Fin de Semana de San José

Día de San José or Saint Joseph’s Day honors St Joseph, the Virgin Mary’s spouse and is held annually all over Spain on 19 March. This date is also known as Father’s Day (Día del Padre) in many areas of the country.

Pirate Invasion

In the beautiful town (pueblo) of San José where I live, the whole weekend is dedicated to fiesta (partying) and boy do they know how to do it. The celebrations start on Friday night where live music is played in the main square or plaza and there is a drinks tent selling beer, wine and tapas. This is in addition to the already crowded bars.

During the Saturday, there are all manner of crazy competitions and activities; first there are a series of children’s games running concurrently with a chess tournament, followed by a poker competition, a gymkhana display and then what must be the craziest spectacle of the day, “El Desembarco Pirata”, the annual re-enactment of pirate invasions from nearly 300 years ago – great fun! There then follows some awards and such-like, a brief projected history of San José and then live music until the wee-small hours.

Flamenco

On Sunday the day starts with a football competition followed by a domestic chores competition for the men of the town, go figure! Following this there are cooking competitions celebrating local Andalucían cuisine followed by the highlight of the day, a dance festival showing off a number of different styles, including flamenco displays – this lasts pretty much for the rest of the day. Many of the town’s women and girls dress up in their flamenco dresses especially for this, though not all take part in the dancing. The day is then rounded off with presentations of various trophies, awards, etc.

Monday (19 March) is Día de San José and a much more sombre affair than the rest of the weekend with some people attending special church services to honor the life of St Joseph (San José). In some parts of Spain, fallas (or falles) are constructed, displayed and ceremonially burnt. Fallas are elaborate scenes made of papier-mâché and cardboard.

This is an amazing weekend and you couldn’t wish for a better start to the spring season. The plaza is vibrant and alive with colourful people celebrating and having a good time… or even just simply watching

Plaza Génova

As with most religious festivities, there is usually a number of associated “older” pagan or folkloric traditions not far away and Día de San José is no exception. 20 March is the vernal equinox otherwise known as the first day of spring. People have recognised the vernal equinox for thousands of years and there is no shortage of rituals and traditions surrounding the coming of spring. Earlier civilisations celebrated for the basic reason that their food supplies would soon be restored. The date is significant in Christianity because Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. It is also probably no coincidence that early Egyptians built the Great Sphinx so that it points directly toward the rising Sun on the day of the vernal equinox.

The first day of spring also marks the beginning of Nowruz, the Persian New Year. The celebration lasts 13 days and is rooted in the 3,000-year-old tradition of Zorastrianism.

We look forward to the coming of spring and all the visitors that we can welcome to and show around this part of the world. Please do not hesitate to contact me in this respect.

Contact details:

Martyn Thompson – Landscape Photography
http://martynthompson.net
http://martynthompsonphotography.wordpress.com
martyn@martynthompson.net
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Granada & the Alhambra

Reblogged from Martyn Thompson - Landscape Photography:

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No Andalucían visit is complete until you have been to see the wonders Granada holds.

The Alhambra is a palace and fortress complex located on the southeastern border of the city of Granada. It was constructed during the mid 14th century by the Moorish rulers in al-Andalus, occupying the top of the hill of the Assabica.

The design of the complex included plans for six palaces, five of which were grouped in the northeast quadrant forming a royal quarter, two circuit towers, and numerous bathhouses.

Read more… 625 more words

Having just received a comment on my Almería post relating to Granada I had a look at my own Granada post from September last year and thought it would be good to repost this as it's such a happy memory for me... now isn't that nice?

Almería

I love living in the province of Almería and I think this is largely due to the diverse nature of the environment however, I’m never sure what to make of the city. Amber & I had decided to spend some time away from San José this weekend and although only a short distance away, we decided to stay in Almería. During the first few hours of walking around, I wanted to be elsewhere – I really couldn’t see a reason to like the place but shortly after this initial feeling, there is a different story to tell.

Valentine's Day Dummies

Almería has some truly amazing tapas bars and bars in general and the people in Almería are some of the most friendliest I’ve ever met. At night, the city comes alive with the bustling of people hopping from one bar to another and enjoying a wide variety of tapas specialities that each bar offers. We enjoyed an amazing night of Flamenco in a bar that you might of ordinarily walked by; it was an unassuming but fairly full bar – there were a few guys standing around outside, one with a guitar strapped to his back and one with a cajon in his hand who told me that they were playing there. So in we went and what an amazing evening we had. For a more detailed account of the Flamenco plus a few movie clips, please click here.

Subsequently the next day wandering around the city I had a better feeling in my bones and rather than the “wanting to be anywhere else’ feeling I had yesterday, I was much more open to being there and enjoyed it greatly, though it was pretty cold!!!

