Spanish Holidays

Spain has just enjoyed the last "Puente" of 2010.  Puente really means bridge but it also means an extended weekend and this time there were two national holidays to celebrate.  6th December was the 31st anniversary of the Spanish Constitution and 8th December was the day of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.  So Spain was on the move and there were many visitors to the Alpujarras, so much so there was hardly a spare bed available.  Now it is over and peace has returned.  But there is a lesson to be learned; if you are planning a holiday in rural Spain just check that it doesn't coincide with a "puente".  If it does, then make sure you book accommodation in advance.  It is heart-breaking to turn away the tired walkers with "Sorry, there are no rooms available", knowing it is hard to find anywhere else in the vicinity.

Christmas Eve is another day when foreign travellers can be disappointed.  Here in Spain the big family reunions and the main Christmas celebration is in the evening of the 24th December; so Spain closes.  You won't find a bar or a restaurant or a petrol station or a shop open.  Then, unlike Cinderella, it all comes back to life for Midnight Mass or disco dancing or whatever your choice of fun.  The 25th itself is a holiday like any other;  even Father Christmas, or Papa Noel, doesn't come to many homes and the children have to wait for the Wise Men, "Los Reyes Magos", who for certain will appear on 6th January.