further information:
http://www.xacobeo.es/en
http://www.xacobeo.es/de
http://www.xacobeo.es/fr
Monet and Abstraction
From February 23 to May 30, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and Fundación Caja Madrid will explore the crucial role of this great Impressionist artist in the development of abstract painting after WWII. Through these works the exhibition will analyse how Monet's ongoing obsession with capturing a sense of the instantaneous led him to break down pictorial representation to a mood of near abstraction. Although he was rejected by his contemporaries, in 1950 Monet was rediscovered by the young American and European abstract painters. Works by his many of his most fervent supporters (Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Sam Francis, Joan Mitchell and Gerhard Richter) hang side by side Monet´s pieces in this exhibition thus inviting visitors to discover the undeniable links between their art.
Monet and Abstraction II
Address: Plaza de San Martín, 1
- Telephone: (+34) 902 24 68 10
- Web: Fundación Caja Madrid
- Bus: 25, 39, 3, N16, N18
- Metro: Ópera (L2, L5) / Sol (L1, L2, L3)
- Schedule: Tuesday to Sunday, from 10am to 8pm.
- Price: Free admission.
- Resting day: Mondays.
Fundación Caja Madrid plays host to the second part of this exhibition, which shows the huge influence Monet had on Informalism and abstract Expressionism.
Monet and Abstraction
Address: Pº del Prado 8
- Telephone: (+34) 91 369 01 51
- Web: Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
- Bus: 10, 14, 27, 34, 37, 45, N9 a N15 y N17
- Metro: Banco de España (L2), Antón Martín (L1)
- Email: inform@museothyssen.org o mtb@museothyssen.org
- Schedule: From tuesday to sunday, from 10am to 7pm ; Mondays closed
- Accessibility: Adapted for disabled people. Braille
The Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and Fundación Caja Madrid host an exhibition that shows the enormous influence Monet has had on the development of Informalism and abstract Impressionism.
Miquel Barceló
These days CaixaForum Madrid is welcoming its visitors with a stunning sculpture of an elephant standing on its trunk. Without doubt it's a great way to lure you into enjoying La Solitude Organisative. Welcome to the Obra Social La Caixa-organised exhibition that reviews, through 180 pieces, the career of Spain's most universal star, Miquel Barceló. It's one of the most important artistic events in recent years, granting insight into the diversity of the Majorcan's work, and into his personal relationship with nature and media. On until June 13.
Miquel Barceló. 1983-2009 La Solitude Organisative.
An exhibition that reveals the artist’s creative process
Much more than your average Miquel Barceló retrospective, the collection on show until June 13 at the CaixaForum is a visual manifesto, composed of works the artist himself selected for the occasion.
Featuring 140 drawings, watercolours, paintings, sculptures, ceramics, posters and travel diaries, this exhibition aims to uncover Miquel Barceló's creative process. Thanks to the careful presentation of the artworks, the visitor will understand the relationship between each of the pieces, starting with the very start of the artist's career.
Produced in Mali - where Barceló has his studio - and the Mediterranean, the works on show cover recurring themes such as tradition, the animalism of man and the humanity of animals. Barceló's work gives voice to literature, religion and history, and explores highly contemporary ways to express some of humanity's prime concerns.
Reclaiming media
For the past 25 years, the 1957-born, heavily art brut-influenced Miquel Barceló proposed a unique alternative to the dominant trends in contemporary art. Faced with the rhetoric of abstraction that became so worn-out in the 1980s, the Majorcan artist reclaimed the expressiveness of figurative art. Then in the 1990s, confronted with the fashionable yet complex conceptual discourse of the time, his work stayed true to the principles of handcrafts. Barceló never lost his interest in his media's texture, colour and form.
In recent years Barceló has produced large-scale murals, including the domes of the Palma de Mallorca cathedral and the Palace of Nations in Geneva. He has also started work on a series of monumental sculptures of mammals which, the artist says, "are forgeries of his own person." Among them is a sculpture of an elephant leaning on his own trumpet, which can be viewed by the CaixaForum doors.
Without doubt, Barceló is an essential figure in the Spanish contemporary arts scene. Indeed this exhibition is an excellent opportunity to take a fresh look at the works of an artist whose contribution has made classics of his pieces.
- Starting: 11/02/2010
- Ending: 13/06/2010
- Where: CaixaForum Madrid
- Schedule: Monday to Sunday, 10 Am/ 8 Pm
- Price: Free admission.
