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

The first nightime Fireworks show to start the Fogueres Festival.

Friday June 17th at midnight there was a fireworks and sounds display at the El Corte Ingles store. The Corte Ingles is a very large department store located in the commercial centre of Alicante.  We showed up around 11:15 pm and found a good spot to watch the event. People were gathered all around the area waiting for the show.

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Gathering of crowd before the start of the fireworks at El Corte Ingles

There was a school band playing music and entertaining everyone before the start. It was cute the way they played the music. They were not the best but they tried and we enjoyed an Abba song done through a brass band style.

https://youtu.be/eldZBn7iR7w

The start of the fireworks begins with music and two firefighters rappelling off the rooftop of the eight-story building and unveiling the fogueres poster.

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Unveiling of fogueres poster on El Corte Ingles building

Once they repelled down the music and fireworks show  began.

https://youtu.be/w1iJ7zIrKwg

The fireworks were synchronized with music. It was done quite well and added to the entire event. The fireworks display was almost 20 minutes long and had amazing effects at times. Below is a short two-song video of some of the fireworks.

https://youtu.be/tkxrn53J65I

After the fireworks, everyone heads home or to the local pubs. We headed home and followed the large crowd down the street. There were lots of people out enjoying the event.

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On our way home with crowd leaving the fireworks

It was a very good time and we enjoyed the fireworks set off in the heart of the city for everyone to see.

“adios y que tenga un grand dia”

Spain

The creating of a large foguera

We are getting close to the big day when all of the Fogueras are assembled and put on display throughout the city. They officially start on Monday, June 11th  to assemble the fogueras. In total there at 89 different fogueras in the City, each one is placed in a public area in different parts of the city. One major foguera is assembled at city hall and they start putting it together early because of its size.  We went down to city hall to check it out.

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start of assembly of foguera at city hall Alicante

The foguera is displayed in almost the entire square at city hall. They have a crane set up to assist in lifting the large pieces into position.

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Crane lifting a section of the foguera into position

The foguera is assembled on site using pre-made sections. The sections are fairly large and are brought by truck to the site.

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Pieces of the foguera pre-made and ready for assembly

We watched as a group of men began to raise and assemble a wing onto the foguera.

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men assembling the wing section onto the foguera using a crane

Some of the sections were very ornate and detailed. Other sections were simply wood pieces with no finish on them.  One section was a woman’s face and was very beautiful.

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Foguera at city hall being assembled

We walked around the site and watched for a while how it was being assembled. It certainly will be interesting to see it finished.

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Ray at City hall foguera site

What is interesting and something that Ray is particularly interested in is the burning of the Fogueras. Once they have been assembled and viewed they are burnt in their current locations. This large foguera will present quite a challenge for firefighters to control the heat when it is set ablaze.

“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

Children’s fogueres

The Hogueres de Sant Joan festival has several categories for the Fuego. There is a children’s section and the children create their own Fuego. They are judged and then put on display in different locations around the city.

We headed to the mall yesterday and came across a few fogueres  on display. It is truly amazing how talented and creative the children are.

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Each fuego has the name of the neighbourhood from where the  children created it

Some of the fuegos  also had on display the photo of one of the children who are in the fuego procession. I am not sure how the particular child is chosen or become the representative for that particular group of children but I can imagine that it must be quite an honour for them.

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Image of one of the Children representatives

We went through the mall looking at the different fuegos. They are very well done and truly an amazing piece of art. They are made with paper mache and then painted. Below are some of the displays we saw while at the mall.

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Display in centre of store at mall
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Child fuego

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Amazing details in the children fuego design

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It was neat to see the children’s fuegos, they are the future builders of the adult versions.

“Adios y que tenga un gran dia”

Life is too short to wait for adventure!