Page 47 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Spain

SP AIN THROUGH THE Y EAR  45

Blues Cazorla (Jul), Cazorla
(Jaén). Largest blues festival
in Spain, held over three days.
Cider Festival (second
weekend), Nava (Asturias).
Includes traditional cider­
pouring competitions.
International Jazz Festivals in
San Sebastián (third week), Getxo
(first week) and Vitoria (mid-Jul).
Pyrenean Folklore Festival
(late Jul/early Aug, odd years),
Jaca (Aragón). Folk costumes,
music and dance.
Certamen Internacional
de Habaneras y Polifonía
(late Jul–early Aug), Torrevieja
(Alicante). Musical compe tition
of 19th­century seafarers’ songs.
August
International Festival of
Santander (Aug). Celebration
of music, dance and theatre.
Copa del Rey MAPFRE (end
Jul/first week Aug), Palma de
San Sebastián, one of the most popular resorts on the north coast Mallorca. Sailing competition,
presided over by King Felipe VI.
fiestas everywhere to cele­ Descent of the Río Sella
Summer
brate food and drink, from (first Sat). Canoe race in Asturias
August is Spain’s big holiday the fishing catches of the north from Arriondas to Ribadesella
season. The cities empty as coast to the sausages of the (see p111).
Spaniards flock to the coast or Balearic Islands. Assumption Day (15 Aug)
to their second homes in the The Assumption is celebrated
hills. Their numbers are June throughout the country.
swelled by millions of foreign International Festival of
tourists, and beaches and Music and Dance (Jun–Jul),
camp sites are often full to Granada. Classical music and
bursting. As the heat starts in ballet staged in the Alhambra
the centre and south, enter­ and the Generalife.
tainment often takes place Grec Arts Festival (late Jun–
only in the evening, when the Aug), Barcelona. Both Spanish
temperature has dropped. In and international theatre,
late summer the harvest begins music and dance.
and there are gastro nomic A Rapa das Bestas (Jun, Jul,
Aug), Pontev edra, La Coruña
and Lugo provinces (Galicia).
Wild horses are rounded up so
that their manes and tails can
be cut (see p102).
Classical Theatre Festival (end
Jun–Aug), Mérida. Staged in Participants in the Descent of the Río
the Roman theatre and Sella canoe race
amphitheatre (see p414).
Semanas Grandes (mid-Aug),
July Bilbao and San Sebastián.
Guitar Festival (timing varies), “Great Weeks” of sporting
Córdoba. From classical to and cultural events.
flamenco (see pp428–9). Misteri d’Elx (14–15 Aug;
International Classical also 29 Oct–1 Nov during
Theatre Festival of Almagro Medi eval Festival), Elx (see
(Jul). Spanish and classical p265). Unique liturgical
The pouring and tasting of cider in repertoire in one of the oldest drama featuring spectacular
Asturias’s Cider Festival theatres in Europe (see p403). special effects.

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