Fiestas in Jumilla during August – part 2

I’ve been enjoying the fiestas so much that I nearly forgot to post part two! Jumilla certainly knows how to put on a good party and one that people of all ages can enjoy. The next two days though are definitely aimed at the youngest members of the family.

Wednesday 15 August 11.00 to 14.00

The Feria infantil – Children’s Fair – will be taking place in the playground of IES Arzobispo Lozano and entry is free.  School was never this much fun!

There are a couple of intriguingly titled competitions on the Paseo Poeta Lorenzo Guardiola in the early evening. At 17.30 “La uva caliente” takes place and then at 18.30 “Mosto Pong”. I may go along just to see what they’re all about!

Thursday 16 August

This day has been designated the day of the child, as they are offering a 2 x 1 deal on all fairground rides, however it’s also a good day for adults, with the Cabalgata Tradicional.

Cabalgata Tradicional 20.30

Jumilla is renowned for its Gran Cabalgata with lots of wine throwing (more of that later!) but this is my favourite procession. The parade of decorated floats starts near the tourist office and slowly makes it way along Cánovas del Castillo, eventually finishing near the indoor market. I say slowly, because the participants are busy handing out sangria, wine and snacks to the spectators, as well as sampling some themselves and dancing to the music. It’s a great carnival atmosphere.

One of many decorated floats

23.30

If you feel like partying a bit longer, there is a festival of local groups in the Jardín del Rey Don Pedro. There will be free entry to the garden until it’s full, however if you can find a spare seat in one of the bars outside you can then enjoy a drink while listening to the music.

Friday 17 August 20.00

Another favourite of mine is the parade of horses and carriages, with many of the participants dressed in traditional costume. I’m hoping that some of the riders will show off their horses’ capabilities as they’ve done in previous years.  I enjoy watching horses dance as much as I enjoy watching human flamenco dancers.

23.30

I’m a bit of a fan of Al Golpe, who play flamenco style music that is bound to get the locals up on their feet. They will be playing on the Paseo Poeta Lorenzo Guardiola. If you’re lucky, you might even see me trying out my dance steps there!

Saturday 18 August 19.00

The infamous Gran Cabalgata will leave from Avenida Reyes Católicas, with plenty of wine throwing as well as wine drinking. This is for the young as well as the young in heart. One word of advice for the ladies: don’t wear your best white summer dress unless you want it to change into a pink one! The good news is that there will be showers outside the market when you reach the end of the parade. The other good news is that there will be free music at the Festival Tinto Rock, starting at 23.30. Enjoy!

Wine anyone?

Sunday 19 August 20.00

The last day of the Feria and Fiestas of Jumilla is a reminder that these are held to honour the patron saint of Jumilla, Nuestra Señora la Virgen de la Asunción.  After mass at the Parroquia Mayor de Santiago, the statue of Our Lady will be carried to the Ermita de San Agustín.

Concert 22.00

The final free concert will take place in the Jardín Rey Don Pedro, with the singer Maribel Castillo performing coplas and spanish songs. That isn’t the last act though, as at 00.30 there will be a firework display at the municipal sports stadium.

!Feliz Fiestas!

Click on the following link to see the street map of Jumilla if you are unfamiliar with the town and would like to join in our fiestas. If you would like a free guided walk around Jumilla, either during the fiestas or at a later date, please contact me via the Contact page.

What’s your favourite kind of music?

So what is your favourite kind of music? Some people find that question easy to answer.  My friend Wendy’s husband Con is a jazz fanatic, with too many albums for me to count them all: I’m not sure whether we are talking 100s here or even 1,000s!  My father loved classical music and would sit listening to his records in the dining room whenever my brothers and I had “Top of the Pops” on in the living room. 

Showing my age now (!) – I still love listening to music from the 60s, plus some light classical music, in memory of my Dad.  However, since moving to Spain, I have also got into flamenco in a big way.  I don’t think it is a case of which music I prefer, it’s more a matter of what mood I am in, and I am sure that many other people feel the same way.

