Lorca at Easter -an unforgetable experience

Hi again! I've been asked by lots of people to re-start my blog about life in Spain, and I see that I haven't mentioned the astonishing spectacle of Easter week in Lorca, so here we go! Easter week in Lorca goes pretty well unnoticed by the rest of the world, because like so many unique and special things in Murcia it's simply not done for commercial gain and as such is not widely advertised.
There are numerous religious parades throughout Easter week but the most important ones take place on the Thursday, Good Friday and Saturday.
Arrive by 4 pm so you can park opposite the railway station and look at the washing spread out to dry on the balconies.

This group of centurions seem to have missed the bus!

Now go and sit in the square and soak up the atmosphere along with the locals and maybe partake of a glass of vino. If you go to the church around 7pm that is just up from the town hall in the old quarter you may be allowed to go inside to see some of the magnificent cloaks that are going to be worn in the parade.

 

 

Each cloak has been hand embroidered with gold thread and costs approx. 20,000 - 30,000 euros. They can be viewed all year round in the two embroidery museums here. One for the 'White brotherhood' and one for the 'Blue'. The white and blue brotherhoods are rival groups who vie to have the best cloaks, displays etc.

      You can also see the final touches being put to the magnificent floral displays on the religious statues which are going to be carried down the streets.



 

 

 

 

 

Out into the increasingly crowded streets again go down to the bottom of the main street where you will find the horses being made ready for the parade. They can feel the excitement too so take care not to get trampled on - especially if like myself you're occupied taking photos!

 Walk back to the church now to see the statue of Christ crucified emerge to the roars of the crowd. This incredibly heavy statue is carried by 80 men synchronised by a man with a tiny bell so that it emerges from the church just skimming the porch doorway. The noise from the crowd is incredible as people cross themselves and scream, "Viva" at the top of their lungs. Even for non catholics it is a moving and awe inspiring feat. 

 

It is carried down the streets to the accompaniment of bands playing, centurions marching, people cheering and petals being thrown from high up balconies that overlook the streets.

 

Follow the crowds through the tiny back streets - if you can't move an inch you're in the right place, and you will see the flags for each brotherhood, (Blue, White, Purple), being handed to the 'leader' from a high up flat window. This will be impressively 'gyrated' to chanting along the lines of "Our virgin's better than yours! Viva!" All in Spanish of course. The crowd will be jovial, friendly and very excited, but you may get your foot trodden on and of course it's always sensible to watch your wallet in crowded places.

 

The actual processions start about 8 p.m. you need to buy tickets in advance over the net. These cost around £30 but are well worth the money. Unless you like living dangerously I wouldn't advise sitting in the front row - I'll show you why in my next blog which will be out in a few weeks.

 

On a personal note I'm delighted to announce that my book, Danger in the Bahamas, has been published!! As well as writing this blog I also write short stories and several have won competitions and been published, including one for the Cheltenham festival of literature. 

 

Danger in the Bahamas

Becky is a naïve, young, English nurse who goes to work on an exotic Caribbean island. An island that she discovers is full of secrets and danger. She falls in love with a sexy but mysterious American, and discovers that the sharks and moray eels in the water are not the only menace.

The Mafia's influence is widespread and Becky's shocking discoveries about their operations put her life in danger.

In a gripping finale she must escape their clutches, as a hurricane threatens her existence and that of those around her. Who can she trust? Who is trying to save her and who is trying to murder her? Who will succeed?

 

I worked in the Bahamas as a nurse for two years and my experiences there inspired Danger in the Bahamas. Please let me know if you enjoy reading it. By the way the nurse isn't myself - I could never be that brave!

I'm delighted to say that it's had some great 4/5 star reviews on Amazon and several people have remarked that once they start reading it they can't put it down.

 

Danger in the Bahamas by Cathy Zelenka can be obtained all over the world via Amazon in paperback or electronic version.( It's easily downloaded from the Amazon site onto your kindle, phone or tablet but not via the Kindle ereader device, ( it's a mystery to me that after 8 emails, 2 half hours on chat and a phone call Kindle are incapable of putting this right!)



Portsmouth Docks, HMS Victory, the Mary Rose and a submarine.

Firstly my apologies if you're looking for a the details of the San Animal writing competition or for blogs about Spain please just scroll down this page.

