Category: Ups and downs of living in Spain

It’s almost a week since España won the World Cup, but people haven’t stopped talking about it here and Spanish TV stations are still showing the highlights, which doesn’t surprise us in the least.  Football is more than just a sport in Spain:  it is their greatest passion.

The celebrations started as soon as Spain won their quarter final match and the excitement increased rapidly in the lead up to the final. We were living in a sea of red and yellow flags, including the one flying from our balcony.

On Sunday evening we took our dog for a walk to check what bars were open and which bars had TV screens outside.  It was seven o’clock, 90 minutes before kick-off, and most of the tables had already been occupied by eager fans.  We returned home for an early dinner, while watching the first half, and then set off into the town centre.  Luckily we managed to grab the last two seats at La Masía, one of our regular haunts, in front of their big screen.

Anybody who visits or lives in Spain will know how noisy bars can be, however the noise level was excessive even by Spanish standards.  When Holland just missed scoring, the whole place went crazy.  When Iniestas scored the winning goal, the roof was in serious danger!  John decided to join in the celebrations – any excuse to party!

After we finished our drinks we headed back to the Jardín del Rey Don Pedro, where we knew most local fans would be gathering.  Sure enough, there were ecstatic fans dancing in the fountain, lots of flags being waved, friends embracing each other, both old and young enjoying the celebrations.  Cars and motorbikes were parading up and down Avenida Reyes Católicos, with drivers tooting their horns and passengers waving their flags.  We eventually headed home, even though we knew the celebrations would be continuing into the early hours of the morning.  We have domestic responsibilities now – and our dog Lisa doesn’t like loud noises.  We arrived home just in time to watch a magnificent firework display across the road from our apartment, and to make a fuss of our nervous dog.

Firework display

 

The answer is “inside” if you live in the UK, or “anywhere you fancy” if you live in Spain.  Spaniards are optimistic people – I guess it comes with having all that sunshine – and so we listened to concerts both outside Teatro Vico and also on the Paseo in brilliant sunshine last December (though the conductor did glance anxiously at some dark clouds overhead!)  I can’t see anybody being mad enough to hold a concert outside in the UK during the winter months, however in Spain it happens quite a lot and usually the weather is kind to them. 

The latest venue is the Patio de Armas in the Castillo de Jumilla, which recently reopened after extensive restoration works.  We persuaded our friends John and Lesley to come along to the opening concert, which really impressed them both, so they took little persuasion to accompany us to the second concert. 

“It will be even better,” I promised them.  Nothing to do with the fact that Salva, the son of our Spanish friends Juana María and Salvador, plays in the band!

Luckily our friends agreed that the concert by the Asociación Jumillana de Amigos de la Música was very good and highly entertaining.  The musicians played with great feeling, some of the music was quite demanding but it highlighted the talents of individual players and the conductor threw himself into the music, bringing out the best in his musicians.  Not only that, but the sun was shining, the surroundings were lovely and the audience was enthusiastic.

After the concert we all headed to the nearest bar for tapas: Bar Chaparral on Avenida de Yecla.  The bar downstairs was almost full and the only available table wasn’t big enough, so we had to go upstairs.  Juana María had said they might join us, as they had never been there before, and when she turned up she had her sister-in-law Belén and husband Pablo as well as Salvador.

Our Spanish friends were impressed by the food and even more impressed by the bill!  It was less than 100 euros for eight of us, including beer and wine, coffees, lots of tasty tapas and a plate of fresh fruit at the end of the meal. 

We even had free entertainment, provided by the boisterous hen party enjoying themselves at a large table behind us.  John had spotted a young man with a case, so there was speculation about the possibility of a male stripper, however the men dragged us home before things got too interesting!

A superb evening out, with an excellent concert in the castle and an enjoyable meal afterwards, so what else was happening that weekend?  Music and wine in the bodega on Sunday was next on the agenda.

