San Fermines 🐂🗡️🕺

Los San Fermines is a traditional festival held annually in the city of Pamplona, in the region of Navarra, Spain. The festival is named after Saint Fermin, the patron saint of Navarra, and takes place from July 6th to July 14th every year.

The festival is best known for the Running of the Bulls, which is the most popular event during the festival. It involves a group of bulls running through the streets of Pamplona, while participants, known as "mozos", run ahead of them. The runners try to make it to the bullring without getting injured by the bulls, which can be quite dangerous.

Apart from the Running of the Bulls, there are other traditional events during the festival, such as the Chupinazo, which marks the official start of the festival, and the Riau-Riau, a traditional procession where locals parade through the streets wearing traditional clothing and playing music.

Los San Fermines attracts thousands of tourists every year from all over the world who come to experience the festival's unique traditions and lively atmosphere. It is an important cultural event in Spain and is widely recognized as one of the most famous festivals in the world.

Alberto Micu

The Great City of Toledo

Toledo is a city that belongs to the autonomous community of Castilla -La Mancha, located relatively in the center of the peninsula and being on the shores of the Tajo river; the longest one in Spain, is one of the most famous cities of Spain. 

City with a surface equal to 231 kilometers square, more than Washington DC for example. Moreover the surface of the part with a big historical interest is no bigger than the central park.  That part of the city is fully fortification and encompasses the most the most recognized buildings (the Alcazar;that now is the museum of spanish army history, La catedral de Toledo, one of the biggest churches in all Spain, also also an endless number of museums)

Not only but Toledo also was the capital of Spain for two periods of Spain's history, being the strategic point where the new soldiers were formed, not only in the past but nowadays it is the same.

In the image you could see the infantry academy.

All over this things Toledo was globally acclaimed by his steel, being in the past and now the place where you found the best steel manufacturers, jewelry (white black steel and gold) and sword( that were wielded by the greatest kings and exposed in blockbusters like, Ben Hur, Robin Hood, Gladiator, The Lord of the rings, etc). Nowadays if you take a walk through his streets you will be impressed by the shops, which could be confused with museums, full of swords and knives that are fully made in Toledo's forges. 

The history of Toledo is a very interesting one, because in its steps coexist, the different nationalities, muslim, christians and jews. Three cultures that have made Toledo what it is today, a city that has the beautiful parts of all of them. 

If you want to take my fair recommendation, I have to say: “Visit Toledo if you have the opportunity”. Toledo is full of history, medieval culture, craft shops and also good food. 

In my opinion Toledo could be the place where to eat one of the best plates in your life and if you want to be sure that you are in the right spot when lunch or dinner time is closer I will tell you to go at “La Ermitaña”, one of the most beautiful located restaurants (as you could see in the picture) and also with a menu that will make you undecided about what to eat.

I go once a year at this city and I discover something new everytime I go, like the last year when I gone to my first synagogue, it was relly nice.

by Marcus Corneliu Tudosanu

Granada, Spain

Granada is an old city located in Andalusia, at the south of Spain and built from different cultures such as Visigoths, Greeks, Romans, Ziríes, Muslims and finally Christians. You can mostly appreciate the influence of Muslim culture in the architecture and the ceramics.

The most famous place to visit is an old Moroccan palace for the king Mohammed ibn Yusuf ben Nasr, this place is mostly famous for its beauty and you must visit it if you go to Granada.                                

An other place you should visit is the Granada's Cathedral, built in the renaissance period for the Christians, who just conquered the city.                                                                                                      When you visit both of this places you can see how this cty still preserves its roots since many years ago.

The ancient culture is as interesting as the actual one. Flamenco is the traditional Andalusian dance so you shouldn't leave without going to a real Flamenco show and enjoy it with traditional Spanish food and drink.

I have a personal love to Granada because part of my family is Grenadian but also for its beauty, culture and history. The streets are full of beautiful traditional shops and the people is also amazing. I personally recommend you to visit it and learn about it, but don´t go on summer or you will melt. 