As I'm in England at the moment I recently visited Portsmouth. In spite of being brought up there I had never before been on HMS Victory- Nelson's flagship.

 

This was a fascinating visit. The Victory dates from 1765 and is in a wonderful state of preservation. Besides fighting against the French and Spanish at Trafalgar she also fought in four other battles including the American war of Independence, the Napoleonic war, and the French revolution. She is the oldest commissioned warship in the world.

The first thing that struck me inside was how much larger it was than I expected although all the decks are low 'ceilinged' for stability. At the time of Trafalgar it had a crew of 800 aged from twelve to sixty-seven.

Hammocks were slung amongst the guns. The crew ate salted beef and pork, biscuits, peas, oatmeal, butter and cheese. The biscuits were often full of weevils and because the water couldn't be kept in a drinkable condition every man had a beer ration of eight pints a day!- so it wasn't all bad. Scurvy had been overcome by the time of Trafalgar as lemon juice was added to the rum ration . 

 

During the battle 'loblolly' boys were in charge of lobbing the bodies and their parts over the side! There were of course no analgesics and they didn't administer brandy etc prior to amputations as they knew that alcohol increased bleeding. You had to hope you'd lose consciousness quickly. On the plus side the surgeon could do an amputation in just one and a half minutes.

We saw the spot where Nelson was fell and where he was carried down below deck to die. Our guide said that Nelson put a blue handkerchief over his face so that the men wouldn't realise hat he'd been hit.
 If you want to visit Victory I would recommend going there as soon as the dockyard opens at 9.45am We were first on board which greatly enhanced the atmosphere as we managed to stay well in front of an excited party of school-children. The guides are very well informed and happily answer all your questions.
We next visited the Mary Rose museum where they have the ship dating from Henry the 8th in a state of preservation with numerous artefacts. This was extensive and very interesting but quite crowded.
We moved on and caught a 'water-bus across the harbour to see a submarine.

This was so interesting that I managed to overcome any feelings of claustrophobia. It is set up as it would have been with some atmospheric recordings relating to the time and the men, e.g. snoring emitting from a curtained bunk. It certainly made you realise how difficult life must have ben on board. Amongst many privations the men might be on board for as long as five months without washing! It was great to see the sub.after watching so many films in the past and I would thoroughly recommend it. Again the guides were both friendly and informative.

After this we had some well

earned lunch before going up the Spinnaker tower which has breath-taking views over Portsmouth.

If you're interested in visiting individual attractions tickets are £17 each, but a £25 ticket gets you into all the attractions, (there which are far more than I've described), and can be used over a year.

I hope you've enjoyed this blog, the next one will be out in September after a summer break - unless someone publishes one of my books!! Many thanks for your interest, Cathy.







Win £100 and help animals.

Hi, if you are looking for my blog, ‘Legless in Murcia – a visit to a bodega’, please scroll down the page. If you like animals and or writing –read on!

Win £100 and help abandoned animals!

Hi, welcome to a blog that’s a little different to the usual one. If you read my blog regularly you may have read about San Animal Santuario which is based in San Juan de Los Terreros on the Murcia –Andalucía border .  

A small international team of volunteers rescue abandoned dogs, puppies, kittens and cats. Due to the dire financial crisis in Spain, animals are dumped in rubbish bins, left on busy roads, or abandoned in the countryside. Recently a puppy was rescued from the countryside where he was found tied up in full sun, with no food or water, he’d simply been left to slowly die in agony.

San Animal Santuario find many animals new homes in other parts of Europe which incurs the additional costs of them being neutered, vaccinated, given passports and transported etc. There is also a programme to sterilise feral cats.

Well known author and tutor for Writing Magazine, Sue Johnson and myself have set up a writing competition in order to raise funds for the shelter.
 

Competition Rules.

1) Short stories of up to 1000 words on the theme of Sanctuary must be submitted by 31^st July. The theme can be interpreted in any way that you wish, for example a special place, or perhaps  someone's loving arms, or the sanctuary of a church or a place of safety, or shelter for animals or humans, or even a beauty salon!  The choice is yours.

2) Please type and double space your work on single sides of A4.

3) Include your contact details on a separate sheet – name, address, Email, phone no. Don’t put your name on the story itself.