- Bus: 6, 10, 14, 26, 27, 32, 34, 37, 45
- Metro: Atocha (L1) Cercanías: C1, C2, C3, C5, C7, C8, C10
Address: Pº del Prado 36
- Telephone: (+34) 91 330 73 00
- Web: CaixaForum Madrid
- Email: savimad@fundacionlacaixa.es
- Schedule: Monday to Sunday, 10am to 8pm.
- Accessibility: The building, which was inaugurated in 2008, is totally adapted for disabled access.
- Services: Llibrary and cafeteria.
- Ticket sales: Box office: Monday to Sunday, 10am to 8pm. Internet: www.servicaixa.com. Telephone sales: 902 332 211. La Caixa cash machines. 50% discount with La Caixa cards. Other discounts available with LKXA, Club Estrella, Carnet Joven and Carnet+25.
From Manet to Impressionsim. A Modern Renaissance
Masterpieces from the Musée d´Orsay
Fundación Mapfre has joined forces with the Musée d'Orsay to showcase a series of Impressionist masterpieces in Spain for the first time. The pieces will be on show at the foundation's venue on Paseo de Recoletos until April 22
Manet's artistic career acts as the exhibition backbone, which analyses the Impressionist movement from a new perspective and sets it within the cultural scene of the 1870s. Artworks by Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Sisley, Degas, Berthe Morisot and Cézanne coexisted with academicism, historicism and symbolism, the trends that innovative artists like Puvis de Chavannes and Moreau used in their art.
Manet and the love for modernity
Manet encouraged young artists to paint modern life differently, but instead of promoting a radical rupture with traditional art, his work is influenced by Titian, Goya and Velázquez. In fact, Manet always wanted his artworks to be exhibited in museums and to end up being classed as classics. That may be why he never participated in group exhibitions with his Impressionist friends and preferred the safety of the Official gallery.
Manet's The Fifer, which combines academicism and modernity, opens the exhibition. Puvis de Chavannes' paintings Le pigeon, Le ballon and Young Girls by the Seaside are the main centrepieces of this block.
Moving on, Monet, the artist that best represented the fleeting nature of natural light, is well-represented with his artworks La gare Saint-Lazare, Les regates à Argenteuil and La rue Montorgueil. In comparison, Renoir seems much more frivolous, but the sensuality of his nudes is reminiscent of 16th century Venetian painting. Sisley, Pizarro and Cézanne are more concerned with composition and solidity. Degas and Berthe Morisot are the great narrators of modern life: performances, ballet, the city and horse races.
Manet's latter pieces, L´asperge, the portrait of Clemenceau and L´evasion de Rochefort, close the show and illustrate the artist's intimate relationship with the Impressionist movement.
- Starting: 14/01/2010
- Ending: 22/04/2010
- Where: Fundación Cultural Mapfre. Sala Recoletos
- Schedule: Monday 2 to 8 pm. Thuesday to Saturday, 10 am to 8 pm. Sunday, 12 am to 8 pm.
- Price: Free admission.
- Bus: 5, 14, 27, 37, 45, 53, 150
- Metro: Colón (L4) / Banco de España (L2)
Address: P. de Recoletos 23
- Telephone: (+34) 91 581 61 00
- Web: Fundación Cultural Mapfre. Sala Recoletos
- Schedule: Monday, 2pm to 8pm; Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 8pm; Sunday and Bank Holidays, 12 noon to 8pm.
- Accessibility: Fundación Mapfre has adapted its exhibition room in Recoletos for visually or hearing impaired people, including a free audio-guide and sign-guide service.
- Price: Free admission
Arte del poder. La Real Armería y el retrato de Corte.
A chance to discover the relationship between court painting, arms and armor. This show is a more complete version of the 2009 exhibition 'The Art of Power: Royal Armor and Portraits from Imperial Spain' at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, which the Museo de Prado helped organize.
The main novelty of this new version will be the addition of works not included in the original exhibition, due to their state of conservation or significance, among other reasons.
It consists of a selection of pieces from the Royal Armory of Madrid, a key institution in the development of the armed portrait, a highly important genre in Europe during the 16th and 18th centuries.
The exhibition is organized into four themes, based on the importance of the relationship between royal arms collections and painting: portraits of the court and armor of Charles V and Philip II; the absence of armed portraits in the second half of the 16th century and their reappearance with Prince Philip III; the Royal Armory in 17th-century court painting and the French and Spanish tradition in portraits of the House of Bourbon.