By Mariela Pineda

Ferrol

Ferrol is a spanish city located in the Ferrol estuary, in the north of La Coruña. It's the capital of Ferrolterra, a region of La Coruña. Also it's called El Ferrol of the caudillo because the caudillo Francisco Franco was born there. It has a great coastal frontage open to the Atlantic Sea, where there are a lot of beaches where people practise surf and windsurf. Furthermore Ferrol is the third city more poblated of La Coruña and the seventh of Galicia.

In Ferrol there are 3 diferent museums, the first one is the "Naval Museum", where you can find the naval and maritime history of Spain, the second is "Exponav", where you can find how boats were made, and the third one is the "Museum of Natural History", where you can have a tour through the history of local species.

Also there are historical places like the "Castel of San Felipe", that is an ancient military complex, the Ferrol's arsenal, which is a naval base and an arsenal. Furthermore there are interesting places like many viewpoints, the "Park Queen Sofia" and the "Theather Jofre" which is one of the most relevant theatres in Galicia.

Personally I recommend you to see the viewpoint of Monte Ventoso, because it's really beautifull, the beach of San Xurxo, the water is pretty clear and it has great views, and the Naval Museum, it's free and very interesting to see. Also if you want to eat I recommend you the restaurant O Pincho, the food is delicious and they have a lot of variety. Furthermore if you visit Ferrol the best hotel to stay is the "Gran Hotel Ferrol" because is 9 minutes on foot of the railway station of Ferrol and the instalation is luxury, it have a really comfortable room with TV, a minibar and a hydromassage bathtub.

Jano González

Reyes Magos

 Los Reyes Magos.

Los reyes magos is a festivity that is very common in Spain ,and in some American countries, and we celebrete it the night of the 5 and the day 6 of january.

This festivity comes from a long time ago, but the real history is that the three kings were astrologers and they appear in the Gospel of Saint Matthew where some magicians are mentioned but no names are given but in the Gospel they say that those magicians came from the East and that they were guieded by a star so they could adorn the king of the jews who had just been born and when they arrived they found the baby in a stable next to María and José. But with the time and studies the scientist who analized the story interpreted the word magician like if they were astrologers because they were able to follow a star.

Then by the middle age, the bible gave the name to the kings Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar. And just as they were part of the Christian religion with the time, it became a holiday. 

Nowadays, on the night of January 5, the Three Kings are celebrated throughout Spain and what is done is that processions are held through which parades pass where the Kings, each one in a different parade, and  their henchmen throw sweets and in some cases small gifts such as balls or balloons for the childrens wherever they pass and when it is over, the kinds must have wrote a letter before the night because that night they are going to receive gifts that are opened on the morning of January 6.

And for breakfast we eat a tipically dessert called Roscon de reyes that contain two suprises:a bean and a king, the person who win the bean must pay the Roscon and the person who win the king can do whatever he want the entire day.

By Andrea Cifuentes

Comillas, Cantabria

 

Comillas is a small town located at the north of Spain, being more specific in Cantabria. It is known because of it harbour, hills and beach. This town is more popular in warmer seasons since people can enjoy the beaches and visit it in a nicer weather.

A very special place to visit is 'El Capricho de Gaudi' a building designed by the prodigious architect Antoní Gaudí. Another option is 'El Palacio de Sobrellano' where you can see la Capilla de los Marqueses. ->

The village on it's own is also popular. You can finds many traditional shops where you can buy souvenirs and get told about Comillas story. 

I have visited Comillas many times and I have a suggestion. 

Just in the middle of the town there is an open space with a fountain and plenty of bars, there's always people making music and you can find many ice cream shops. So I will recommend as a plan just to sit and enjoy the music and the ambience with an iceacream :).

Also, even if it's a liked placed a nice thing is that it's not that crowded and you can visit the town in peace and more relaxed.

Comillas have it's own charm, so go visit and check it youself!

