Moros y Cristianos 2014

This week sees the run-up to the grand processions of Moros y Cristianos, which will be held on Saturday, 26 July and Sunday, 27 July.

Various events will take place throughout the week, a full list of which can be found at this address. If you have small children, you might wish to avoid the centre of Guardamar during the guerillas on 23 and 24 July: these involve members of the various Moors and Christians groups going through the streets firing what can best be described as blunderbusses, in what seems to be an attempt to make as much noise and smoke as possible.

The two big processions, however, form the magnificent culmination to the week's activities, with lines of magnificently adorned group members march down the Avda. del País Valencià and on along the Calle Major (the whole length of the main street in Guardamar), starting from the end nearer to El Raso. Most lines are preceded by an animator, whose job is to extract applause from the onlookers, and groups of several lines are separated from one another by music corps, the occasional float, and sometimes dancers or other diversions.

The whole thing lasts a couple of hours or more and starts each evening at eight-thirty. Take something to sit on and plenty of water if you want to stay for the duration. Each evening offers something different: on Saturday the Christians lead the parade, followed by the Moors, while on Sunday the Moors have the honour of going first. Most groups wear different costumes each night, so seeing the parade twice is not a bad thing.

Here are a few photos from previous years' parades:

David Neale

The Toros de Guisando

There seems to be a very strange ambiguous attitude towards bulls here in Spain. People purport to have great respect for the animals and then promptly turn round to organise nonsensically cruel "traditions" such as bullfighting, or chasing the bulls through narrow streets, or making them jump off harbour walls, or running after them with spears on horseback, or tying flaming torches to their horns, or…

Well, you get the picture. For a supposedly civilised country still to allow such cruelty is just crazy. And the excuse that it is all done in the name of tradition is too pathetic to be taken seriously.

Anyway, there are bulls in Spain other than those poor creatures who have to undergo such senseless treatment. Sadly, few people, either in or out of Spain, seem to know about them, so here's a piece to whet your appetite.

Elise and I recently travelled to Belgium by car. Elise had decided that it would be a good idea to visit Toledo on the way, so we decided to make a trip of it and to also visit Avila and Segovia. Well, on the road between Toledo and Avila I noticed a small sign pointing to the Toros de Guisando. That rang a bell; somehow I knew something about these bulls, but I had no idea from where. Anyway, it was a quick left hand down a bit in order to turn onto the direction indicated. Within a couple of kilometres we arrived at the location of the bulls. In fact, we almost drove past the place, as it is so poorly indicated.

There is just a small parking area at the side of the road with a couple of very small signs, hidden by the branches of some large trees, to point out to the weary traveller that this is the place.

Behind a fairly substantial wall, hidden from view of passing traffic and with just a single small entrance gate, is an open area of ground in which stand four magnificent stone bulls.

The bulls are over two thousand years old and were once spread over the surrounding fields. Nobody knows their purpose: magical, religious, fertility symbols…? Perhaps there were more such bulls in the area, certainly the types of rocks that lie in the fields offer plenty of suitable raw material. In any case, these four were brought to their current location probably in Roman times, in about the third century.

Each sculpture is about two metres long and perhaps one metre-thirty high. The carving is naive, but very beautiful and the bulls present a very strong impression. They each seem to have its own character. They are, of course, well weathered, but remains of exceptional detail can still be seen, most notably in the skin folds on the neck of one of them.

Carving details still visible

Another bull carries a Latin inscription that dates from the time that the Romans moved them.

Latin inscription on side of bull

Although the site of the bulls seems to be little known nowadays, it must have been held in some esteem in times gone by, for it was here that Enrique IV proclaimed his sister, Isabella the Catholic, as his rightful heir to the Kingdom of Castilla in 1468.

A small information panel provides some history

David Neale

Moors and Christians 2013

Prior to the actual Fiestas de Moros y Cristianos, which takes place from 19 to 28 July this year, there will be a Medieval Market from 15 to 17 July, held in the Calle Castillo, behind the church. The market will be officially opened at 11:30 on Monday 15 July.

As for the Fiestas de Moros y Cristianos themselves, what follows is only a brief outline of the events planned. For a full calendar of events in English, visit this page or pick one of the free printed calendars that can be found all around Guardamar.

The run-up to the last two days can be confusing to people from outside Guardamar, especially with the street battles and peculiar mixture of religion. However, there are a couple of concerts you might enjoy and there is no doubt at all that you will more than impressed by the parades of the last two days. To give you an idea of the costumes, you might like to have a look at my photos from 2011 (and from there you can follow a link to see other years, too).