- Starting: 08/03/2010
- Ending: 16/05/2010
- Where: Museo Nacional del Prado
- Resting day: Monday
- Ticket sales: At the museum ticket counter and at https://www.entradasprado.com/
- Schedule: Tuesday to Sunday, 9 am to 8 pm
- Bus: 9, 10, 14, 19, 27, 34, 37, 45
- Metro: Atocha (L1)/ Banco de España (L2)
Address: P. del Prado s/n
- Telephone: (+34) 91 330 28 00
- Web: Museo Nacional del Prado
- Email: museo.nacional@prado.mcu.es
- Schedule: Tuesday to Sunday, 9am to 8pm. Noche en Blanco, 19th September, free admission from 9pm to 1am.
- Accessibility: The museum has lifts, ramps, platforms and toilets that have been specifically designed. Manual wheelchairs and sticks are available, free, at the entrances.
- Services: The museum has an auditorium, a conference room, café, shop, information points, audio guides, disabled access, cloakroom and luggage office, medical assistance, baby chairs, changing rooms and a mother and baby room.
- Price: Direct ticket sales from the box office: general, EUR8; reduced, EUR4. Advance ticket sales: individual, EUR7; groups, EUR3.50. Free admission Tuesday to Saturday, 6pm to 8pm and Sunday, 5pm to 8pm. Admission gives access to the permanent collection and other temporary ones.
- Ticket sales: Information, reservations and advance sales: 902 107 077 and in Advance Sales. Sales via the Web, Customer Service Centre.
- Resting day: Monday
Maruja Mallo
Her real name was Ana María Gómez González, but everyone has come to know her as Maruja Mallo. Now the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando de Madrid is offering a review of her life and work.
This exhibition looks back at the work of the woman who is regarded as one of the most important Galician artists of the 20th century. With 142 pieces, it is the biggest exhibition ever done on Mallo.
Her art has been marked by her personal life. Exile and the fact that her work received little appreciation until very recently are perhaps the factors that have most influenced the life of this creator who has contributed so much to 20th century art.
To provide a historical context, the show also includes? in addition to her art ? drawings, sketches, photographs and publications from the artist's day.
The recent discovery of works by Mallo and new research on this figure enrich this retrospective that covers a period of more than 50 years.
- Starting: 28/01/2010
- Ending: 04/04/2010
- Where: Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
- Resting day: Monday.
- Schedule: Tuesday to Saturday, 10 am to 2 pm and 5 to 8 pm. Sundays and bank holidays, 10 am 2 pm.
- Price: Free admission
- Metro: Sol (L1, L2, L3) / Sevilla (L2)
Address: C/ Alcalá 13
- Telephone: (+34) 91 524 08 64
- Web: Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
- Email: secgral.rabasf@terra.es
- Schedule: Tueday to Saturday, from 9am to 5pm; Sunday, from 9am to 2.30pm. Closed on Mondays.
- Price: €3 (general fee); 1.50€ (reduced); free admision on Wednesdays.
- Resting day: Monday.
Gran Vía
If there is just one street that you must make sure to visit when you're in Madrid, this is it. Lined with spectacular buildings, shops and restaurants, a walk along it will fill you with the pulse of our city. What is more, in 2010 Gran Vía turns a century old. A great number of leisure and cultural activities are organised to celebrate the occasion. The programme provides insight into the history of this brilliant and highly ambitious architectural project launched in the early 20th century, and which modernised Madrid's appearance.
A walk down Gran Vía will take your breath away with all that it offers by way of commercial activity set against one of the city's most impressive backdrops. At sunset and by night, the avenue and buildings light up in a spectacular way, while the neon lights decorating shop windows and announcing musicals make the area even more attractive. In 2010, Gran Vía turns a century old. A great number of leisure and cultural activities are organised to celebrate. The programme's purpose is to provide insight into the history of this brilliant and highly ambitious architectural project launched in the early 20th century and which modernised Madrid's appearance.
THEN AND NOW
Get a copy of your guide and find out more on Gran Vía's most attractive facets. The best advice you can get is to discover the avenue on foot, at your own pace, evoking the glamour and splendour that characterise its buildings. Enjoy the cultural opportunities on offer, as well as the leisure and diversity that you can find on one of Madrid's most important thoroughfares.
CALENDAR OF ACTIVITIES FOR THE CENTENARY
Gran Vía turns 100 this year and Madrid is ready to celebrate in style, with a variety of activities organised by public and private institutions taking place throughout the year to commemorate the avenue's significance, at once transforming the city and making it all the more cosmopolitan.