NATALIA ESTEBAN

Fallas🥵🔥

 The Fallas is a traditional celebration that takes place every year in Valencia, Spain. The festivity occurs from March 15 to March 19 and is one of the most important cultural events in Spain. The history of the Fallas begins on Middle Ages when carpenters used to burn their old wood pieces and unwanted materials on honor to St. Joseph. Over time, the celebration evolved, and the sculptures became more elaborate and sophisticated.

During the Fallas, huge sculptures called "Fallas" are displayed in different locations throughout the city. These sculptures are made of papier-mache and represent different themes, often relacionated with humorous messages. The Fallas are placed in streets, and visitors can admire the intricate details of the sculptures.

On the last night of the celebration, the Fallas are burned in a spectacular event called "La Cremà." .The burning of the Fallas is accompanied by fireworks and music, creating a magical and unforgettable experience.

Valencia is also known for its delicious food and drink, such as paella and horchata, a sweet and refreshing drink made from tiger nuts, all of these traditional food It is very common to consume during festival.

If you're planning to visit Valencia during the Fallas, it's recommended to book accommodations in advance since the festival attracts a large number of visitors. In addition to the Fallas, there are many other things to see and do in Valencia, such as visiting the City of Arts and Sciences, exploring the historic Old Town, and visit the beautiful beaches.

Personally, I highly recommend trying the traditional Valencian dishes and attending the Mascletà, a daily event that consists of a loud and exciting firework display. I also suggest exploring the Fallas at night when the sculptures are beautifully illuminated and walking through the colorful street markets.

Overall, the Fallas is an incredible cultural event that offers visitors a unique and unforgettable experience of Spanish traditions and culture :).

By Gean F. Hernández

Vitoria 

Vitoria is a lovely city located in the Basque Country, in the northern part of Spain. It is the capital of Álava province and has about 250,000 residents. The city sits on a hill with a view of the Bay of Biscay and is surrounded by mountains. Vitoria has a lot of historical landmarks to see, such as the Cathedral of Santa Maria, the Palace of Ajuria Enea, and the Old Town, which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site in 1994.

There are many festivals in Vitoria over the year, and one of the most popular is the Festival of La Blanca in August. During this festival, people wear white and green, which are the colors of the city. There are lots of cultural events, concerts, and parades to enjoy.

If you're visiting Vitoria, I highly recommend spending some time in the beautiful parks and gardens. The Florida Park is the most famous and is located in the center of the city. It's a great place for locals to relax and have a picnic. Another cool place to check out is the Salt Flats of Añana, which is a short distance outside of the city. Visitors can learn about how salt is traditionally made and enjoy some time in nature.

Vitoria is a beautiful city with a lot of history and culture to discover. You should definitely check it out if you're ever in the Basque Country.

By Sander M.

La Feria de Abril

La Feria de Abril 

     The most colorful  and happiest party in all Spain, it's located in Seville!. This fair is the most awaited and it takes places aroud the last weeks of April every year. 

This year, 2023, it is starting on the 23rd of April and it is going to finish on the 29th.

 Also known as "La feria de Sevilla" (The fair of Seville), it is the highlight of the year in this wondeful city. 

      

    

What is "La Feria de Abril"?

This beautiful tradition starts with " la noche del alumbrao", which means the nights of the lights, and it consist of a dinner celebration where everyone eats "pescaito frito" (fried fish) and wait for the lights to turn on.

This night is magical because once the light turn on, the party starts ! 

This fair last a week, and everyday of it you get to see flamenco dancing, horses, traditional music, fireworks...

The only goal of the fair is to gather around with family and friends and have a good time, dancing, singing and eating.  In addition, it's really important to get dressed in the traditional costumes that are shown in the picture below.

About the fair

It takes place in a really large area in which around 1050  booths are located, but most of them are private and the owners are groups of families and friends that invite people they know to make a party. However, there are also public boths where a lot of people go to have fun in.

The streets get covered by the of type yellow sand that is used in bullrings and lit by a lot of bright lights of different colors called "farolillos".

