Jerez Flamenco Festival

Jerez de la Frontera, Andalucia

The small Spanish city of Jerez de la Frontera is the home of sherry, Flamenco and some of the world’s finest horses.

If you wander the tangled streets of the old town you can follow the scent of sherry to track down a bodega, where you can take a tour to learn about the sherry-making process – and enjoy a bit of tasting. The rolling landscapes outside of the city produce grapes for the sherry, and you can stop off along the way at numerous Pueblos Blancos – pretty, white, hilltop towns.

We had the fortune to visit and write about the Flamenco Museum in Malaga but to get a full flavour of proper job flamenco what better city to visit than Jerez?

You can enjoy Flamenco year-round, with regular shows hosted at more than a dozen small flamenco clubs (peñas flamencas) that keep the tradition very much alive – including Spain’s second oldest peñas flamencas: Los Cernicalos.

The city also makes a great base from which to explore the wider Andalucian province of Cadiz.  Flights are available from regional airpots to Jerez but many visitors find it easier to get to the main airport in Andalucia, Malaga. Car hire is readily available and the drive to Jerez would be a few hours through the stunning Andalucian countryside alternatively you could take the fast train from Malaga via Seville to Jerez and pick up a hire car on arrival.  Car hire Spain is particularly good value during the low season – when the Falmenco Festival takes place.

Nearby on the coast there are sandy beaches such as Tarifa on the Costa de la Luz, where the strong winds off the Straits of Gibraltar create the perfect conditions for kitesurfers and windsurfers. The typically Andalucian seaside city of Cadiz has a wonderful old core, with a network of narrow winding alleys linking large, open plazas. Dotted about the old centre there are well-preserved historical churches and other landmarks such as the remains of the ancient city walls.

There’s stacks to do year-round in and around Jerez, but many tourists time their visit to coincide with the annual world-famous Festival de Jerez, sometimes called the Flamenco Festival, every February

Festival de Jerez – The Flamenco Festival

26 February – 13 March 2010

Jerez is arguably the best place in the world to experience one of Spain’s most passionate and vibrant cultural expressions: Flamenco.

Many people are under the impression that Flamenco is part of the culture of the whole of Spain, but in fact it is only native to the Andalucian region. Jerez itself lays claim to being the birthplace of the tradition, and each year the city erupts with music and dance – representing one of the most important celebrations of Flamenco in the world.

In addition to lively ticketed shows featuring some of Spain’s most famous Flamenco dancers and guitarists, the festival also attracts dance students to its many training courses and workshops.

Venues include the Palacio de Villavicencio and the Villamarta Theatre.

www.festivaldejerez.es

Valentine’s Day Gifts

The one rule of Valentine’s Day is that you should never forget. The rest is up to you, whether you treat your loved one to traditional Valentine gifts such as Valentine flowers or a surprise slap-up dinner- check out this magnificent Valentine pasty, or push the boat out with a romantic rural weekend retreat. A card is the bare minimum, but let’s face it, there are few (women in particular) who would honestly be happy with the bare minimum. If you’re out to impress, you’ll need to do better.

Here’s our Valentine’s inspiration to help you make the day special for the one you love.

Homemade over Hallmark

Many people think Valentine’s Day has become too commercialised -  little more than a ‘Hallmark’ holiday with rip-off gifts. It needn’t be meaningless or expensive, however, if you make your own cards and gifts. Something that’s obviously been made with love means more than something easily bought. You could make chocolate-dipped strawberries, or a homemade card – and if you’re no artist you could buy reasonably-priced supermarket flowers then re-wrap them in your own choice of paper and ribbon, giving your gift a personal touch.

Valentine’s flowers

There’s nothing quite like receiving dozen fresh red roses  to make a girl feel special.
many people chose to have flowers delivered from leading florists such as Interflora who really should reconsider their pricing structure, however better options are available with businesses such as Bunch O’ Fives and high street womens fashion lingerie and dresses emporium M&S offering flowers year round both in store and online
If you’re spending Valentine’s Day together, you could hand deliver the flowers – giving you the chance to personalise the bouquet with your own wrapping.

Novelty Valentine Gifts

Careful with these – althought the idea of giving novelty flowers that turn into nasty knickers and badly fitting  bras you might as well have kept the pink  goscrewyourself screwdriver yourself.

Love and Peace my fellow munchers

Wipes crumbs from the keyboard…..

David Cameron is Munching for you

As ever we’re leading from behind – catching up with important events and dates from around the world – this time we look at an important  national G’day – Australia Day

This post is best read whilst listening to Rofl ‘Arris’ Tie Me Kangaroo Down

Australia Day is the perect opportunity for our friends down under to blow huge raspberries to us miserable pommes and gloat about the quality of life they enjoy.

Celebrated annually on 26 January, the day commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788, the hoisting of the British flag there, and the proclamation of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of Australia.

The Australia Day celebrations in Sydney are befitting of Australia’s oldest and biggest city with events and activities spread far and wide.

Taunting the British with remarks about the high price of flights to Australia our Antipodean cobbers certainly have the upper hand in online arguments which are often started with simple jibes – what are the aussies celebrating? they lost the ashes again – which quickly escalates into our country is better than yours and chanting

What are the Australians Celebrating

This question was posed by a reader on an article about the claim that Sydney had let off the New Year fireworks early merely top pip the Kiwis to be first to get the 2010 celebrations off.  The visitor had been searching for flights to Sydney and came across the scandal that never was – Sydney it was clarified hold two displays on 31st December – an earlier one for families with children and those who like to get their head down before midnight.

Look at the pictures mate and eat your heart out. I was at the bridge and it was a stonking show.  Maybe we were celebrating the fact that 1.5million people were there in shorts and tshirts, picnics on the parks in the lovely warm weather,on one of the most picturesque and recognisable pieces of real estate in the world, looking forward to a year of endless sun and beaches, beaut women, rapid economic growth and a likestyle envied by many who are unfortunate enough not to live in God’s Own Country.

I could carry on, but you know the rest. Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi!

Aussies seem hopelessly unaware of the fact that their epithet  ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie’ which they tend to cry out at any given moment (just in case you don’t know which country they’re from) was coined by Max Boyce with his ‘Oggie, Oggie, Oggie’ call. I could go on and on… but I’ll leave that tendency to the Australians.

And Aussies bowl underarm too