#avanico

[thesimoni-blog1]

Blog 8 – An Andalusian Christmas (and birthday)

We arrived in Jerez de la Frontera on the 3rd December. The purpose of our journey from Tarifa to Jerez was to enable us to travel to Arcos de la Frontera, to stay in the beautiful Parador on Jo’s birthday.

We arrived at one of the two privately run Aire’s in Jerez at about midday. After setting ourselves up we were invited to the reception for a glass or two of sherry (also sold on the premises) we’ve now become sherry lovers!!. We were told by Pablo (the owner of the Aire) that it would be very busy in town that day but he didn’t explain why, so after our sherries we walked the 2 miles into the town centre – along a very wide and modern boulevard. On arrival at the northern edge of the new town we noticed a large crowd outside a church (it turns out that it was a convent Claustro de Santo Domingo) and as we got closer we could hear singing, so we went to investigate. This was our first experience of Zambombas, which is an Andalusian tradition apparently started in Arcos and Jerez of carols sung in flamenco style, which are participatory and include dancing, drinking and eating. In Jerez that Saturday afternoon and evening the rain didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the large crowd in every Plaza in the city.

This was why the Aire was so busy, and busy with Spanish van owners, they’d all come to watch the Zambombas. It appeared to us that the zambombas in the different plazas were organised by different associations. It gave the city a really lovely feel as we wandered round. That evening we dined at a fantastic tapas restaurant – Avanico. Highlights included sardines on toast, mojama (air dried tuna) served with walnuts and olive oil and the oxtail cannelloni. The next day the weather improved so we had more of a wander round the old town visiting the Cathedral, seeing the outside of the Alcazar (it closed just before we got there) and witnessing the hustle and bustle of a busy city on a Sunday with restaurants and bars exceptionally busy. That Sunday proved to be the last nice day we’d see for a little while, as it started to rain that evening.

The next day we left Jerez for Arcos having arranged to return in late December to safely store Toa, Toa, Toa when we spent a week in Seville. Pablo told us that we were likely to experience 3 months rainfall in the next week or so and he wasn’t wrong.

We arrived in Arcos de la Frontera on the morning of the 6th December and after a brief tour of the centre of the town checked in to the Parador, which is sited in and old historic house on the side of the precipice, with stunning views over the surrounding countryside. The stay in the Parador was a bit of luxury to celebrate Jo’s birthday which we did in style although the evening meal didn’t quite live up to expectations as the Turbot was overcooked. Arcos is described as the prettiest of the Andalusian White Villages and after checking out of the Parador the next day we explored the village a little more. Whilst Arcos has an imposing position on top of a cliff, was full of historic buildings (palaces and churches) many of them were in states of dilapidation which we hadn’t seen elsewhere in Spain, this surprised us.

The next morning, we decided we’d stop the night in Medina-Sidonia and just as we were about to set off it started to rain heavily. By the time we arrived at Medina-Sidonia and parked up at the car park outside the town’s cemetery the rain had stopped, so we explored the town. The first thing we came across was a brass band concert in the large imposing church which is located beneath the remains of the castle. Whilst exploring further the rain restarted, so after a quick drink stop in Bar Simon (we had to didn’t we) we returned to Toa, Toa, Toa to sit out the rain. Well, I have to say that we’d never experienced rain like it – it was biblical in its intensity and the length of the heavy downpour. After the rain stopped, we decided to go out to watch the town’s planned festivities around the town square – only to find out that all of the outdoor events had been cancelled due to the weather. On returning to Toa, Toa, Toa Jo discovered that we’d sprung a leak which soaked our bed – so that night we slept on the third bed in Toa, Toa, Toa which was very cosy indeed.

The next morning, after carrying out a very temporary repair (sticking a thick plastic sack to the roof of the motorhome we moved on once more first to Chiclana de la Frontera to do a load of washing and to dry some of the clothes and bedding which got a soaking the day before. Whilst we were at the laundrette I emailed a number of motorhome repair shops to book Toa, Toa, Toa in for a repair.  After doing our business in Chiclana de la Frontera (a working town close to Cadiz) we moved onto Los Canos de Meca, to spend some time on what I would describe as the best Aire we’d stayed on in Spain. At Los Canos we spent three nights parked within sight of the lighthouse at Cape Trafalgar enjoying the sunshine, drying out Toa, Toa, Toa fully and borrowing a Dutch fellow camper’s dog to walk along the beach. Whilst we were in Los Canos, we confirmed a date that the repair to the skylight could be undertaken and moved on first to Vejer de la Frontera (another beautiful White Village) and then to Conil (a seaside resort) where we spend a few days dodging rain showers and strong winds and keeping our fingers crossed that the temporary repair would hold (which it did). After the repair was completed to Toa, Toa, Toa (thanks Autocaravan Conil) we moved onto Cadiz – experiencing another biblical downpour on our approach to San Fernando.

