Just back to Bulgaria and the first weekend happen to be the opening season of rafting, great! One of my friends was earlier in the Bulgarian rafting team and last weekend I joined her to do the first rafting of the year. Below you can see the pictures from these days.
New Year’s Eve in pictures
It’s my last day of a one week long stay in Fuengirola, before travelling further on to Madrid for the weekend. At the same time I was here the festival of Virgen del Rosario occured. This is a week long festival when the town is filled with horses and colorful dresses with main focus in the feria area in the evenings, along with an amusement park built up only for this event.
Fuengirola - horse parade in the streets
More horses and people from the parade
Colorful audience of the horse parade
Some youngsters sitting in the beginning of the feria area
The feria area
Who says you can't drink and smoke while on a horse?
It's easy though to get a little bit tipsy because of the warm weather
More drinking and colorful clothes
Parked horses outside of a restaurant
Girls bored after a long week, or too many photographs taken of them?
Kid jumping on to a horse, impressive how good the kids were riding
Three kids on a horse
Indoor party at the fiesta area
Riding to the pub to get a drink - without leaving the horse back
It’s the last day here in Torrevieja and I’m thinking back to all the people I have met here. A lot of them I have met in my favorite pub and the rest I have invited to that place instead. This place is like my second living room and is very relaxed with great and interesting people. I’m not sure if I ever felt so home and relaxed as there, which of course makes it even more hard to live this city and its people.
Every Sunday (and also unplanned jam sessions) some friends who are in a band called Brainfood Soundsystem plays live reggae at “my” place. I love the positive energy of these guys and here you can find a sample:
Also check out their MySpace page
http://www.myspace.com/brainfoodsoundsystem
Tomorrow morning I head out for Granada for some days, then Fuengirola and last but not least Madrid where I will fly (move) directly to Sofia.
Just back from another magical weekend in Cartagena with new friends and memories. It all started with me attending a magic school at a youth organization, then it was the final stage of the MedCup Circuit with a lot of people and events, combined with a rave to early morning. But the highlight in Cartagena was without a doubt the Carthaginians and Romans festival. This event is hold on a yearly basis and celebrates the creation of the city at 223 BC and events from then to when the Romans took the city from the Carthaginians at 210 BC. The festival lasts for 10 days and every night there are thousands of local people dressed in costumes from that period, together with a lot of different events like reenactment of battles and people marching through town. On top of all the events a whole new fiesta area is built near the stadium just for the week together with a botellon where people in all ages (too young sadly) are allowed to drink themselves crazy without police interference.
Cartagena is a really beautiful Spanish town with a lot of traces of it’s role as a seaport and naval base. Here the first Peral Submarine was invented in 1888 by Isaac Peral and you can still see the submarine in the port. Besides all the naval buildings in the center there are also a lot of remains from buildings built for protection in the surrounding beautiful mountains, along with views and caves which makes it perfect for trekking (which I will do next weekend).
For more information about this event, check out www.cartaginesesyromanos.es
MedCup Circuit boats in the harbor in the evening after the race
A military ship and a mountain fortress in the background
Another military fortress and a cave. In one of Cartagena's caves human remains was found, dating back more than 10 000 years.
In one of the fortress in Cartagena (not this one) there were 8 cannons placed out, being able to all shoot at the same time
A normal sight in Cartagena last week
More Romans waiting to be part of a outdoor theater show
Fish statue and naval base in the background, where ships and submarines are manufactured and repaired
Cartagena's bus station with light house design
I was recently at one of the most fun festivals I have ever been to. This festival is hold the last Wednesday of October every year in Buñol (Valencia), on the east cost of Spain. The festival is actually taking place for 7 days, but most people come for the last day which is when the food fight takes place.
Tens of thousands of people meet up to see who can take down a big piece of ham from a greased pole. When this is done (after a hour or so, if not people give up) the food fight starts! 5 trucks with 125 tons of tomatoes enter the packed crowd and people on the trucks start throwing the tomatoes at everyone nearby. If you have a camera you are targeted extra, so have a water resistant camera and preferably in a plastic bag. Also swim goggles are recommended, and clothes that you can throw away after the one hour frenzy! And be prepared to sleep outdoor (if sleep at all) because this small town of around 9000 inhabitants have no chance of accommodate all people that comes for the festival.
Last but not least – don’t miss the great street parties that takes place after the food fight, before people take the bus or train home.
See you at La Tomatina next year!
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