4) There is an entry fee of £5 per story – or £12 for three - with the option of a full critique by Sue for an additional £5 per story

5) 1^st prize £100 2^nd £50 3^rd £25

6) Cheques should be made payable to S. Johnson, and sent with your entry to:

Sanctuary competition, The Gallops, Southam Lane, Cheltenham, Glos, GL52 3NY, U.K.

7) If you would like a critique please enclose return postage – all other entries will be shredded after the competition.

8)Results will be published on this blog and Sue Johnson's web site.

 Sue’s web site can be found on www.writerstoolkit.co.uk

A trip to a bodega / legless in Murcia.

Some Spanish friends invited us to look around a local bodega -vineyard with them. Ever keen to further our local knowledge and practise our Spanish we swiftly agreed to this idea - the husband being particularly enthusiastic about becoming more acquainted with the local vino. We met our friend Juan in Lorca.( For those of you who've read my previous posts about the earthquake that took place in 2011, you will be pleased to hear that this beautiful city is much restored to its former glory.) We drove off in our car and Juan explained that a few members of his family would be joining us. "Oh, who's coming we asked?" - eleven names later we realised that not all of Juan's ten brothers and sisters and their partners were coming but a fair percentage. Only one of them spoke English so we felt a language challenge coming on.
En route a Harley Davidson motorbike passed us. This was driven by Juan's brother Jose-Mari with his wife Maria-Jose riding pillion. In Franco's era all babies were named after saints - this makes for interest in any crowded place when trying to attract someone's  attention. A shout of Jose, Juan or Maria will elicit at least three people responding. A more cruel usage was used during the Civil War. When men were being called from a group to be executed, just the first name would be called followed by a long pause so that all the men with that name had to wait in suspense to hear their fate.
When we arrived at the bodega our guide explained that first we would look round the no longer used buildings which were used from the end of the Civil War in 1939.

Our guide explained that due to the impoverished state of Spain post civil war they had to be inventive. This photo shows the engine that was used for pumping purposes -it's from a Chrysler car!

 

Petrol was rationed to aprox. 36 litres per month. The tracks which the massive vats were moved on are an exact copy of British railway tracks. In another ancient building the wine was fermented. The man working there sang the whole time ,(rather like a canary in a mine in Wales !), because if he stopped the other workers knew that he'd been overcome by the carbon-dioxide fumes given off by the fermenting grapes.

Electricity was installed in 1973. Health and safety is an unknown concept in this part of Spain!



Talking of which in another building we were shown holes some 10metres deep. If a cat fell in they were able to climb up the pipe, but when a dog fell in once they had to lower a tray and amazingly he survived. Whether they continued with that particular vintage is unknown.

After about an hour of this our heads were reeling with trying to translate and look as if we had some idea of what was being said! We were taken across to the modern building where the wine is produced today and had another hour or so of explanations which I won't bore you with.



 

Apologies for the picture quality - I hadn't started the tasting, honestly!
Then came the tasting it was around 2pm, we hadn't eaten since breakfast, and we'd been standing listening to technical Spanish for two hours - it tasted pretty good. We all left staggering due to  the weight of our purchases probably and went off to lunch.
The restaurant was a tented extension in a field - as you can clearly see it's only rained four times here since October - don't moan at me - it's not my fault.

 

 

The restaurant only opens when it's pre-booked and we'd paid about £12 for lunch. Lunch consisted of  :

      Beer and tapas,

      Ham, cheese, thinly sliced pork, and bread.

      A large salad.

      Huge plates of roast kid and potatoes and roast chicken and potatoes.

      A choice of cold custard or rice pudding, (small bowls of custard are a popular pudding here).

      An almond cake.

      Not bad value for £12 each especially as it was accompanied by as much wine as you wanted and followed by coffee with three bottles of liquers left on the table for people to help themselves - Hardly anyone availed themselves of the opportunity to drink these. There is a very different attitude to alcohol here  and people in general only drink to accompany food. Spanish friends are puzzled by the concept of going for a drink without a meal. 

This was another great day with friendly and welcoming Spanish people. To be accepted here all you have to do is learn Spanish.