We parked up in Cadiz opposite Playa de la Victoria – where we stayed for the next 6 nights. We loved Cadiz, another beautiful city which we explored in some detail over the coming days whilst we were either running, walking or cycling. In Cadiz we watched more Zambombas and after watching the “Strictly Come Dancing Final” enjoyed a late-night visit to tapas bars in the centre of town “El Canon” was our favourite. On the Sunday we had a lovely lunch out at Taperia de Columela which was stunning and included a beautiful paella, a fish stew and a shrimp salad. We decided we could easily live in Cadiz - a combination of culture, beach and great food.

On the 20th we moved on to stay at El Puerto de Santa Maria, where we had agreed to spend Christmas and meet up with a couple of members of our Glastonbury Family - Paola & Richard. We had booked a space on a campsite in the town for 6 nights but after having a walk around the site we decided that we’d wild camp beside the beach. We did this for one night and then decided we’d explore a little more of the area and moved onto spend two nights in the beautiful Sanlucar de Barrameda, which is on the opposite side of the Rio Guadalquivir to the Parque Nacional de Donana. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to visit the National Park whilst we were in Sanlucar (out of season and the boat trip across only runs when there is the requisite number of passengers) but we did get to visit Bodega Barradillo and sample some of their exquisite sherries and sample some of the excellent seafood available from local restaurants. Sanlucar is a beautiful town full of stunning old houses and the sight of the fishing boats returning to port at sunset is one of great beauty.

We returned to El Puerto on the 23rd and that afternoon we met up with Paola and Richard and Paola’s family (mum, sister, brother-in-law, 2 nieces and brother) and spent a lovely afternoon and evening eating and drinking and watching Zambombas being performed in the restaurant. We left at about 9.30, getting a taxi back to the park up spot – both very drunk.

The next day Christmas Eve we had booked a table at the very nice restaurant El Laul, based on a recommendation from Paola. We walked the 5km’s each way to and from the restaurant – getting rather sweaty on the way there as it was hotter than we’d expected and we stopped to watch some more Zambombas in the main plaza. The meal itself was amazing – the pickled mussel cake being the star of the show.

We spent a relaxing Christmas Day on the beach catching up with family and friends via FaceTime and WhatsApp, having a gourmet buffet lunch and plenty of bubbles and going out in the night to look at the Christmas lights in the town centre.

On Boxing Day, we met up with Paola and Richard and spent the afternoon and evening in their company and did the same on the following day, where we met with Paola’s mother and sister and a vast number of her friends and got to watch a rock and roll carol concert.

We had a fantastic Christmas in El Puerto, a beautiful town a ferry ride away from Cadiz which is full of Bodega’s, historic buildings and possibly the largest bullring in Spain. We’ll be forever grateful to Paola, Richard and the rest of Paola’s family and friends for making us so welcome and making our Christmas away from family and friends so special.

On the 28th we left El Puerto and made the short journey to Jerez where we spent a day washing and drying clothes and packing for a week away from Toa, Toa, Toa. We left her in storage for a week whilst we travelled by taxi and train to Sevilla, to spend a week with our son Tom and his partner Vickie. We had booked a two-bed apartment which was fairly central and we spent a lovely week with Tom & Vickie – eating, drinking far too much, exploring Sevilla and all it has to offer which is an amazing city and also introducing Tom & Vickie to the delights of Cadiz for a day. Highlights included a fantastic New Year’s Eve dinner at Az Zait where we experienced the 8 course tasting menu, catching some Flamenco, plenty of games of cards and the three Kings visiting a bar we were drinking in (the night before Three Kings) and the superb markets. Not being local and not being aware of what happens on New Years’ Eve in Sevilla meant that we missed out on the local festivities, which appeared to have taken place earlier in the evening but we certainly heard the late-night fireworks. We left Tom & Vickie on the morning of the 5th to get our train back to Jerez and they left to get their flight back to Gatwick, hoping they’d enjoyed their week away, as much as we had.

