Tag Archives: Retirement abroad

Spain

Starting to tour the fogueres

The fogueres are now being constructed and the judging starts in a few days. We went to the tourism bureau and picked up a map with all the locations of the Fogueres. There are 89 fogueres in total this year. Ray mapped out a plan and we are going to try to see all of them.

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Ray with map of the fogueres

Monday morning we headed out to see the fogueres. Each location has both a children’s foguere and an adult foguere for that particular neighbourhood. The first barrio we came to was Jose Antonio. This barrio has been doing the fogueres for sixty years. They celebrated by incorporating the 60 year anniversary into their foguere.

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Front view of the foguere which is approximately 3 storeys high
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The base of the foguere has the 60 anniversary noted
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Back side of the foguere with all-seeing eye

The Children’s foguere was also impressive with several key features including a dragon and witches brew.

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Childrens foguere in the Barrio Jose Antonio

The rear side of the foguere was also well done with a pumpkin, books and little creatures.

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Monday we walked and saw a total of 19 different barrios. The fogueres at each one of them was very unique. The amount of work and dedication it takes to do these fogueres is truly an amazing thing. The colours are extremely vibrant and the details of the figures in the fogueres are extremely well done.

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foguere in Alicante waterfront area
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Three storeys high foguere in centre of street intersection

Some of the fogueres had a specific theme or had a sarcastic message.

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A foguere with advertising built into the theme with some sarcasm

The sign roughly translates to “how to put together your Swedish hoguera.”

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Foguere illustrating the cuts of government money

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Some of the fogueres were extremely ornate and very large using a crane to lower pieces of them onto other pieces.

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crane being used to create a foguere

Below are just some of the unique fogueres we saw on Monday. We will do a “foguere page” at a later time in the blog of all the unique and beautiful fogueres. Note the details of the tattoo on the main character.

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3 storey high foguere with very ornate design
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Dragon tattoo on the back of the character
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Fooguere in centre of the main street
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A floating Foguere on a raft in Marina. The huge foguere will be burnt in the marina.

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We saw over forty different fogueres on Moday and were completely amazed at the amount of detail and work went into each one of them. Ray even managed to get into the spirit of the event when he worked his way into a photo shoot.

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Ray with people in the foguere festival

It was a long day walking around Alicante, looking at some of the Fogueres. The day was very interesting and the fogueres are amazing pieces of art.

“Adios y que tenga un gran dia”

Spain

Fogueres parade

The Fogueres parade was held on Saturday in Alicante. The parade is made up of all the different neighbourhoods who have created a foguere for the festival. This year there is a total of 89 different neighbourhoods creating a foguere. We headed down early to the centre of Alicante to watch the parade procession.

The parade route was lined with chairs which could be rented for a few euros. Some people rented the chairs while others looked for seating in outside pub areas.

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Chairs aligning the entire parade route

We had some time so we walked to Alicante city hall and checked on the progress of the foguere being constructed there. They have added a lot more to it, but there is still quite a bit more to finish it.

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city hall foguere being built

After checking out the progress of the foguere we went back to watch the parade. The parade started with the official elected children (ninos) and women (mujeres) of the 2016 Fogueres.

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The official women of the 2016 fogueres
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The official children of the 2016 fogueres

The procession of official women and children dressed in their ornate dresses and hair pieces led the parade. After the official women and children procession, each neighbourhood foguere group was in the parade. There was a total of eighty-nine different groups. They each had a specific banner identifying their specific  neighbourhood.

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Banner of specific Foguere group

Each group was dressed in their own colours and had a music band playing along with them in the parade route.

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Parade of Fogueres in Alicante

We moved along the parade looking at the many different designs of dresses and enjoyed the parade immensely.

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Selfie at the parade

The parade was very long and went on for quite a while.

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View of part of the parade procession.

There was a mix of ages, from the very young to senior members in the parade.

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Young child in parade sleeping through the event
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Children of all ages were participating in the parade
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walking in the parade young boy and girl in traditional clothing
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wearing traditional shoes and clothing

The colours of all the different groups were spectacular. The traditional dress and clothing were very ornate, colourful and amazing to see. Below are a few of the groups in the parade and a short video of one of the groups band. We definitely enjoyed the parade and all the wonderful traditional dresses on display throughout the parade.

 

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Young girl wearing traditional blue dress

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parade members wearing traditional red dresses

https://youtu.be/j0OTw1GM7HA

“Adios y que tenga un gran dia”

Spain

Teatro Principal in Alicante

On Wednesday evening, we went to a show called “The Hole” which is a live burlesque style adult comedy in Spanish. It was being held at the Teatro Principal located in the old quarter of Alicante. The theater was built-in 1867 and has massive pillars at the front entrance area.