I hope you've enjoyed this blog, the next one will be out in June.Comments are welcome  

Thanks for reading, Cathy 

                  

       





Cordoba,Donana National Park, Andalucia, and lonely dogs needing homes.

This blog is about a recent trip we took to Cordoba and the Donana National Park. Further down this page is a section about a newly created dog shelter here and some of its current inhabitants.
In April there was a perfect spell of weather and we drove to Cordoba on an almost empty motorway. (This is due to the financial crisis in Spain which is biting the Spanish very hard with unemployment standing at about 26%).
We drove past the beautiful snow capped mountains of the Sierra Nevada.

We'd booked a hostel in advance in Cordoba and had an interesting introduction to this city with its one-way system and tiny cobbled streets thronging with tourists, as we spent two frustrating hours trying to reach the hostel. We finally managed to park and went on foot. The receptionist explained that we had to go back to where we'd entered the city and press an electronic entry system on a pole in order to enter the street which was closed off by a bollard!
However Cordoba was well worth the effort. The city stands on the right bank of the Guadalquiver river. It had recently rained for almost a month in Andalucía so we saw the river at its best .

 

As you can see a beautiful Roman bridge spans the river. Cordoba itself is a delight. The heady perfume of orange blossom was intense in its narrow quiet streets where flowers cascaded from overhanging  balconies.

 

 

 

Cordoba is famous for its patios which have National Heritage status. They are open for one or two weeks in May but we found it possible to see any number whilst we were there. (We were pleased that we went outside of these weeks, as a recent TV programme showed the streets absolutely packed with people during this time with long queues for restaurants etc).

You can see the patios through their wrought iron gates; a fountain in their centre, ornate tiles and perhaps a palm tree. Flowers and orange trees abound, shady with the noise of bubbling water and birds singing they are tiny peaceful oasis'. Many of the restaurants have them and its a delight to eat in such a lovely surrounding.

 

 

In the centre of this beautiful small city is the Mezquita. One of the earliest and most breathtakingly beautiful examples of Spanish Muslim architecture. It opens at 10 am and this is probably the best time to go before it becomes busy with coach parties. You enter through a lovely garden. 

 



 Once inside it is astonishing. It is impossible to do justice to the sight of 850 columns rising before you in a forest of onyx, jasper, marble, and granite. Crowning the pillars are an endless array of red and white striped arches. As far as you can see is this perfect alignment and my husband and I wandered around in a daze, speechless, in this incredibly beautiful place which exuded tranquillity.

In the centre of this perfect structure is a heavy and grotesque baroque Christian cathedral commissioned by Charles V in 1520.

 

It is totally incongruous, and Charles V is reputed to have said, that the clergy had destroyed something unique to build something commonplace. At 11.30am huge groups of tourists start to arrive and we moved on to the historic Alcazar from where you can obtain great views of the city and spend time relaxing in its beautiful gardens.

Cordoba is a great place to stay with lots of historic sites and good restaurants. Andalucía is famed for its Iberian jamon, (ham), this owes its delicious flavour to the diet of acorns that the pigs eat. Before we left we had an excellent 'Arabic' meal of a tagine of lamb with couscous -it was to die for!!
Doñana
We then drove 140 miles south-west to the beach resort of Matalascañas, where we stayed overnight prior to our visit to the Doñana National park. The beach here in common with the other beaches on this south-west coast is wide and long. It was covered in fine sand and by multi-coloured umbrellas with people underneath enjoying themselves. It was mid April and the heat was a pleasant and dry 28 degrees aprox.- either a lot of people were unemployed or they had sneaked off for a long week-end! The Atlantic waves rolled in and it was warm enough to jump up and down in them and enjoy the holiday atmosphere. If you wanted peace and quiet however you only had to walk a short distance to find it.

 

 

Our hostel room close to the beach was basic but clean and en suite, with a helpful and friendly owner. It cost us approx. £25/28 euros for the night for both of us.

The next day we drove the short distance to the main visitor centre of Doñana. We had booked a tour a week in advance with the Co-op Marismas del Rocio. (We were told that advance booking is essential and I think that for busy periods you may need to do this several weeks ahead). Although this firm is Spanish they had booked us on the tour bus specifically for foreigners and Spanish people so the tour was in both Spanish and English.

