Allie in the South of Spain

If you have been following my blog for a while you know that I love the yearly Eurovision song competition which takes place each May and features musical performances from countries around the continent. This year Eurovision was in Copenhagen as it moved to the location of the home country of the winner from the last year. The hosts´did a great job with the show and I especially liked how they asked each contestant to create their country´s flag in a unique way to be shown during the introduction to their song. I first discovered this phenomena two years ago (read about it here ) and followed last year´s competition as well ( this blog ). I can honestly say that 2014 had a pretty awesome line-up of songs and artists so I was excited to watch. This was only compounded by the fact that I actually liked the song to be performed by the Spanish singer, Ruth Lorenzo, and had heard that she was one of the favorites to win. Though I think she rocked her performance, she came in 10th plac...

Jose and I had some days off a few weeks ago thanks to the celebration of Seville's fair. We had bought a Groupon for a rural house a while back and decided to take advantage of our free days to go stay in a cabin in the mountains of Cadiz, specifically in a small village called Prado del Rey. We really enjoy this kind of weekend away because we get to know a new place while spending some time outside in the great outdoors. Plus as a bonus we get to bring Cooper and we never spend much money! We prefer heading to the mountains in Andalucia and you can read about other short trips we have made  here and here . Our cabin During this visit we went to another of the Pueblos Blancos (white villages famous for their buildings, read about our first visit to this area of Andalucia here ) called El Bosque to do a bit of hiking with Cooper. The path we took went next to a river and it was a great 5 kilometers through the woods because we were able to stop and cool off every once in a...

Bullfighting, though controversial, is a popular sport here in the south of Spain, especially during the spring and feria seasons. Neither Jose nor I had ever been to see a bullfight but were lucky when one of his students gave us two front row tickets for last week. We were both excited to go but I was a bit apprehensive whether or not I would enjoy the show seeing as how they kill 6 bulls throughout.  Going to a bullfight during feria is definitely an event. You have to dress nicely because it is a place to see and be seen. We were seated in the shade (sombra) which was a blessing because the sun was hot that day and our spots were about the best you could have with a great view of the action. This was a nice teaching perk! Headed to the fight I am by no means an expert in bullfighting but the way it works is as follows: Stage 1- the bull is released into the ring and after a few passes with the bullfighter and his team it is weakened by a guy (picador) riding a horse...

With spring comes lots of different celebrations in the south of Spain. First after Holy Week the yearly fairs (ferias) begin in different villages with the biggest and most anticipated being in Seville next week. Jose's hometown actually has the first feria which kicks off the season. A feria traditionally was the time when people would bring their livestock in to buy and sell. So many people together meant parties which have continued until today. Feria means big tents called casetas where you can eat, drink and dance. There are also carnival games and rides set up as well as stands selling all kinds of unhealthy but yummy food, like churros. We went to Jose's hometown's fair for a night only since we had a communion that same weekend. Spring also brings with it first communions being celebrated by children in grade school. We went to Jose's cousin's communion and it was a much bigger affair than what I remember when I was young. There was a catered lunch...