This happy tradition started in 1846 as a agriculture and animal fair but years later, the city started to grow so this anual fair gained more and more recognition until it became a popular festivity in the city. As it continued to grow, the precints they used as stables started to be used as booths which important families in Seville strated to buy and decorate how they wanted following the new design of the fair that a famous painter called Gustavo Bacarisas made so this event could be more atractive.

Personal recomendations ;)

- On the night of inaguration I would recommend  to be there around eight o'clock even if in Spain we  typically have dinner two hours later, because this festivity is popular all around the country and in some places of Europe, so a lot of people would be there, as you can see in the picture.

- Is also a good time to try some of the typical spanish dishes and gastronomy of quality like paella or papas aliñás, which is a type of potato salad.

-Book the flights and hotels as early as possible because the nearest to the event the more difficult it is to find a place to stay.

- Personally, I have never been to this amazing fair, but, I have family there and they own a booth, and they always tell me to be open to making new friends, as people is usually really friendly in this week so it's more easy to get invited to one ;)

Hope you liked getting to know this special spanish tradition!

Paula Esteban 

Segovia, Spain

 

SEGOVIA

Segovia is a place ubicated in Castilla y León, in the north of Madrid, the capital of Spain. Segovia was a Roman city, it have monuments such the aqueduct, the Alcázar, the walls...  All 25 of October, its have a festivity of the patron San Frutos.

                

If you come a Segovia with your family, I recommend visit all the city, but if I have to choose, I recommed you the aqueduct because it is the most important monument, and the glass factory, because is very intresting and when I visited it I was told the factory was competence with other factory glass that was in my town Nuevo Baztán. 

In this way, as well as learning about history of Segovia, you can get to know a little about the place where I live. 

I recommend eating the typical dishes such "judiones de la granja" this, near farm of San Ildefonso.

                      

Alejandra Antonaya.

LANZAROTE

 Lanzarote is an island from the canary archipelago (Islas Canarias) and is located in the Atlantic Ocean. It takes part in the province of Las Palmas, and its capital is named Arrecife.  This island since 1993 is considered Biosphere Reserve by Unesco. And something impressive about the island is the nature so tourists are amazed by the landscapes.           

                                  

                                                                         "El Mirador del Rio"

The pointview is located on a cliff above 500 meters the floor and you can see most of the island. The pointview contains a bar where you can obtain drinks or snacks while you are enjoying the view. Also, some stairs lead you to a souvenir shop where you can buy something to remember this experience. And from my own experience, the views are amazing but you have to go there on a sunny day because if it's a cloudy day you are going to be basically inside the clouds and you are not going to see the landscape correctly.

                                                                    "La Playa de Papagayo"

This beach is located in the south of Lanzarote. The water there is so clear and blue. Families usually go there because the sea is calm without waves. Snorkeling on this beach is so common because of the transparency of the water. Personally, when I went there, the sea was full of different types of fish.

In conclusion, Lanzarote is a magnificent place to go on vacation if you want to stay related to nature and see so many beautiful landscapes.

                                                                            Sara Ovedenie.

DISCOVER SANTANDER!

Santander is a city located in the north of Spain where it borders with the Atlantic Ocean, and it's the capital of the uniprovincial autonomous community of Cantabria.  

Santander is known as one of the most elegant and beautiful citites of the north coast of Spain, and as you can see in the previous picture, it is strategically located between the see and the mountains. 

 

This beautiful city is has many years of history, that it´s shown throught many monuments. One of my favourites is the "monumento a los Raqueros". It commemorates the "raqueros", which were poor kids who used to go to the docks of the bay of Santander, where they threw themselves into the water to look for coins that the boat men threw into the sea. 

Its wide green spaces and beaches form a beautiful landscape. On of the most impressive beaches is the "Playa de los Locos", which is a secluded beach with bright waters and high cliffs. The first picture was taken last summer by one friend of mine.