Doñana has been formed by the action of the wind on the constantly moving sand dunes, and the erosion of the sea to produce a vast inland lake. About fifteen of us got into a 4x4 bus with our charming and knowledgeable guide. We set off along a vast beach which stretches for 35 K and is one of the largest unspoilt beaches in Europe.

 A group of men were dredging the sea by hand for muscles, cockles etc. They stood waist deep in the water holding heavy sieves at the end of long poles to dredge the sand underneath. They have worked this way for centuries and it looked like hard and difficult work. Because the same families have done this for centuries they are permitted to continue to live in a handful of tiny huts at the edge of the beach.

It was possible to hire binoculars, and numerous sea birds whirled around us, including black kites. Every time our guide or a member of the party saw something interesting, the guide halted the bus or  drove it to wherever we could obtain the best view.

We drove off the beach and into massive sand dunes - real Laurence of Arabia stuff!

The dunes continually advance burying all the vegetation in their path including tall pine trees. In fact our guide drove us on top of one of them!

Our guide pointed out the recent tracks of a turtle, meanwhile many birds swooped and flew overhead. Our guide stopped the bus so that we could wander about individually for fifteen minutes and absorb the sights, sounds and atmosphere of this amazing place.

We drove on to the marshlands which were a tremendous contrast. A rich verdant green, covered in wild flowers with insects, dragon flies, different birds and flamingos. Again we were able to wander around and take photographs.



 We moved on to the wooded scrub land areas where we saw deer ,and to our great delight javali -wild boar. 

Storks nested in the trees nearby.

 

 

It's also possible to visit the park by boat from the opposite side at Sanlúcar de Barrameda but I don't think you would view the diversity of habitats and wildlife in this way. It would be relatively easy to combine a trip to Seville with a trip to Matalascañas and entrance to this side of the park.

The endangered Iberian Lynce -wild cat has bred in the park and back in the information centre we viewed a live video of the lynce with its young.

Our visit lasted four hours and it was certainly one of the most beautiful and fascinating places we have ever been to. The price with this company was 28 euros/£25 and it has provided us with some enduring memories.

 

San Animal Santuario, (San Juan de Los Terreros). www.sananimal.org

 Now for something completely different. I recently met Elaine who helps to run this animal shelter which takes in both dogs and cats. Animals are frequently abandoned in Spain and it is not unusual for them to be just thrown out of cars, put into bins or simply dumped over someone's wall.
They are looking for permanent and foster homes for the dogs and also for people to just go in and take one for a walk.
We did this recently along with about fifteen members of a local walking group and some local Spanish people. Some brought their own dogs as well so you can imagine the excitement when we all set off.

Recently my husband and I took two residents, Sasha a retriever and Liu a German Shepherd for a walk. They were both very well behaved and really enjoyed a cuddle when we stopped for tea and biscuits.

We were concerned that if we fostered a dog they would miss us when they changed homes or had to return to the shelter, but Elaine explained that the dogs adapt more quickly to a domestic environment when they've already had experience of one. We saw two dogs who had been returned to the shelter because their foster carers had commitments in other countries. They appeared to be quite content in the shelter, although doubtless they would love to have a proper home.

Here are some photos of some of the other residents:

 

This dog has a shaggy dog tail to tell! His previous owner visited a prostitute and he was left as payment! He was later found hungry and homeless-still smiling though!

 

Many dogs have been found homes in other countries through the web site www.sananimal.org or through Facebook. The shelter arranges all their vaccinations etc and has a volunteer who is able to transport them to other countries in Europe. If you are on Facebook and press 'like' for their page this would give them much needed publicity.

I hope you've enjoyed this blog. I have had over 2000 views of the blog now most recently from Australia and Peru. I'd like to thank all of you for reading. If you haven't read the blog before, if you scroll down the page there are about 22 on all aspects of living and integrating into a Spanish community. I hope you all have a great summer, the blog will restart at the end of the summer,

Best Wishes,

Cathy 

 

Espero que disfruite este blog. He tenido más que 2000 vistas de paises en todo el mundo, más reciente de Peru y Australia. Si no has leido antes hy más blogs on todos los aspectos de vivir en España más bajo de la pagina. Espero que tengas un buen verano, voy a escribir más el fin del verano,

saludos,

Caty