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Malaga Feria

Here we are in the height of summer - long hot days (a bit of emphasis on the "hot") and at the summit of "hotness" just over a week of feria madness!!! hmmmm!

A feria (for those of you outside of Spain) is basically a fair. But to call it a fair in the English sense diminishes it too far - a fullblown Spanish feria is nothing like an English Country fair.

Where to start? Well obviously for our region the Malaga feria has to be the best. Many would disagree with me preferring their own local town feria but for me the Malaga feria has all the excitement and style that the others promise but never quite deliver.

Its a game of "two halves". The daytime part is spent in Malaga City centre where bars do a roaring trade and shops shut after the morning trade. Many businesses close for the entire period both in the city and in the surrounding areas. If you want to get something done during Malaga Feria week (!) good luck!!

The daytime part is great fun. How is it that so many Spanish can stand cheek by jowel, drink copious amounts of alcohol and not fight? I am sorry to say that in the UK this would be a nightmare for the police - and for over a week ........aghhhhhh! There are temporary bars set up on the side of pedestrian walkways and stalls selling little tipple cups to hang round your neck just in case you get withdrawal symptoms between one bar and the next! There is food also available on these stalls and everyone is laughing.
Yes thats right L A U G H I N G - a novel concept isnt it? (Thats another thing we tend to forget how to do!)

We walked around the old town area around the Cathedral and Plaza de la Constitucion  and every street you look down is just a sea of heads and you wonder how you going to get down the street but as long as you aren't in too much of a rush - and really who is going to be rushing in this heat - the masses move to accommodate two more trying to reach a bar and you might get you feet trodden on a bit but hey........... its part of the "fun".

Drinks are fun too - hollowed out melons with a lethal fruity alcoholic beverage inside and a ............ straw ...... to add that touch of innocence ... DONT BE FOOLED.  Jugs of margaritas, sangria and beer are also passed around with abandon!!

Early evening - 6-7pm sees the fizzling out of the in town part of the day and a mass exodus occurs.  Buses travel constantly back and forth 24 hours a day from Malaga town centre to the official Feria ground on the outskirts of town.  Here the action starts very slowly and really starts going around midnight.  Literally hundreds of bars have been erected for the week.  Very wide avenues with bars and eateries on either side.  You could go there every day for the duration and not get round half of them.  You could eat Paella 10 times and it would always be a bit different.  And then there is the fair itself with all its rides, candyfloss and noise - thats the bit we do have in the UK!  But from our point of view - fairs are ten a penny, its the party atmosphere that we go for and if anyone can party its the Spanish!

It shouldn't be missed - in fact we'll see you there!!

Dont forget parking in the centre of Malaga is bad at the best of times, during Feria its a nightmare.  We take the bus or train - cheap and easy!  Another point that I have to make - if Bullfighting is your thing then there are bullfights throughout the feria week.  (However, dont expect to see us there!!)

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Sun, Sun, Sun ...... and did I mention SUN!!!

Well my friends - its been forever since I blogged. I kind of got "bogged" down in blogging about rain (too many puns in there to apologise about and all of them intended!)

So I stopped, regrouped, and got "bogged" down in Living My Life NOW! so blogging was well and truly put on the back burner. And now, well now the sun is shining (somewhat fiercely) and the birds are singing - rain is history (although I have it on good authority that this rain thing will happen again this week !!!)and all is well in the happy Vellacott household.

Its strange isn't how we Brits cannot get away from talking about the weather. Unfortunately the weather was so foul last winter that it was a big topic of conversation. Even now people keep commenting about last winter's weather and do I detect a note of longing in some of these comments? Certainly with the soaring temperatures I think people do reflect with a little fondness of winters days of rain and lighting the fire at night.

Do I reflect with fondness? I DO NOT!!! YUK! Spain, in my personal view, does NOT do RAIN. Its ugly, mucky and inconvenient.

Yes it is quite warm at the moment and we have resorted to the Airconditioner at night as I am quite (understatement) grumpy if I have a bad night. But the aircon also has its plus points. The constant hum of the aircon evens out and masks all the other sounds of night time Spain in the campo; such as barking dogs, screaming peacocks, yowling cats and did I mention barking dogs?

But the nights are sooooooo lovely aren't they? A couple of nights back one of our dogs was not on top form and so I got up with her around 4am and she was wondering around eating grass and trying to make herself feel better whilst I sat in a chair on the terrace looking at the sky - aaaaah - it was beautiful - so many stars it was magnificent. Derek came out to join us after a while and it was with reluctance I think that we all went back inside when little Lucky was feeling better.

Spain in the summer, I think takes all the best bits of all your childhoo, teenage and adult foreign holidays and allows you to relive them all whether from your own garden/terrace or at a beach, at a bar or eating at an outside restaurant. The sounds, smells, feeling warm in very light clothing - it just makes you feel young and alive again.

So the days are hot ................ hello!! what did YOU come to Spain for? From my point of view, I came for the Sun and its here and I might get a little overheated when working (and sometimes when sitting) but I still love it!!

What to give for Mother's Day??

Now then I am not one to push an idea but when I was looking earlier today for a Mother's day gift to send to my Mum I thought what lovely things there are available online for the UK!!!! Now thats fine as my Mum is in the UK and so glorious gifts from wherever takes my fancy can rain down upon her (in a virtual world anyway).
But here? No so easy so I thought I would do a bit of marketing for myself and give you a couple of ideas.

Of course you can go the safe route and choose flowers - flowers are always lovely and at this time of year in Spain they would last longer. Wine/bubbly are also good choices, add to the flowers and it now becomes special and dont forget Bubbly is not necessarily very expensive here in Spain - of course it helps if either the recipient or the donor likes bubbly!!!! We then have the dreaded chocolates - my preference is "please dont tempt me - well okay if you insist". But chocolates have never been high on my "must have" list.

No what I would really like if I was receiving a Mother's day or Birthday (anniversary, Christmas etc etc) gift would be to have a pamper day. A day where it was all about ME!! Treatments, light lunch, glass of something with bubbles if desired AND a gift to take home. Now what could be nicer than that?

To me that is luxury and something that Mum's of all ages appreciate. For more information on how to put together a package for Mum on Mothers day or a friend for a Birthday treat, go to www.mybutterflybliss.com and click on "Holistic Treatments". This will take you to the relevant page where you can select your package. It will be presented in voucher form ready for you to collect or I can send by email.

Give your Mum the treat she would LOVE this Mothers day!