I  highly recommend you to visit Santander in June, not only because you'll enjoy its beautiful enviornment much more, but also because that is when the San Juan celebration takes part.

 On the night of 23 to 24 June, the city celebrates the greeting of summer, doing several activites during the day and a big bonfire at night. The lightning of the traditional bonfire takes place at midnight, on the second beach of the Sardinero. 

It is known as a unique and magical festivity, fulled of music, good atmosphere and great food. Speaking of food, if you visit Santander, you have to try the "sacristanes de Liérganes". They are delicious crispy biscuits covered with sugar, and I always eat them on the night of San Juan. 

If one day you visit Spain, you have to go to Santader, you'll be charmed by its beauty!

R20

 

Aranjuez

 Aranjuez is a village of the community of Madrid.There is in the south of Madrid.

This place is a town that the people visit  a lot. There you can see the wonderful palace with gardens where in Spring there are many flowers and you can walk between the Tajo River, in the river you can canoeing and there are dunks and fishes, while  you are canoeing you can see fishers  fishing and people  throwing into the river.In my experience one time me and my father were canoeing and my father discuss with a fisher because we got into in her fishing because we did not canoeing.

There also you can eat in many restaurants,the most famous is ¨Rana Verde¨and in the restaurants you can eat for dessert her famous strawberries  and in fact there is a train that the people called the train of strawberries that goes from Chamartin to Aranjuez and into give strawberries. 

And in the weather there it is not too cool nor too cold in every year.

These there some pictures of Aranjuez:

Irene Barba

Bonfires of Saint John (San Juan)

San Juan is celebrated every 23rd of June at night. It consists of lighting up bonfires (sometimes old pieces of furniture are used) and making a wish. It is specially celebrated in beaches, where people jump over the fire barefoot.

History:

San Juan is a Christian tradition related to the summer solstice, named because of Saint John the Baptist and celebrated on the date of his birth. The reason why bonfires were initially lit is because bad spirits were thought to be scared out with them. 

Where is it celebrated?

It’s commonly celebrated in Galicia, Asturias, Catalonia and Valencia. the day of San Juan is also celebrated in other countries in South America and Portugal. It’s also called “Fogueres de Sant Joan” in Catalan, and “ Fogueiras de São João” in Portuguese.

Personal opinion:

I have never celebrated this day with family or friends and I don’t have any experiences related to this day, but many people do take this day more into account in Spain. It would be interesting to visit the Mediterranean coast one day to experience the ambience. Also, it must be enjoyable, as many people seem to actually like it.

By Luis F. Pérez

El Camino de Santiago

El Camino de Santiago

El Camino de Santiago is a route that people do to go to the city of Santiago de Compostela. 

The city of Santiago de Compostela is placed in Galicia, which is located in the north of Spain. In this city, there is a really important and big cathedral, that is named the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

In that cathedral, you can find the relics and the grave of an important apostle, (religious men), named Santiago the apostle, that explains the name of the cathedral and the city. 

Historically, catholic people would do this route to see the relics, but nowadays it has becomed such an important and famous tradition that a lot of people, even people from other countries, do this route to have time to think or disconect from reality.                                                                                          

But obviously, there are also people that keep doing this route because of religious motives now.  Everyone who do this route are called pilgrings while doing it.

There is an historical symbology for the route and the pilgrins, which is a shell.

 

The cross that appears on the last shell is painted in a traditional cake that they make in Galicia, called Santiago de Compostela's cake.

People can do this route in many different ways, not only by walking, but also by bike, or riding a horse. And it can start from different points, there are a lot of routes to go to the city, and you can choose one of them depending on where you come from or where do you want to start the route.

Finally, it is important to know where pilgrins sleep and eat during the route. They do this things in places near this routes, which are called albergues in spanish, in english it would be something similar to an inn or a shelter.

Finally, this are some photos of the cathedral and the city, made by me, because I'm from Galicia and I have been so many times in Santiago the Compostela.

By Candela Piñeiro