andalucia spain summer fair the largest in Europe.

catherine · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 21

"Malaga Summer Fair"
One thing that the people do well is they know how to enjoy themselves.
The annual Malaga fair in August is an exuberant ten days and nights of street party with plenty of flamenco and fino'( dry sherry).The fair commemorates the re-conquest of the city by Isabella and Ferdinand in 1487. It is the largest fair in the world, and approximately 6 million people visit it al least once. Considering that the cities population is only 6000,000, its a lot of people.

This castanet-clicking fiesta starts off with a bang, literally, with an impressive firework display in the park which can be seen for miles around. The best view is from the Port if you happen to be on a cruise ship or can persuade a sailor friend to drop anchor there for a few hours.

The following day the people take to the streets, the women in flouncy flamenco dresses, to dance, drink and, generally, make merry. The traditional dance of Andalucia is called 'Sevillanas' comprising four distinct dances with plenty of finger-clicking, foot-stomping and, above all, feeling. This is where 'dancing in the street' can be appreciated spontaneously 'en vida' which is really the only way Spanish dancing should be performed. Every street corner in the city has someone dancing, on it.

This city fair is concentrated around Malaga's equivalent to London's Bond Street - Marques de Larios which is decorated with paper lanterns and flags and where horses used to replace cars as the means of transport. In the last ten years, the street of Calle Larios has been pedestrianised. Prior to that the fair went on in the streets, and the Andalucians, who are magnificent horsemen and women, went around the area in a pony and cart. It is still possible to see enormous and beautifully decorated stallions in the street, but the carts are history. Millions of people visit the fair, although very few tourists seem to even know about this intrinsically Andalusian traditional fiesta which, in Malaga, is two distinct events, in the centre during the day and at the fairground from around 9 pm until dawn. The latter is an immense precinct where various associations install their 'casetas' - large booths for entertainment and refreshment, where old and young alike meet up in laughing gossiping circles, surrounded by swirling dancers and waiters rushing around tripping over babies and young children and making sure that everyone is continually topped up with fino and 'tapas'.

The casetas are also where many business deals are struck between local Malagueños who have closed their conventional office for the week. Outside, the fair is a gaudy, raucous fairyland of dazzling lights, deafening music, soaring ferris wheels and careering dodgem cars, an assault on all the senses and incomparable to any 'conventional' fair elsewhere. I t is not unusual to get whirled away by dancing people, so it as a very good idea to pick a rendevous place as soon as you arrive. You can expect to be separated from your party at least twenty times.

The Andalusian feria is celebrated in the majority of towns and even villages at some time between Spring and Autumn and for the locals means far more than a holiday from work. They are the very reason and justification for the year, occasions to be immersed in with passion and commitment. Some, like Malaga, Cordoba and, particularly Seville are rich and glittering affairs attracting millions of visitors while others, such as the feria of Casares is a far smaller version; an exuberant street party where everyone knows everyone and relatives who have moved away return to join their families in the all familiar annual celebration

Strangely enough there is rich pickings for a few pickpockets, for those few it is their Christmas and birthday all rolled into one, but there is never any trouble, when all these people congregate together. The local people and saved up all year for this event and they are going to party until they drop.