So, after a quick and simple breakfast, we headed to the fantastic Centro Andalauz de la Fotografía to take in two wonderful exhibitions one by Robert Frank and one by Simon Norfolk, who I hadn’t heard of. The Simon Norfolk exhibition was stunning and I recommend it highly. After the photography centre and a little wandering around, we had lunch in an amazing Arabesque restaurant called Tetería Almedina where we also had some very fragrant teas the day before.

Padlocks

The rest of the day was spent wandering around and taking photographs with a brief stop at the Museo de Almería, that is the fantastic archaeology museum on the Rd. de Ronda. As most readers will probably know, I love abstract photography and so I’m afraid to say that my studies of ram-shackled buildings and derelict building-sites might not be the best advert for the City of Almería but I would say miss it at your peril.

Fountains, Avenida Federico Garcia Lorca

Almería, Ganas de perderte (Video Fitur 2012 Patronato Almería)

This is such a wonderful movie clip – it shows the beauty and diversity of the province of Almeria in just over 5 minutes!

Granada & the Alhambra

No Andalucían visit is complete until you have been to see the wonders Granada holds.

The Alhambra is a palace and fortress complex located on the southeastern border of the city of Granada. It was constructed during the mid 14th century by the Moorish rulers in al-Andalus, occupying the top of the hill of the Assabica.

The design of the complex included plans for six palaces, five of which were grouped in the northeast quadrant forming a royal quarter, two circuit towers, and numerous bathhouses. During the reign of the Nasrid Dynasty, the Alhambra was transformed into a palatine city, complete with an irrigation system for the gardens of the Generalife located outside the fortress. Previously, the old Alhambra structure had been dependent upon rainwater collected from a cistern and from what could be brought up from El Albayzín (see below). The creation of the Sultan’s Canal solidified the identity of the Alhambra as a palace-city rather than a defensive and ascetic structure.

Palacio de Generalife

The Palacio de Generalife was the summer palace and country estate of the Nasrid Emirs (Kings) of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus, now beside the city of Granada. The palace and gardens were built during the reign of Muhammad III (1302–1309) and redecorated shortly after by Abu I-Walid Isma’il (1313–1324).

The complex consists of the Patio de la Acequia (Court of the Water Channel), which has a long pool framed by flowerbeds, fountains, colonnades and pavilions, and the Jardín de la Sultana (Sultana’s Garden). The former is thought to best preserve the style of the medieval Persian garden in Al-Andalus.

Originally the palace was linked to the Alhambra by a covered walkway across the ravine that now divides them. The Generalife is one of the oldest surviving Moorish gardens.

The Alcazaba or citadel is the oldest part of the Alhambra complex and is built on the precipitous foreland which terminates the plateau on the northwest. The massive outer walls, towers and ramparts are all that is left. On its watchtower, the Torre de la Vela, 25 m (85 ft) high, the flag of Ferdinand and Isabella was first raised in token of the Spanish conquest of Granada in January 1492. A turret containing a large bell was added in the 18th century and restored after being damaged by lightning in 1881. Beyond the Alcazaba is the palace of the Moorish rulers, or Alhambra properly so-called; and beyond this, again, is the Alhambra Alta (Upper Alhambra), originally tenanted by officials and courtiers.

Torre de la Vela, Alcazaba

Unfortunately due to the time of day we arrived, we weren’t able to see much more of the Alhambra than the Generalife and the Alcazaba. After our visit, we wandered down into Granada town centre to catch the bus to the Albayzín.

Flamenco in El Albayzín

El Albayzín (also Albaicín or El Albaicín) is a district of present day Granada that retains the narrow winding streets of its Medieval Moorish past. It was declared a world heritage site in 1984 along with the Alhambra. El Albayzín rises on a hill facing the Alhambra and many people journey into the area primarily for the spectacular views from the church of San Nicolas and the bars immediately below.

The square or plaza by the church of San Nicholas is host to street entertainers and small make-shift stalls selling hand-made jewellery and crafts. At the time of our visit there was a group of medical students holding their “rag week” with improvised tom-foolery and high jinks a-plenty. Purely by chance some street musicians met with the students for a fantastic and impromptu display of flamenco which roped in some of the more “senior” visitors to the area, one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever witnessed – what an absolutely fantastic afternoon!

There are some amazing and unexpected photography opportunities to be had in Granada, I have been there about four or five times now and each time has been wonderfully different. So if you’d like a personalised tour of the area and you have a whole day to spare, contact me and we can make it happen! My email address is: martyn@martynthompson.net

For further information about Alhambra, please visit their website http://www.alhambra.org.