John and Lesley kindly acted as our chauffeurs on Sunday as Bodegas Casa de la Ermita is in the middle of the countryside, between Jumilla and Pinosa.  Although we have drunk their wine, which sells well in the UK, we had never visited their vineyards and bodegas.

What a beautiful and peaceful setting it was, and with the sun shining they could have held the concert outside, however it took place inside the Bodegas.  We had heard the flamenco group Al Golpe before, performing outside the Jardín del Rey Don Pedro, but with the acoustics inside the bodegas they sounded even better.  The atmosphere was incredible, with everybody enjoying themselves, clapping their hands and dancing to the flamenco music.  I even managed to catch Pedro, the President of the Ruta del Vino and organiser of Música entre Vinos, strutting his stuff!

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=404082279018

While we listened to the music, staff were bringing out bottles of wine and plates of tasty food, which obviously enhanced the experience for us.  So where’s the best place to hold a concert?  In a bodega of course!

 

Our friends John and Lesley kindly offered to pick us up and drive us to the Flamenco Dinner at Bodegas Alceño.  Part of their kindness might have been due to the fact that they didn’t know where Bodegas Alceño are situated and we do!

Much to our amazement, we weren’t the first to arrive.  For once, many Jumillanos had actually arrived on time – possibly because of the free wine and nibbles on offer before the entertainment began.  Kathy and Tony, our new friends from San Pedro, were also there – having successfully persuaded the staff on the gate to let them in even though they only had a piece of paper instead of the proper invitations.  It probably helped that the boss of the bodegas had signed their bit of paper!

We spent too long lingering over the welcoming drinks as, when we eventually found our way downstairs, we discovered that all the seats had been taken and it was standing room only.  It was at this point that I wished I had worn flat shoes rather than the smarter-looking wedges that were on my feet.

We all agreed that the flamenco music, singing and dancing was absolutely amazing.  Kathy was rather taken by the dancer, David de Cordoba, whom she described as a young David Essex: I’m sure it was his considerable dancing talents rather than his good looks that enthralled her! 

Flamenco in Bodegas Alceño

Lesley and I agreed that the star of the night was the young guitarist Kiki Corpas, who had also been playing at the previous concerts in CAM theatre.  Kiki plays with great  feeling and has the ability to adapt his playing to the singers that he is accompanying.

We particularly enjoyed the powerful voice of Marta García, known as La Niña, with Kiki on guitar and Manuel Vílchez on percussion, playing what looked like a wooden box!

Much to our relief (especially to the relief of my feet) there was an interval.  After enjoying some more good wine plus more substantial food than beforehand, we managed to find a couple of chairs so that we could sit and relax while enjoying the second half.

I can’t remember what time this fabulous evening ended, only that it was late by British standards though not of course by Spanish standards.  We all agreed that we would be seeing each other later that day (as it was now past midnight) at the final event of the weekend at Bodegas Viña Campanero.

Now it was the morning after the night before, so we headed towards the small and friendly Bodegas Viña Campanero for the final event of the weekend.  Our friends were already there, as they hadn’t visited this bodega before – not that the tour takes very long! 

The string quartet were already tuning up, which added to the sense of anticipation.  The Cuarteto Pedrera are young, very talented and we all loved the programme that they had chosen, which had been advertised as “classical music”.  Are Lennon and McCartney now considered classical composers?  Coldplay too?  That certainly made us all feel pretty ancient!

\”Yesterday\” – a true classic!

After the previous night’s experience, we made sure that we grabbed seats early on, so we could sit and enjoy listening to the excellent music.  If you have never been to a concert in a bodega, you should definitely take advantage of any opportunity to do so, as the atmosphere is wonderful, especially with an appreciative audience.

We had told our friends that the food would be particularly good here as they have their own kitchen on the premises.  Nobody disagreed with us as they sampled the tortilla, queso frito, baked potatoes, rabbit (Lesley and I both gave that one a miss!) and other tasty dishes.  Washed down with more superb wines from Jumilla.