GUIDED TOUR: 100 YEARS OF GRAN VÍA'S HISTORY
Take a walk down Gran Vía to uncover its history and the transformations it has undergone over the years. This is your best bet to get to know the variety of architectural styles that characterise the avenue, as well as its centenary shops, cultural and leisure institutions, and the celebrities that frequented it and made it so famous.
GRAN VÍA IN 10 BUILDINGS
Architecture lovers will find pleasure in walking down this avenue. Follow our route and view the ten buildings that act as an inventory of the various styles that marked the first half of the 20th century: historicism, modernism, art-déco and rationalism.
Concerts
- The Cranberries(12th March, Palacio Vistalegre Arena)
- Tokio Hotel (6th April. Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad)
- Mika (19th April. Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad)
- Rock in Rio (4th, 5th, 10th, 11th and 12th June. Ciudad del Rock, Arganda del Rey)
- Kiss (22nd June. Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad)
- Mark Knopfler (29th July. Plaza de Toros Monumental de Las Ventas)
Sports
- Maratón de Madrid (25th April. Exit from Paseo de Recoletos)
- Madrid Open de Tenis(from 7th to 16th May. Caja Mágica)
- Final of the Champions League (22nd May. Estadio Santiago Bernabéu)
- San Silvestre Vallecana (31st December)
1. FESTIVALS IN JULY/AUGUST
55 Mérida Theatre Festival
(Extremadura)
Open air classical theatre in
a Greco-Latin surrounding
27th June to 30th August 2009
Further information: www.festivaldemerida.es
Mérida Theatre Festival is one
of the greatest theatre events in the world with Greco-Latin
content.
The performances on the bare stones of the Roman include
contemporary interpretations of writings that authors
such as Sophocles, Esquilo, Euripides and Seneca, among
others, wrote more than two thousand years ago.
The buildings of the town become alive and turn into
stage sites: the Roman theatre, but also the Roman Amphitheatre,
the back stage, the garden of the theatre, the same
streets and squares of the capital of Extremadura, whose
historical monuments were given the status of World
heritage Site by the Unesco. In these places, the Greco-Latin
theatre will merge with the music, the new artistic
tendencies, the street shows or those shows for children.
32 Almagro Theatre Festival (Castilla
La Mancha)
International classical theatre
of the golden age
2nd July to 26th July 2009
Further information:
http://www.festivaldealmagro.com/2009/en/presentacion/
Almagro has become a good testimony to the revitalization
of an urban space through the history and culture, particularly
through an expression of a tradition so strong in Spain,
such as Theatre.
The “Corral de Comedias” is the only theatre
that has survived the seventeenth century. Institutionalized
activities around the theatre of the Golden Age and
empowering the study of our classics are some of the
main aims of this unique Festival.
The Festival has developed its spaces throughout the
city of Almagro, to the point where there are more than
20 scenic spaces, consolidating Almagro as a city/stage.
The use of private homes for more involvement, and the
recovery of the most emblematic spaces of the city,
were actions undertaken by the Festival in order to
participate actively in the implementation of its Historic
Value.
24th Edition
Veranos de la Villa 2009 (Comunidad de Madrid)
Open air concerts, movies, theatre, ballet, flamenco,
marionettes, poetry, music for sunset, circus25nd
June to 23rd August 2009
Further information:
http://www.esmadrid.com/veranosdelavilla/
In the present edition artists from 30
countries, 130 scenic projects and more than 1.100 performances
will be staging at the most beautiful and picturesque
scenarios of Madrid: Escenario Puerta del Ángel
( Casa de Campo), Campo del Moro and the Jardines de
Sabatini (close to the Royal Palace), etc.
2. POPULAR FIESTAS
AND TRADITIONS
San Fermines Pamplona (Navarra)
Pyrotechnic and bull-running
6th July to 14th July 2009
Further information:
http://www.sanfermin.com/
The ritual of running with the bulls originated
around 1591 with the need to move the bulls from the
city corral, where they were placed until the day of
their fight, to the Plaza de Toros. The town's youth
would run with and through the herd as the animals progressed
through the town square.
Nowadays, the encierro begins at 8:00
a.m. sharp when the first cohete firecracker is lit
to announce the release of the bulls from their corral.
A second firecracker signals that the last bull has
left the corral. The course concludes at Pamplona's
Plaza de Toros, and the bulls are herded inside the
corralillos until the afternoon's corrida. Once all
of the bulls have entered the arena, a third rocket
is released while a fourth firecracker indicates that
the bulls are in their bullpens and the run has concluded.
