La Vida Alcalaína

Some wonderful aerial shots of the town and surrounding countryside, taken by our neighbour Javier Sánchez. If you fancy repeating the experience in real life, Aerosidonia, a company based at the little aerodrome near Medina Sidonia, offer  30-minute flights for around 90 euros .  Tel. 606 97 71 64 / 654 50 84 39.   Sanctuario de Nuestra Señora de los Santos

This video of the parade is a million times better than mine - thank you Wenceslao Perales!

Some of the highlights from this year's Carnaval in Alcalá de los Gazules, three days of fun and frolics on the streets, in the bars and in the grand marquee. Sunday's Pasacalles de humor (fancy dress parade): Cuarteto; "No to er mundo puede vivir en la Calle Real" Chirigota C.A.I. "Los que viven en el cuarto" Thanks to photographer Chemary Gomez Reyes for the following. You can subscribe to his YouTube channel CHEMARYALCALA for lots more videos of this year's Carnaval and other events in Alcalá de los Gazules.

Spain, and especially Andalucía, adores its musical divas.  One of the favourites, Marifé de Triana, died yesterday  on the Costa del Sol aged 76, and already a chapel of remembrance has been set up at Torremolinos town hall for her many fans to pay their respects. Marifé (born María Felisa Martínez López) was one of the queens of copla , a uniquely andalusian genre that draws on flamenco, folk songs and zarzuela , sung with a melodramatic passion and usually accompanied by an equally melodramatic orchestral arrangement.  Here she is singing La Loba (the she-wolf). Copla andaluza became popular in the 1940s, and is as popular today as it ever was. On Saturday evenings during the winter months, Canal Sur TV broadcasts the Andalusian equivalent to The X Factor, Se llama copla , which is watched by millions.  The contestants are mainly women, and the costumes are as dramatic as the songs. Contestants in Se Llama Copla Rocío Jurado Another great co...

It can't have escaped your notice that Spain's ruling classes are currently involved in some of the muckiest corruption scandals ever seen in modern Europe.  Politicians, bankers, businessmen, even members of the royal family are being exposed on an almost daily basis, as they continue to feather their comfortable nests while six million people don't have a job and millions more are having their wages cut. To help you get your head round all this, here are some articles in English from the world's media.  If you haven't got the time or the inclination to trawl through all these, just read this recent summary from IberoSphere :  Time for Spain to defy expectations as it battles corruption THE ECONOMIST - 9 February 2013 Spain’s government - Another blow. The ruling conservative party is shaken by a damaging corruption scandal. A CHORIZO is a spicy Spanish sausage, best accompanied by a glass of Rioja, though often sliced and served in a doughy bocadillo...

This is an abridged translation of an article about the speciality breads made in Alcalá, published in Cosas de Comé - La revista gastronomica de la Provincia de Cádiz . The traditional breads of Alcalá de los Gazules, especially the  pan cateto  [a chewy rustic bread with a thick crust] and the  molletes de matalauva [soft rolls flavoured with aniseed] have such a good reputation that they are now made at five bakeries in the area:  the Horno de Cuesta, Horno de Luna, Venta Patrite, Venta del Puerto de la Pará, and most recently, Gonzalo. Freshly baked pan cateto - the rustic bread of Alcalá Catalina Herrera explains it clearly: "I make the bread by punching it".  Her family, from the Venta Patrite   [next to the camp-site ], still knead the dough by hand.  Out there in the countryside, bread-making machinery hasn't yet arrived.  The "punching" is no exaggeration for this 78-year-old woman, who is one of those open books which exist in...

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of  Naval Station Rota , the largest American military community in Spain.  It is located just fifty miles northwest of Alcalá, on the Atlantic coast to the west of El Puerto de Santa Maria. Surrounded by a 26 km security fence, the base covers 2,300 hectares (6,100 acres) and has its own airfield and seaport.  There are no public roads going through it, and best view is from the ferry from Cádiz which goes to the actual town of Rota. The base is home to over 20,000 people, including 9,000 Spanish and 2,000 US military personnel (Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Air Force), together with their families, and around 1,500 civilian employees.  It is completely self-contained with its own shops, bars, schools, medical and leisure facilities, though the neighbouring towns with their fabulous beaches offer an escape for those who prefer to take their R&R away from the base.  It is a popular "layover" destination  ...