One of our party suddenly commented on the fact that nearly everybody else had left, so we decided to leave in case we had outstayed our welcome.  Our Spanish hosts were having none of that, as they insisted on us having coffees, liqueurs, desserts and then indicated that we should join them as they were having their own meal!  Reluctantly we left, saying that two of our friends still had to drive back to the coast.  Superb hospitality from Bodegas Viña Campanero!

 We had less than a week to recover from the first musical weekend of the summer, as the Flamenco Festival was starting on Thursday evening.  It is lucky that John and I have a lot of stamina, as it was about to be tested.

After our Spanish class we headed to CAM Cultural, where we were meeting some English friends, John and Lesley, whom we had persuaded to come along.  We had decided to sit near the back as we knew there would be a lot of talking as well as music, so we could slip out discretely if it became too much!  The two major savings bank in town, CAM and Cajamurcia, have exhibition halls and small theatres, and the Flamenco Festival was being sponsored by CAM.  It was fortunate that we were sitting near the back – not that we wanted to leave as it was excellent entertainment, but even at the back the sound was deafening!

After we left the CAM theatre we bumped into a Spanish friend Alejandro, who told us that there was going to be more flamenco in Bodegas Finca Omblancas and did we want to go along?  We decided not to, as we knew we had a couple of late nights ahead of us and the Bodega is a long way out of town.  Shortly afterwards somebody else offered us a lift there, but we stood our ground as by then we had agreed to have a couple of tapas with John and Lesley.  Knowing the Spanish lifestyle we wouldn’t have been home until the early hours of Friday morning and we were meeting Juana María for coffee in the morning.

Friday night and we were back at CAM for the second flamenco evening, with John and Lesley plus Juana María and her husband and other Spanish friends. Afterwards we let our Spanish friends talk us into going with them to Restaurante Reyes Católicos for wine and tapas:  the sacrifices we have to make in the interests of international friendships and cultural exchange!

On Friday morning we had gone to the tourist office to put our names down for a guided walk that was due to take place on Saturday, only to find it shut for the fiesta of Santa Rita.  Muttering about the illogical decision to close the tourist office in the middle of the Flamenco Festival, we had then gone to get tickets from Bodegas Alceño for the Flamenco dinner on Saturday night.

When we returned home I discovered an email from Kathy and Tony from San Pedro del Pinatar, who had read about the weekend’s activities on Simply Networking website and who had tried phoning the tourist office earlier to book places on the guided walk, but without success.  We knew why!  I replied to Kathy explaining this, giving them information about hotels in Jumilla, and offered to take them on an unofficial guided tour on Saturday morning if the official one was fully booked.

As arranged by email, we met Kathy and Tony outside the tourist office on Saturday morning to discover that it hadn’t opened yet, although our friend Alejandro had advised us that the tour would be leaving from outside Teatro Vico.  We headed there, but could see no sign of any tour or of the tourist office guide Ana.  We knew that we couldn’t have missed them – this is Spain after all! – so returned to the tourist office, which by now was open.

“I’m sorry, the tour was cancelled as only five people had booked,” I was told.  (Hmm.  If you had been open yesterday, there would have been nine of us….! )  We did get the helpful information that we could still go to the free lunch in Bodegas Alceño at 2pm, as participants in the Flamenco Festival were all going there too.

We walked Kathy and David round Jumilla, pointing out the main sights, then they took their car up the road to the Castillo, which they both seemed to enjoy.  Finally we headed for the lunch, which we had said would probably be ham, cheese, olives and crisps with maybe some empanadas.  To our surprise we were totally wrong, as a gigantic paella had been cooked outside, which was a welcome treat after all the walking we had done in the morning.  Naturally the paella was washed down with the excellent wines from the bodega.

“See you back here at 10 o’clock this evening,”  were our parting words.  More music and wine to be enjoyed in Jumilla!

