Category Archives: culture

tuesday in fuengirola

19 Wednesday Dec 2018

Posted by in andalucia, culture, day trips, food & drink, friends, Malaga, malaga getaway

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Tuesday in Málaga started with a walk around Atarazanas Market with Ania @ania_marchlik, who was leaving at midday to catch her flight to Poland. And we ended up having just enough time for a quick Beer O’clock at Cafe Bar Estraperlo before I met up with Victor @welovemalaga. As you can see, some people clearly don’t know how to do Beer O’clock.  😉

The original plan had been to go to Fuengirola with Victor and meet Janet @janet_mendel for lunch at Los Marinos José, a place that I have been wanting to go to for AGES as a result of seeing so many tantilizing Instagram pics taken there by Fernando H. So imagine my disappointment when I found out they were closed for winter holidays. But Victor said not to worry, he would plan a Day of Surprises for me. 🙂

But first I had to stop in at Victor’s to give Harriet and Gingerbread a cuddle…

This new plan ended up still including Fuengirola, even though my only reason for going there was that one particular restaurant. But Victor said we could go back for that another time and that he had something special to show me after lunch. Well, between us we had a list of recommended places to try in Fuengi. This first one (Casa Colón) was fine, we had a “starter course” there. But the next one on our list, Tánicos (recommended by Fernando), was closed on Tuesdays. Dammit. Third rec turned out to be a dud, so we didn’t stay. Instead we got back in the car and headed to Mesón La Salina, another one recommended by Fernando, and it was fabulous. Definitely want to go back with more of an appetite and at least 2 more (hungry) friends.

Next up… my surprise! But first we stopped off at The Inner Life of the Enlightenment Stupa in Benalmádena along the way. It is the largest Buddhist stupa in the West and quite impressive. Which I reckon counts as a surprise, and a good thing too because when we finally got to the Castillo de Colomares… yep, it was closed. Though we did manage to get a pic through the gates.

But you know what? I didn’t really care because it had been such a lovely day with Victor, going here and there, chatting and enjoying each other’s company. My Málaga Getaways have changed over the past ten years, but meeting up with Victor is always one of the happiest things I do there.

an extraordinary outing

03 Saturday Nov 2018

Posted by in culture, events, religion, sevilla

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La Esperanza de Triana is one of the two “grande dames” of Semana Santa in Sevilla (the other being La Macarena) and they both go out (salir) during the overnight (madrugada) processions between Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. For the rest of the year they are on display in their respective home churches. This is why Thursday’s procession to the Cathedral was a Salida Extraordinara (extraordinary outing), which was followed by the return procession on Saturday. ,

The occasion for the Salida Exraordinara was the celebration of the sixth centenary of the founding of the brotherhood, the oldest in Sevilla, culminating with a commemorative eucharist mass on November 3rd at 11 am at the altar of the Jubilee of the Seo Hispalense inside the Cathedral.

I caught the outgoing procession on Thursday, as it happened to be passing near my home, and I happened to be on my way home at the time. It’s been many years since I last saw the Esperanza, as she comes out during the night and returns quite early Friday morning during Easter week (and to be honest, my going out all night – and going out early – days are long over). Even though I’m not religious I quite enjoy the occasional procession, and so it was nice to see one of Sevilla’s most beautiful pasos again.

museo bellver – casa fabiola

18 Thursday Oct 2018

Posted by in art, culture, sevilla

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The new Museo Bellver, housed in the spectacular Casa Fabiola, opened last week. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love this place and, since it is free to residents, I shall be back to visit again and again. It’s such a delightful homage to Sevilla and Andalucia.

Mariano Bellver has donated his private collection, comprising 567 works of art made up of 299 paintings, 112 sculptures, 57 figures in ivory and bone, 44 pieces of furniture, 42 pieces of porcelain and ceramics and 13 clocks. And the building itself is a work of art – definitely worth a visit.

Our Lady of the Artichoke

Sculptures in the Patio

san lorenzo 2018

10 Friday Aug 2018

Posted by in culture, sevilla, sherry, spain, tapas, tapas bars, weird, wine

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Every year Ramón and Mari Carmen of the Antigua Abacería de San Lorenzo host their San Lorenzo day celebration on August 10th, in honour of the patron saint of cooks and chefs, and namesake of both their barrio and bar. The first time I attended this event was five years ago and I’ve gone every year since then.

The martyr San Lorenzo was put to a slow and painful death on top of a large gridiron with live coals beneath it and, the legend concludes that, after enduring the pain for a very long time he made his famous cheerful remark, “I’m well done. Turn me over!”. And so, as always, different varieties of grilled flesh were on offer during the day at the Abacería, along with a typical white wine punch from Huelva called ponche alosnero. We also got to try cured pork tongue and tiny nécora crabs. Good times.

corpus christi 2018

01 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by in culture, religion, sevilla, spain

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I almost missed the annual tradition of getting up (way too) early to walk the rosemary and flower pet strewn Corpus procession route before everything gets going (and everything gets trampled underfoot). But when I texted Peter to say I wasn’t going he said he was going anyhow and so, thus challenged, I was up, dressed and out the door in 20 minutes. I’ve only missed Corpus here four times in 25 years: once when I was in Granada, another time when I was in Lisbon, then London in 2015, and one other time when I was too sick on chemo to go out. So I knew I would regret not going. And it proved to be worth it.

We got almost completely around the route before deciding to stop for breakfast, so the procession was in full swing by the time we finished. We didn’t get to see a lot of that, which was fine by me. But I did stop by ALL THE ALTARS this year, which you can see below. I am always amazed at how much work and preparation (those arches take an entire month to build) is involved for a four-hour event. Crazy. But I love it.
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