Friday, 19 July

Starting at 21.30, pomp and circumstance as the Queen of the Fiestas together with others walk from the Plaza Labradores along the Calle Mayor to end up in the Plaza de la Constitución.

22.00 Opening speech by Inmaculada Cases Gómez, of the Hospital Vega Baja.

22.30 Presentation of standards (flags)

23.00 Coronation of the Queen of the Fiestas, including a light, water and fire spectacular.


Saturday, 20 July

22.00 Fancy Dress Parade and competition, starting at the corner of the Calle Mayor and the Calle Norte and passing along the Avenida País Valenciano, to finish in the Plaza Jaume II.


Sunday, 21 July

20.30 Music Concert in the Parque Reina Sofia.


Monday, 22 July

20.30 Choral Concert, including the Aromas de Guardamar choir (presumably in the Parque Reina Sofía, though you should check on this first).


Wednesday, 24 July

20.00 First street battle. Lots of noise. Followed at 21.00 by the entry into the castle (on the Plaza de la Constitución, presumably) by the Christians and its subsequent loss to the Moors.


Thursday, 25 July

11.30 Parade with the Music Society of Guardamar accompanying the Queen of the Fiestas and others through numerous streets, starting in Calle Colón and passing through Calles Gratitud, San José, Inginiero Mira, Ausias March, Las Viñas, Luis Rivera, Mediodía, Vicente Ramos, and Ingeniero Mira again to end in the Plaza de la Constisución.

21.00 Another procession, but more sobre,, passing along C/ Ingeniero Mira, Plaza de Abastos, C/ San Emigdio, C/ Valencia, C/ Mayor, Avda. País Valenciano, C/ Medio día, C/ Vicente Ramos yand ending at the church.

01.00 Firework display on the Playa Roqueta.


Friday, 26 July

20.00 Second street battle. Lots of noise again. This time the Moors enter the castle and the Christians come along to take it from them.


Saturday, 27 July

(This is really what it's all about)

20.30 Moors and Christians Parade. First the Moors, then the Christians, interspersed with marching bands. They leave from the corner of Calle Lepanto and Avenida País Valenciano, marching line-abreast along Avenida País Valenciano, Calle Mayor, and ending at the the crossing of Calle Mayor with Calle Norte.


Sunday, 28 July

19.00 Marching bands parade, starting at the crossing of Calle Mayor with Calle Norte and following the reverse route of the Moors and Christians Parade.

20.00 Moors and Christians Parade. This time the Christians lead the parade, followed by the Moors. Don't think this is a mere duplicate of the previous day's parade: most comparsas wear different costumes on each day.

01.00 Fireworks Display at the castle (the real castle this time!).

David Neale

Segway Tour, Guardamar

How to enjoy yourself on a Segway.

We had our friends Terry and Sue from the UK over to visit us in October.  It was their third time here, so we were keen to find something to do that we hadn't done before with them.

We went into the Tourist Information Centre in Guardamar and picked up several leaflets to peruse.  One of them showed details of a Segway Tour in Guardamar.  If you don't know anything about this mode of transport, it is a two wheeled vehicle powered by an electric motor.  You can read more about the Segway here. The photographs show how much we enjoyed our adventure.

We try and do something now and again that scares us, so this was the perfect thing.  Our friends, are always game for a laugh, so we decided to book the Tour.

We had to be at the Segway Offices for 11am.  We arrived to be greeted by three pretty girls, which George and Terry appreciated very much.   The paperwork had to be completed and signed, then the training course started.  After a familiarisation exercise, we rode around an obstacle course, to make sure we understood how to operate the segway.  Once we felt competent(ish!), we were allowed into the car park, and the speed of the vehicle was increased.  In no time at all, we were careering around the car park like experts!

Two of the girls acted as  'Monitors', one at the front and one at the back and we nervously set off from their offices on the Santa Ana Industrial Estate, up the steep hill, past the bus station towards the South Park.  Crash!  Sue hit one of the kerbs and promptly fell off.  She was shaken but not hurt and we were impressed that she got straight back on and continued the tour.

We had over two and a half fabulous hours of fun.  We had people waving, laughing, and staring at us, we felt almost like film stars with all the attention we were given.

The highlight of the tour was careering around the square in front of the Town Hall.  Luckily it was empty no people to manoeuvre around, we had great fun circling round and around.

It is a tour to be recommended.  

If you want something different to do, call into the Tourist Information Centre and book yourself on this very different, challenging, but enjoyable tour.  Further information can be found at this webpage.

George and Linda Corrigan