Summer arrived in Jumilla last weekend, after a rather cold and wet winter, and hopefully it will stay with us until October.  Summer had a bit of a shaky start though: we glimpsed the sun on Friday, however the wind was definitely chilly and rain was threatening, so unlike last year the annual fiesta with the “vecinos” had to be held indoors. 

Earlier in the week it had looked as if the planned party might have to be cancelled due to lack of interest.  I have to admit that we were surprised by this, as fiestas are an important part of Spanish life and the inaugural party had been very successful.  We needn´t have worried though, as Isobel stopped her car on the pedestrian crossing on Wednesday to say that a lot more people had paid their 5 euros so the fiesta was going ahead (unlike the driver of the car behind her, who was patiently waiting for us to stop chatting!) 

We had been told that the fiesta would be starting at 9 or 9.30 so we decided to wander down at 9.30, knowing that the chances of anything actually happening at 9 o´clock were extremely slim.  We´ve been living in Spain for nearly two years now, so we are used to “flexible” timetables.

We were impressed by the organisers, who had already laid out all the food and drink in the entrance hall of the block next door.  Not surprisingly, this included several bottles of Jumilla wine, although none of these had been opened.

“Who´s forgotten the corkscrew?” I muttered to John, after we had been waiting for ten minutes with no signs of any action on the bottle-opening front.

“There´s nothing to drink out of either,” he replied.  “I expect you want me to go next door and fetch some glasses?”  But by now glasses, corkscrew and ice to keep the beer chilled had all miraculously appeared and the fiesta was underway.

We enjoyed the party and were pleased by the realisation that we understood a lot more of what our Spanish neighbours were saying to us than we had the previous year.  To be honest, last year they could have been talking in double Dutch as far as we were concerned!

The party lacked the drama of last year´s fiesta.  Half-way through the evening a fire engine had suddenly turned up, and the firemen had hurried into the building, ignoring us when we said there was no fire.  Apparently a couple had been stuck in the lift and we had all been too busy having a good time to realise what had happened to them, so they had decided to call the bomberos!

The only entertainment this year was provided by the lights in the entrance hall, which are on a sensor and kept going out.  We had to take it in turns to either wave our hands in the air or press the button which opened the door of the lift until the lights came back on again.  For a short while.

We knew that Saturday night was going to be another late night, as we had tickets for the opening event in the Música entre vinos programme, which is now in its third year and proving to be as successful as in previous years.  The concert by the Orquesta Sinfónica Jumilla was being held in Bodegas BSI. The evening started with a tour of the bodega and then the presentation of a gold badge to the renowned wine journalist D. Victor de la Serna, with several speeches, which definitely tested our understanding of the Spanish language. 

However prior to the tour we had faced an even stiffer test, when a woman from Radio Jumilla had suddenly started asking us questions!  It is difficult enough to think clearly when you are taken by surprise and find yourself being interviewed by somebody speaking in English, but when the questions are in Spanish and you are expected to reply in Spanish, I have to say that it´s a bit of an ordeal.

The evening was rounded off with food and wine, which we both felt we thoroughly deserved, especially as by then it was 11 o´clock!  Fortunately we had decided to have a few tapas at home before going out.  We had both enjoyed the evening though: it was the first time we had heard the orchestra play, and listening to music in a bodega is very atmospheric. 

By the time we got home after the concert it was already Sunday morning.  Luckily our dog Lisa didn´t seem interested in going for a walk, as we had another musical event in our diary, which this time was at lunchtime, so for the second night in a row we wouldn´t be getting much beauty sleep.

Our friend John had assured us that he knew where the Jardin del Rey Don Pedro was, so we had arranged to meet him there for a coffee.  The flamenco group Al Golpe were just finishing their first number when my mobile phone rang, so I moved away to answer it, expecting it to be John.  I was right.

“I´m at the garden, but there is nobody else here,” came a puzzled voice.  “It is the garden near Bar Pipa, isn´t it?”  No, John, it isn´t!  It is the garden near the INSS office, just past the indoor market…

Luckily for John it didn´t take him long to walk to the correct garden, so he was able to sit with us for a couple of drinks enjoying free music and the sunshine.  Good music, good wine, lots of sunshine and good company – it was a typical weekend in Jumilla, and next weekend we were to enjoy more of the same.