Some participants of the encierro remain in the arena,
when vaquillas emboladas (young cows with wrapped horns)
are released among them and toss the participants, to
the general amusement of the crowd.
During these days, the town has a carnival with rides
and ferris wheels, as well as an abundance of sangría
and kalimotxo sold by bars and restaurants.
3. EXHIBITIONS
Exhibition - Joaquín
Sorolla, (Madrid)
Portraits and landscapes of the
19th/20th century
26th June to 6th September 2009
Apart from multiple works from the Spanish impressionist
painter and graphic artist Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923),
the series Visiones sobre España will be presented.
Where:
Museo del Prado
C/ Ruiz de Alarcón 23
Madrid
Further information:
Tel.: 91 330 2800
http://museoprado.mcu.es/
Photoespaña 2009, (Madrid)
Photography Festival
3rd June to 26th July 2009
12th Edition of the international festival of photography
and visual arts. This year´s main topic will deal
with “cotidianity“.
Further information:
http://www.phedigital.com/index.php?sec=home
4. EXPATRIATES CLUBS
Expatriates Clubs
American Club of
Estepona
calle Hernán Cortés 2, Marbella
tel.: 952 793 059
www.acestepona.org/
European Vibe
Calle Fernández de los Ríos 98, 2A, 28015
Madrid
http://www.europeanvibe.com/
Marbella Executive Toastmasters Club
Marbella
tel.: 95 281 38 70
The International Theatre Club
Barcelona
tel.: 93 321 93 46
The International Women's Club Barcelona
calle Sta Amelia 10-12, Estudi 3, Barcelona
11/5/2009-
Fiestas en June
There will be numerous folk festivals and cultural events
in June. The most important religious holiday is Corpus
Christi on June 11, which will be celebrated with processions
in many parts of Spain. Another religious event that
will be interesting to witness is the "Escenificacion
de la Aparicion del santisimo cristo” in Griñon (Madrid)
on June 17, where the appearance of Jesus Chris will
be staged.
Madrid has a lot to offer for everybody this month.
Enjoy the “Fiestas de Primavera” (spring celebrations)
in Hortaleza (June 5. – 7) or the “Fiestas Patronales”
in Coslada (June 12. – 15). In the neighbourhood of
La Latina, you can visit the “Fiestas de Aluche” (June
29 – July 7). If you are interested in independent music,
we recommend the Festival of Independent Music in Villaverde
(June 5 - 7).
Lovers of progressive sounds should not miss the Sónar
Festival held in Barcelona (June 18. – 20), where you
can enjoy the latest trends and most relevant artists
of the Spanish and international electronic music scene.
The different venues together cover more than 10,000
sq. metres, with indoor and outdoor areas.
If you prefer Flamenco, visit the province of Cordoba
on June 20: the second edition of "La Noche Blanca del
Flamenco" is set to become the largest global event
of flamenco art.
The night of June 23 (Midsummer night's eve), also called
“Noche de San Juan” (Night of Saint John) celebrates
the beginning of summer with bonfires, not only in Spain
but also in many other parts of Europe. In A Coruña
(Galicia), this is called “Fogueiras de San Xoán” (bonfires
of Saint Joan), and thousands of bonfires will be lit
on Riazor beach or in the various districts of the city,
which is home to the Roman Hercules Lighthouse. Families
and groups of friends dance around the fires and share
a feast of roast sardines and boiled potatoes. In the
town of San Pedro Manrique in Soria, this even includes
a fire walk, or “Paso del fuego”. At 9:00 pm, a bonfire
is lit with 2,000 kilos of oak wood, and at around 11:30,
a carpet-like path of red-hot coals is prepared. Young
men dance around the fire, and at midnight ten to twelve
of them begin the walk across the coles. Women dressed
in white, called "móndidas", which are said to represent
ancient Celtiberian priestesses, walk in a procession.
An unusual event in June is the “Batalla del Vino” (wine
battle) in the Riojan town of Haro, which takes place
during the Fiesta de San Pedro (June 29). The origins
of this tradition might go back to a dispute with the
nearby village of Miranda de Ebro over the ownership
of some local crags. In the peaceful battle, the participants
tirelessly despatch litres and litres of wine over their
adversaries. Don´t miss this impressive spectacle.
For the sports freaks we recommend the Windsurfing World
Championship in Lanzarote at the end of this month (June
27 – July 7.) at the Costa Teguise, where the top candidates
will give their best in the waters of Las Cucharas beach.
The categories are men's and women's freestyle, so that
the visitors can enjoy some spectacular action.