I have pasted some links below to videos on youtube that were taken at the recent Música entre Vinos concerts, with music varying from flamenco to jazz via swing.  Needless to say, I enjoyed all these concerts even though the music was very different. 

I’d love you to tell me which is your favourite video – and why.  (Scroll to the end of this post for the comments box.)

Casa de la Ermita, where Orquesta Brass Ensemble played

  Click here to play video: Orquesta Brass Ensemble

With friends, waiting to hear Al Golpe at Bodegas JM Martínez Verdú

Click here to play video: Al Golpe 

Bodegas Alceño - Jumilla Black Band

 Click here to play video: Jumilla Black Band

John and I waiting for vino at Bodegas BSI
Bodegas Viña Elena

How many fiestas?

How many fiestas are there on any one day?  You would expect the answer to be one, however last weekend two different Fiestas were being celebrated in Jumilla: San Fermín, as discussed previously, plus San Cristóbal, the patron saint of all travellers including lorry drivers.  The official days are different, but why restrict yourself to one day’s partying when you can have several days of celebrations?  Exactly.  The Fiestas de San Fermin ran from 7th to 10th July, whereas the Fiesta de San Cristóbal took place on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th July.

As honorary Jumillanos we feel it is our duty to support as many local events as possible, which made the weekend a rather frantic one, especially as we also have a duty to support Música entre Vinos, which meant we were committed to attending the event at Bodega Viña Campanero on Saturday night.  Readers, it was hard but we did our best.

Friday night was San Fermín night and Saturday night was Música entre Vinos, so what should we do for Sunday night?  It had to be San Fermín again, as we knew Al Golpe was the closing act for this year’s Fiestas, but we needed to show a bit of solidarity with the lorry drivers, especially as one of our dog Lisa’s favourite walks is down the road and past the lorry park.

San Cristóbal leading the parade

The local niños come out in force every year to watch the lorries parade through the streets of Jumilla.  I suspect that this may have something to do with the packets of  corn snacks, sweets and toys that are thrown from the cabs to the waiting children!  Even John and I went home on Saturday evening with a bag of goodies after watching (and listening to) the lorries.  The tooting of horns seems to be a compulsary component of the parade, and when we covered our ears they just laughed at us.

The parade on Sunday morning was a more musical affair, as this time the statue of San Cristóbal was carried from the lorry park to the Church of San Juan Bautista for a special mass, accompanied by the local band.  After watching the morning parade we walked Lisa into town to buy the Sunday papers, then stopped for a cold drink on the way home.  We managed to glimpse the Pasacalles for San Fermín as well, where the statue of San Fermín was carried from house to house, accompanied by another local band. 

San Fermín - having a rest

Lisa was not impressed by the loud firewords that were being set off at regular intervals, so we decided to head home with her.  Our timing was perfect, as the mass for San Cristóbal had finished, and we saw the procession arrive at the Monumento de los Camioneros with their offering of flowers.  The Policia Local were on duty to stop the traffic on the main road and I was beckoned across by a police officer so that I could take photos.

Flowers on the Monument

After such a busy morning we decided to relax during the afternoon – after all, we needed to save ourselves for the evening’s events.  We had arranged to meet friends in Bar La Casa at 10pm, however we soon discovered that we needed a Plan B as the bar was closed, in spite of Cristina having told us they were going to be open all weekend!  Apparently they were all exhausted after a busy weekend (!), but luckily Bar Central, which is usually closed on Sundays,  had decided to take advantage of so many potential customers and had opened.

John and I set up a rota to go and check whether Al Golpe had started their performance.  We knew what time they were due to start, but this is Spain, moreover it is Jumilla.  Although Bar Central is on one side of the plaza where the stage had been set up, there was a children’s fairground in between, and the fairground was very noisy, with a combination of loud music and excited children.

Al Golpe

About half an hour later than advertised Al Golpe started their act, so we downed our drinks and finished off our tapas before heading outside.   As always their performance was superb and the audience loved it, calling out “Bravo!” and “Guapos!” before chanting “Otras!”, after the final number had been performed.  Al Golpe added a couple of extra songs before packing up, so everybody was happy.