What is your reaction to the picture above?  If you are Spanish, you are likely to react in a different way to somebody who is British, for example, as for many of us it brings back memories of the Ku Klux Klan. 

Semana Santa (Holy Week) is celebrated throughout Spain.  Here in Jumilla Semana Santa, which is the oldest one in the region of Murcia, actually lasts for more than a week and is one of the highlights of the year.  Make a note in your diaries to visit Jumilla next Easter as it will be their 600^th Semana Santa, so it is sure to be even bigger, louder and more colourful than usual! 

For me the scariest moment was during last year´s Semana Santa, when I went to watch the Procesion del Silencio.  This takes place late at night, and all the street lights in the old town are switched off.  I saw the black, hooded figures approaching me,  I heard the clanking of chains, and I had to resist the temptation to rush back home.  It was an eerie feeling as the silent procession passed by, with people near me watching it in silence too.

This was our second Semana Santa and I must admit that this year we were a lot more comfortable with the hooded figures taking part in the Semana Santa celebrations.  After all we now know many of the participants, and we also understand that this is a purely religious tradition.  The Nazarenes, or penitents, belong to several different cofradías or brotherhoods and the Semana Santa celebrations are spread out over ten days, from the Friday before Palm Sunday until Easter Sunday.

As well as colourful parades and magnificent floats Semana Santa in Jumilla, not surprisingly, includes lots of music plus a Minifería del vino, which this year unfortunately coincided with friends´wedding celebrations back in the UK.  Sometimes we have to make sacrifices in life!  If we had been staying in Jumilla that weekend, we would have had the chance to sample wine from seventeen bodegas – oh well, there is always next year, which hopefully will be bigger and even better!

 

I suspect that one reason why Spanish children don´t seem to be scared by the hooded figures is because the Nazarenes hand out loads of sweets to them!  The highlight for many children is the main Caramelada on Domingo de Resurrección (Easter Sunday), where the local children scramble for the sweets that are thrown on the street, rather than over indulging themselves with chocolate Easter eggs.  However this year we spotted Easter eggs in our local Aldi, so we suspect that some children had the best of both worlds!

Other activities included two Semana Santa concerts, exhibitions of photography, oil paintings and mantillas, plus the Tamboradas, one of which continued throughout the night in the parking area outside the covered market.  Friends of ours who live near there decided, not surprisingly, to visit us for the night rather than try to sleep with drums being banged enthusiastically outside their apartment!

We met Lisa not long after we moved into our new apartment.  She was a small Spanish dog who hung around the building site opposite our block, so we initially assumed that she belonged to one of the workers.  However one day we saw her with Paco and asked him if he owned her but he shook his head and said no, he lived in Orihuela, and as far as he knew she was a street dog. 

Lisa wasn´t  like most street dogs I have seen, as she looked so well-fed and she even had a collar. We had also heard neighbours calling her “Lisa” or “Lissi”, which seemed an unusual name for a Spanish dog: another reason why we assumed one of the neighbours must own her.

One day she decided to follow us into town when we went shopping, and she waited outside the supermarket until we headed home.  This started to become a regular occurrence, and she even followed us one evening when we went to the Adult Education Centre for our Spanish lesson.  We assumed she would get bored and wander off, but much to our surprise she ran up to greet us when we emerged one hour later.

I admit that we fed her occasionally, and we put water outside for her when it was hot, however we discovered that many of our Spanish neighbours were doing the same.  No wonder she looked so well fed!

It was OK being followed into town by one little dog however, once Lisa was on heat, whenever she followed us there were other dogs following her. This proved rather embarrassing:  at one time we counted five dogs behind us! We started going into the door at the back of Mercadona supermarket and then sneaking out the front door, just to lose the pack of dogs!

