Europe & Beyond

Jerez Horse Fair – Feriade caballo

2-9 May 2010

One of Jerez’s biggest fiestas is the annual Feriade caballo – the Jerez Horse Fair, the most prestigious equine heritage event in Spain, which showcases the region’s finely bred horses. Jerez is well known as an equine centre, and is the home of the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art – a riding school of comparable status to Vienna’s world-famous Spanish Riding School.

Travelling to Jerez and getting around Andalucia

Only a few budget airlines fly direct to Jerez – the airport is an ex military air base – so most visitors will fly to the Andalucian city of Malaga and hire a car or take the train eastwards to Jerez.  Be warned central Jerez has narrow winding old streets that offer little parking should you choose the option of car hire Spain.

Jerez Fireworks

A spectacular firework display marks the start of the festival late in the evening on Sunday 2 May, followed by 6 days of celebrations.

Lit with fairy lights at the city’s Gónzalez Hontoria Park, the colourful show features a fairground and shows celebrating many of the region’s richest cultural traditions: parades of horses and elaborate carriages, spontaneous Flamenco performances, and stalls selling delicious regional cuisine.

Visit http://www.jerez.es for further information about Jerez.

Carnivals in Alicante

Alicante is a truly Spanish Mediterranean city, with a sunny climate, leafy esplanades, outdoor cafés, a seafront promenade, and a calendar of vibrant fiestas. The city lies right at the heart of the popular Costa Blanca holiday resort region, so most visitors arrive here for its sandy beaches – but since the locals know how to throw a good party, it’s well worth timing your visit to include one of the big annual festivals.

Alicante Carnivals (Carnaval) February

Coming up in February there’s the lively 10-day Carnival, or Carnaval, held every year around Ash Wednesday. In 2010, this free fiesta takes place from 11 – 21 February, with the action centred along the city’s main thoroughfare, the Rambla. Year-round, this is a pleasant avenue for a stroll, lined with palm trees, ice cream shops and outdoor cafés. But during the Carnival the Rambla is a real feast for the eyes, with decorated floats, dancing, and marching bands. One of the highlights is Saturday’s Sábado Ramblero, an elaborate carnival costume parade which takes over the street like a grand masquerade ball.

Burial of the Sardine

On Ash Wednesday itself there’s the ‘Burial of the Sardine’, a bizarre event which involves various Carnival fraternities marching through the city in a Funeral Wake to ‘incinerate’ the sardine.

Las Fallas Valencia – March

If you are visiting this Spanish region later in March it is well worth having car hire Spain arranged to drive to and stay in nearby Vallencia which holds a festival Las Fallas which promises fireworks galore!

Every day at 2pm firecrackers rip through the Plaza del Ayuntamiento in an noisy event called la Mascletá. This concert of gunpowder is very popular and involves different neighbourhood groups competing for the most impressive volley, ending with the terremoto, (literally means “earthquake”) as hundreds of masclets exploting simultaneously. While this may not be for the frail or faint-fainthearted, you understand how hearted, the Valencians got their valiant name.

Alicante Fire Festival (Hogueras de San Juan) June

If you’re planning ahead for a trip later in the year, Alicante is probably even more famous for its annual Fire or Bonfire Festival, known in Spanish as Hogueras de San Juan (Bonfires of St. John). As the name suggests, this spectacular, fire-filled fiesta involves bonfires and fireworks galore. A palm-shaped firework is launched into the sky to mark the beginning of the festival on 20 June, and celebrations continue until 24 June. The fiesta’s highlight is the collection of huge papier-maché and wooden sculptures, similar to the artworks created for Valencia’s Las Fallas festival, which are put on display around the centre – before they are finally burnt to the ground. Eventually the fires die down, but the partying carries on for several days and nights afterwards, along the narrow alleyways of El Barrio and right down to the beaches. Finally, there’s a competition to choose the next Belleza del Fuego (Beauty of the Fire), who is crowned the festival’s ‘Queen’ along with six Ladies of Honour. Other Posts with ideas for visiting Alicante and Costa Blanca

• Tera Mitica Theme Park
• Elche
• Mundomar

Experience Semana Santa in Malaga

Spain is world-famous for its lively fiestas, and Easter Week or Semana Santa celebrations are amongst the biggest, particularly in Malaga and other towns and cities in the southern region of Andalucia.

Previously in the  we looked at ideas for family holidays on the  Costa del Sol Car Hire Spain series of 2009. Thanks to its position on the hectic Spanish south coast, a package tour mecca, Malaga is often unfairly overlooked by cultural travellers – yet it packs in some very interesting sights.

Easter Week Malaga

This year’s Easter week runs from 26 March to 4 April 2010, and with cheap flights available from the UK to Malaga, and the Spring sun already shining, it’s a great excuse for a trip abroad.

Although Semana Santa is a religious festival, the splendour of the fiesta’s processional floats can be appreciated by anyone.

Whereas in many Andalucian towns and cities the festival can take on a quiet, subdued tone, in Malaga the festivities are far more upbeat and happy, with spontaneous bursts of Flamenco songs and cheering when the best floats pass by. Read more about Malaga Flamenco.

From Palm Sunday through to Easter Sunday there are daily processions through the city, featuring elaborately-decorated pasos (religious floats) that sway along the streets, accompanied by bands playing distinctive religious music.

The pasos, some of them weighing a considerable 5,000 kilos, are painstakingly carried along the streets by bearers. Some of the older floats were carved in the 16th and 17th centuries, and all of them are beautifully decorated and carry life-sized figures depicting scenes from the bible.

Thousands of robed penitents light the way with their candles, and the air is filled with the aroma of incense and flowers.

Semana Santa is very important to the Andalucians, but also draws tourists from all over the world. Whether or not you’re religious, it’s hard not to find yourself swept up by the spectacle of these atmospheric candlelit processions, and the evocative sounds, scents and ceremony involved.

Other Malaga attractions

The city’s Moorish history can be seen in the old Alcazaba fortress, which dates back to 1065 and houses an Archaeological Museum. The pleasant seafront promenade, Paseo del Parque, leads to the harbour and ends at Calle Larios, the city’s main commercial thoroughfare. You can admire Baroque architecture at the city’s cathedral, known as La Manquita (‘One Armed Woman’) because of its missing East bell tower. And for art-lovers there’s the famous Picasso Museum, and the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo.

Once you’ve had your fill of culture and history, Malaga also has plenty of good clothes and souvenir shops, bars, and restaurants with outdoor seating where you can recharge your batteries ready for some more Semana Santa celebrations.

Malaga Airport Flights to Malaga

Málaga Airport is the third largest international airport in Spain, with excellent links to UK regional airports. A number of low-cost airlines offer flights to Malaga from many regional airports, and you can hire a car from the airport if you’re planning to explore beyond the city.

Car Hire Malaga

If you hire a car in Malaga, you can explore the smaller traditional towns and villages found inland from the busy coast, to get a taste of more local Semana Santa festivities.

If you’re planning a trip to Andalucia during this busy festival period, make sure you book accommodation, car hire and any other crucial travel services well in advance because demand is high.