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Teatro Principal in Alicante

There is also a statue of a bronze torso located in the front of the theater.

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Bronze statue at Teatro Principal in Alicante

We headed down to the theater early and stopped into the Teatro bar located right beside the theater. We enjoyed a drink and tapa then headed to the theater.

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Shelley enjoying a glass of wine before the show

We entered the theater and could see that the entrance area was fairly small with only two doorways into the theater. There were two side areas which contained a bar and restrooms.

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View of inside entrance area of the theater.

We headed to the door and presented our ticket to the ticket person. We then told us something in Spanish “???????? Segunda planta…”  We knew segunda planta means the second floor, so we smiled and head to the second floor to find our seats.  We were not able to find our seats and there were other patrons having the same problem. We walked around looking for our seats and finally found an usher who took us to our seats. Our seats were plush, roomy and provided a lot of leg room. It was the best seating in a live theater we ever sat in. The view was excellent and we could easily see the whole stage area.

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View of the stage from our seats

We were surprised at how small the theater was. There were two small balcony areas and the main floor for seating. The small theater made it easy to see the show regardless of where your seat was.

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Balcony areas of the theater

The show was quite interesting and there were lots of acrobatics on ropes above the stage. There was a woman’s character who narrated most of the show.  She was apparently quite funny because the crowd was laughing a lot, we didn’t understand much of the dialogue but it was still quite funny and enjoyable.

“adios y que tenga un gran dia”

Spain

A Friday night in Alicante

The Hogueras de San Juan festival is getting ready to ramp up. We took a relaxing week and enjoyed the weather and quiet time before the big fiesta. On Friday night, we went downtown and walked around the boardwalk.

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Boardwalk in Alicante

There were lots of people enjoying the weather and  taking in some of the vendors selling their wares along the walkway. There was a birthday party and music going on as well. We walked the entire length of the boardwalk taking in the sights and sounds.

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Children’s Birthday party along the boardwalk

Once we walked the entire boardwalk, we headed into the old quarter of Alicante. We walked around the cobblestone streets and found a Thai restaurant called Thai Corner.  and decided to go in for dinner.

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We ordered a selection of appetizers which were very tasty. There were two of each kind of appetizers on their menu.

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Thai appetizer plate with two appetizers of each type

We then decided to share the steamed sea bass with Thai sauce.  It was also very tasty and even Ray enjoyed the fish.

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Steamed sea bass with Thai herbs chili and lime juice.
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Shelley enjoying the Sea Bass

We enjoyed the meal and finished off with one of their famous  desserts.

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tasty dessert

We shared the dessert and did not waste any of it. We truly enjoyed the ending to a perfect meal.

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finished off the dessert.

We then headed home to rest and prepare for the upcoming festivities which are going to be very busy time for us. The schedule is quite busy and we plan to try and take in as many events as possible. The Hogueras de San Juan is one of the most important events in Alicante. They have been ramping up and getting ready for the big festival.  Stringing lights and getting ready to display the over  200 large satirical paper mâché statues all over the city.  It will be a busy time and we are looking forward to the festivities.

“Adios y que tenga un gran dia”

Spain

Wine canting summer festival

Monday evening we went to the annual wine canting summer festival. It is held in the gardens of  the Museo Arqueológicohe in Alicante.

Entrance to wine canting festival in Alicante
Entrance to wine canting festival in Alicante

We met up with the InterNations group and headed into the garden area. Each of us received a coupon which provided us with a free wine glass and three sampling coupons for wine. Some of the InterNations group posed for a picture before heading off to find the perfect glass of wine.

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InterNations group at the start of the wine festival

There were over 20 different wineries known as “Bodegas”  from all over the Alicante region. There is a very long and rich wine history in the Alicante region dating back to the 15th century.

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Some of the many wines available for tasting at the festival

With only three coupons the challenge was finding the best wines to taste. We went to the first bodega and had our glass filled. They did not want our coupons and so we knew it was going to be a good evening.

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One of the Bodegas providing samples at the wine canting festival

There were lots of people at the festival and we mingled with the crowd. We met some interesting people and learned all about the wine industry in the region.

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people socializing at the wine canting festival

The organizer of this InterNations event was Felipe who was very helpful and introduced us to restaurant owners, winemakers and other people from the area.

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Shelley, Liz, Felipe and Mike at wine canting festival

At the end of the evening, we headed home with our wine glasses and two remaining coupons. It was a great evening and very enjoyable.

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Our Wine canting Festival glasses

“Adios y que tenga un gran dia”