On arrival in Jerez, we were advised to go into the town centre to catch the Three Kings Procession, which we did and caught the Three Kings arriving at Claustra de Santo Domingo by horse drawn carriage, accompanied by cavalry and a marching band. We then caught the procession as it left one of the City’s main parks. The procession can only be described as a colourful carnival with hundreds of floats which contained groups of people dressed up for the occasion who were all throwing sweets to the crowd which was about 10 deep on each side of the road. We returned later in the evening to watch the climax of the day but unfortunately the timetable given to us by tourist information wasn’t particularly accurate and we arrived outside of Claustro de Santo Domingo to catch the very end of events – but that was pretty special.

We both feel that the Spanish (an in particular the Andalusians) do Christmas much better than we do in the UK The Spanish version has much more to do with the original Christmas Story (children receiving presents on 12th night) and is much more communal (as demonstrated by Zambombas). In addition, in each town we visited you could visit any number of amazing nativity scene’s (Belen’s) many of which were works of art and the Christmas light displays even in small towns were amazing. Finally, the welcome and the warmth of the Andalusian people at this time of year was something special

We loved our Andalusian Christmas.

[glaciar508]

Ya el baby nació :3

[suckaysuamigos200]

pikok en forma de superhéroe, también conocido como "lady Kujaku", ella es de actitud educada pero agil en la pelea ella puede usar su avanico como cualquier cosa como una cierra,ventilador,cuchillo etc...  pero se vuelve un infierno si le arruinan su maquillaje y utiliza su elegante cola para disfrasarse o volver a la normalidad. pikok in the form of superhero, also known as "lady Kujaku", she is polite but agile in the fight she can use her advance as anything like a lock, fan, knife etc ... but it becomes hell if you they ruin her makeup and she uses her elegant tail to dress up or get back to normal. (Copyrights) pikok-me Midnight Horror School-Naomi Iwata

[iambloodyprincess]

Soy un avanico de matices

[diaries-shop]

. ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ YUKETEN｜Avanico 約100年続くメキシコのウエスタンブーツ工場で作られました。 アッパーはホールカットでピンキングの飾り。 ハッドノッチドウェルト（ヒドゥンチャネル）。ミッドソールとアウトソールはベジタブルタンニングレザー。レモンツリーペグ。インソールもベジタブルタンニングレザー。アーチサポート。スチールシャンク。コルクフィルター。 木型はモディファイドラスト（＝矯正靴用の木型）を使用しています。 新品の状態で水平に置くと小指の辺りが浮いた状態になります。 これは重心が足の外側にかかる事を計算し、履きこむと正しい歩き方ができるようになり、また馴染むとソールが平らになるように設計されているためです。 . #YUKETEN #madeinMexico #cowboybootsfactory #GoodyearWelted #leathershoes #vegetabletannedleather #lemontreepegs #westernboots #westernbootsfactory #wholecutshoes #wholecut #modifiedlast #ユケテン #革靴 #メキシコ製 #ウエスタンブーツ工場 #モディファイドラスト #レモンの木 #ホールカット #グッドイヤーウェルト製法 #ベジタブルタンニン ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ . DIARIES 〒305-0031 茨城県つくば市吾妻3-8-17 TEL:029-875-7754 12:00-20:00 （木曜定休・その他） https://diaries-shop.com #diaries #tsukuba #ibaraki #japan #ダイアリーズ #つくば #茨城 #日本 #セレクトショップ (Diaries / ダイアリーズ) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4NJbdFpbJa/?igshid=eoc63yswt0wb

[dmaranathadesign]

It’s almost the end of the summer... and we are so blessed and happy for what this season has brought us... one of the more beautiful things, receiving too much love from special people I have had the opportunity to know and share my designs with... here is @anchyi with DMARAN Avanico colorful earrings!! ....🤲🏻Thank you so much for sharing this amazing look and for being such a supporter of our brand!! (at Hudson River) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2eRW7_l-8u/?igshid=1kfwgr7llskyy

[en-el-espanol-de-la-rae]

haacceee tanto calor q esto aqui tirada en el piso para q el avanico del techo me de mejor y no se si esta funcionando si me muero..... no se no puedo pensar con el calor aporten a mi causa maten al sol

[asociacionmangaku]

1ª Cita de 2017 para los amantes de los videojuegos

1ª Cita de 2017 para los amantes de los videojuegos

Ya está aquí, la IV Edición de Primera Pantalla en Zaragoza. Todo amante y seguidor de los videojuegos no debe perderse esta cita en el C.C. Delicias este fin de semana 14-15 de Enero. De entrada libre, este evento ofrece un amplio avanico de actividades, charlas y talleres. Contará con los espacios de free gaming, videojuegos indie, mercadillo y zona retro. Pero también cuenta con novedades como…

[leiidib]

www.cagedcanary.com on We Heart It.