It was nearly one in the morning when we left, pausing only to watch the final firework display.

Música entre Vinos part 1

Música entre Vinos was a brilliantly conceived idea from the Ruta del Vino Jumilla and is now in its fourth season.   Put simply, during the summer months a series of concerts are held in local Bodegas, where you can also taste wines from the Bodega accompanied by local dishes.  We had already enjoyed five of the first six events (we applied too late for the sixth one!) and were looking forward to the other four that we have booked.

We popped into Los Chilines wine shop for a word with José María on Friday.  He told us that tickets were still available for the Música entre Vinos events at Bodegas Viña Campanero next weekend and Bodegas Pedro Luis Martinez the following weekend, however only a couple are left for the closing event at Bodegas Bleda on 30th July.  This year’s events have proved extremely popular and most have sold out well in advance.

Even more astonishing was the news that La Gran Cata, which is being held on 29th July, has already sold out.  Apparently there were 400 applications for the 250 tickets – luckily we had reserved tickets last week for ourselves and our friends Lesley and John!

On Saturday night we headed to Bodegas JM Martínez Verdú, hoping that the event would be as good as the one we attended there last year.  It was rather worrying when we drove through a downpour, as we suspected that the concert was going to be held outside.  We arrived to find our friend Fina looking anxiously at the sky.  She reassured us that our four reserved tickets were there, while muttering to us that she was nervous about the weather.

Inside the bodega

Fortunately the weather was on our side and we enjoyed a wonderful evening.  I have to say that the whole event exceeded our expectations: it was very well organised; the wine flowed; the food was absolutely delicious; the music was from the superb Flamenco group Al Golpe and we enjoyed watching Flamenco dancers too – and finally there was a wonderful atmosphere with so many people having a good time. 

The evening started with a tour of the bodega for those people who hadn’t visited it before.  The rest of us showed our tickets to get a wine glass and shortly afterwards the efficient, smiling staff wandered around with bottles of chilled white and rosado wines to top up our glasses.  That was a good start to the evening and it got even better when plates of food appeared.  The catering was provided by one of our favourite bars in Jumilla, Bar Paraiso. (When visitors want to taste authentic Spanish food in a typical Spanish bar, that’s where we take them, for the excellent value 8€ menú del día!)  

John, waiting with our friends Lesley and John, for the wine to appear!

We enjoyed some tiny empanadas (savoury pasties), what appeared to be mini sausage rolls (though I gave them a miss as I don’t eat meat) and the most delicious seafood vol au vents I have ever tasted.  I don’t know how many of the tiny vol au vents I ate, but every time they offered me another one I willingly accepted.  Yummy!

We then moved into the garden further down the road for the actual concert by Al Golpe.  Three coach-loads of British residents from Torrevieja on the coast had ventured inland for this event.  They had been  persuaded to come along by their Spanish teacher Begonia, who coincidentally is teaching Spanish to Lesley’s son Nick, who has just moved to Los Alcazares.

Once the concert started, the evening became very lively.  Al Golpe are a talented group of three young musicians from Jumilla.  I will give a link to a video that I took at the concert, but believe me they sound even better live, with an appreciative Spanish (and English!) audience.  To add to the experience there were a couple of lovely Flamenco dancers who, or so we were told, were the daughters of José María, the owner of the Bodega.

Flamenco dancers

While we were enjoying the concert, some good red wine was served (look out for Xenys, Xenysel or Calzás on the label, if you want to try their wines) and even more delicious food.  We had to smile when we overheard an English woman saying “they are bringing round bread and jam!”   Excuse me, Madam, it is a local delicacy of fried goat’s cheese topped with jam made from Monastrell grapes – and absolutely delicious.

Plate after plate of jámon, cold meats, cheese and tapas were brought round and, just when we thought we were full, they produced desserts!  Tiny dishes of lemon sorbet to refresh our palates were followed by arroz con leche, tarta moka and fresh fruit kebabs.

We all agreed that this was the best event so far, but we are going to three more this month so I will be reporting back on them over the next couple of weeks.

Video of Al Golpe