Several months ago Lisa disappeared and the neighbours kept asking us if we had seen Lisa or knew what had happened to her.  We discovered that she had been taken in by 4 Patas who run the albergue, the local animal refuge.  We visited Lisa there, and took her out for walks.  Eventually they asked us if we would like to adopt Lisa:  I said that we lived in a second floor flat, which wouldn´t be ideal, but we wanted to do what was best for her.  We were told in no uncertain terms that living with us would be the best thing for Lisa and so John signed the adoption papers on 1st March this year – his birthday.

What impressed me was how many of the neighbours used to look after Lisa, how caring the staff were at 4 Patas and how often we get asked about Lisa if we dare to venture forth without her.  Who says it is only the British who are animal lovers?

For the last couple of years Jumilla has celebrated Diá de San Valentín with a Feria del Amor, which sounded very romantic until we spotted the posters advertising this year´s event with the headline “Vino y Queso, mejor que un beso”!  Not that we were complaining, as it meant we could have a glass of wine and cheese-based tapa for 2€, sponsored not surprisingly by Montasinos Cheeses and Bodegas Carchelo.  It certainly was different to last year´s Feria, the highlight of which was the longest kiss competition, where several couples competed enthusiastically for the trophy, as the judges and public watched them whilst sampling sweet wine and rollos de amor.

As part of the Feria, the tourist office was organising free guided visits, so we signed up for one to Santa Ana, which concluded with a trip to a local bodega.  Needless to say, it was the visit to Santa Ana that really interested us.  A couple of friends had planned to come along, however we had a last minute call to say they had just seen that it was snowing outside so they were cancelling. 

John and I decided to wrap up in our warmest clothes and brave the weather, which was a good decision.  We all met in the Jardín del Rey Don Pedro, where we discovered that our neighbour Isabel was part of the group.  We knew that it was a long walk up to Santa Ana, so were relieved when we were shepherded to a bus and driven up the road

It was still snowing when the bus stopped and we wondered how long the walk would be, however we only went as far as the Monasterio, where we were ushered into the church.  A Franciscan friar welcomed everybody and gave a brief introduction, telling us all about the church, before opening the door into the Museum, which John and I had never seen before.  Although the talk was in Spanish we understood enough to find it interesting, and it was fairly brief   The museum was fascinating: we were amazed both by the number of rooms in the museum and by the different themes in each room. 

We could have spent hours there, reading about all the exhibits, however we had a coach to get back on and a visit to a bodega, so we reluctantly left with the others.  It was still snowing outside and not very warm, so the thought of getting back on the coach was very appealing.  Isobel grinned at me and said “Wine next Sue, and hopefully we will get warm!”  I was in favour of both ideas.

To our surprise the coach didn´t take us back into Jumilla as expected.  Instead it headed towards the bypass to Yecla and John told me that he suspected we were going to Martinez Verdu, a bodega that we had never visited before.  For once he was right (ouch!) and after the coach turned off the main road we eventually arrived at the bodega.  We had the opportunity to sample several good wines before enjoying a buffet of local delicacies and helping ourselves to more wine, by which time I am happy to say we had thawed out.

After the Valentine´s weekend we had another four weeks to enjoy the wine and cheese promotion, so we decided to take advantage of it.  Ten local establishments were taking part, competing to win prizes for the best tapa, so we decided to sample them all and vote for our favourite.   Although  we chose Restaurante San Agustín as number one, with their “Corazón de queso y alcachofa”, Cervecería Nuestro Bar, Bar La Casa, Bar QT APTC and Restaurante Reyes Católicos were close runners-up.  As a bonus, with each glass of wine and tapa that we bought, we were given a scratch card.  During four weeks of sampling many delicious tapas, we won three lots of cheese, a tasty ham and cheese spread, three large sausages, two miniatures of Tio Pepe sherry and three miniatures of vodka.  Better than a kiss?  Maybe not, but definitely a close second!