[ivaniarodas]

#naptime #avanico

[diaries-shop]

. ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ YUKETEN｜Avanico 約100年続くメキシコのウエスタンブーツ工場で作られました。 アッパーはホールカットでピンキングの飾り。 ハッドノッチドウェルト（ヒドゥンチャネル）。ミッドソールとアウトソールはベジタブルタンニングレザー。レモンツリーペグ。インソールもベジタブルタンニングレザー。アーチサポート。スチールシャンク。コルクフィルター。 木型はモディファイドラスト（＝矯正靴用の木型）を使用しています。 新品の状態で水平に置くと小指の辺りが浮いた状態になります。 これは重心が足の外側にかかる事を計算し、履きこむと正しい歩き方ができるようになり、また馴染むとソールが平らになるように設計されているためです。 . #YUKETEN #madeinMexico #cowboybootsfactory #GoodyearWelted #leathershoes #vegetabletannedleather #lemontreepegs #westernboots #westernbootsfactory #wholecutshoes #wholecut #modifiedlast #ユケテン #革靴 #メキシコ製 #ウエスタンブーツ工場 #モディファイドラスト #レモンの木 #ホールカット #グッドイヤーウェルト製法 #ベジタブルタンニン ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ . DIARIES 〒305-0031 茨城県つくば市吾妻3-8-17 TEL:029-875-7754 12:00-20:00 （木曜定休・その他） https://diaries-shop.com #diaries #tsukuba #ibaraki #japan #ダイアリーズ #つくば #茨城 #日本 #セレクトショップ (Diaries / ダイアリーズ) https://www.instagram.com/p/B37D-eyJj5S/?igshid=1314sjp57a9b0

[ivahc]

[dmaranathadesign]

👆Colorful AVANICOS... 🤩Our best selling #earrings from this collection... only 2 left now 💡visit our online boutique today and 👉 shop now!! ⌛️before they’re gone !! (at Washington, District of Columbia) https://www.instagram.com/p/B0Ebgs4HE1-/?igshid=1ae4p249gnhhs

[hausofbecks]

Empezar así, y teminar pensando en como podría utilizarlo para un cover. La visión nunca se queda en el cajón.

[jaskjskxd]

[diaries-shop]

. ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ YUKETEN｜Avanico 約100年続くメキシコのウエスタンブーツ工場で作られました。 アッパーはホールカットでピンキングの飾り。 ハッドノッチドウェルト（ヒドゥンチャネル）。ミッドソールとアウトソールはベジタブルタンニングレザー。レモンツリーペグ。インソールもベジタブルタンニングレザー。アーチサポート。スチールシャンク。コルクフィルター。 木型はモディファイドラスト（＝矯正靴用の木型）を使用しています。 新品の状態で水平に置くと小指の辺りが浮いた状態になります。 これは重心が足の外側にかかる事を計算し、履きこむと正しい歩き方ができるようになり、また馴染むとソールが平らになるように設計されているためです。 . #YUKETEN #madeinMexico #cowboybootsfactory #GoodyearWelted #leathershoes #vegetabletannedleather #lemontreepegs #westernboots #westernbootsfactory #wholecutshoes #wholecut #modifiedlast #ユケテン #革靴 #メキシコ製 #ウエスタンブーツ工場 #モディファイドラスト #レモンの木 #ホールカット #グッドイヤーウェルト製法 #ベジタブルタンニン ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ . DIARIES 〒305-0031 茨城県つくば市吾妻3-8-17 TEL:029-875-7754 12:00-20:00 （木曜定休・その他） https://diaries-shop.com #diaries #tsukuba #ibaraki #japan #ダイアリーズ #つくば #茨城 #日本 #セレクトショップ (Diaries / ダイアリーズ) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3rZIvcJJbC/?igshid=1ioxaazwmm6zw