Flamenco & Granada

We are very lucky to be living in this amazing part of southern Spain and no this  is not me dancing!!  At this time of year the various small villages in the valley resound to the sound of guitars, singing and of course flamenco and you don't even have to book to go there.  All we had to do was turn up, sit down and be entertained by this fabulous dancer.   It really was riveting as the power and energy came off the stage, for the aficionados the best flamenco creates what is known as 'duende'. 

Although hard to define it is a combination of both mind and body creating an intense emotional state, which is part desperation and part ecstasy.  When done properly it is tangible and impossible to tear your eyes away from. 

This was just such a night, a balmy, heady, sun kissed Spanish night when we went to one of our local fiestas and witnessed flamenco dancing for the first time.

Throughout the summer months each village has its own fiesta which does not start until after 10pm, you can forget about sleep as music drifts in through the windows until long after midnight, so we join the fun and and enjoy the reason we came to Spain.    You could come and see it for yourself visit:

http://www.senoritasinthesun.com/

Oranges Really Are Not the Only Fruit.

You have heard of the saying 'going out on a limb', well this literally happened to me last week. This lovely sleepy village in the hills of Andalucia is surrounded by oranges, lemons, almonds and figs,  to name but a few but mainly oranges, although they are not the only fruit in the Lecrin Valley!  Now it would seem that one of the local's was determined to feed me up on all of these but in particular figs, of which you can only eat so many!  So with bags a plenty we set off to harvest the fruit.  Having risked life and limb to climb up the valley with the local farmer, he then risked life and all  of his limbs to climb out on the branches of the fig tree to get every last one of them. Having eaten all the figs and somewhat thinner, another trip involved crashing through the undergrowth to collect radishes and onions all on the side of a perilous slope.  A three point turn I can do, but a 90 point turn is something else!. The only one happy with the situation and who was blissfully unaware of all the drama was his mule eating his way through lunch.

When I first moved to this beautiful part of southern Spain I thought it was a sleepy area where nothing ever happened, but nothing could be further from the truth. With fiestas, fireworks, flamenco and fruit a week never passes without something happening. It is beautiful hidden valley and is still very much how people think of Spain with its white villages and relaxed way of life.  There are plenty of things to do for walkers, cyclists, birdwatchers,  surfers, lovers of architecture and being just 30 minutes away from the coast, surfers. Or you might just want to laze about in the sun with a chilled glass of wine and tapas.  My dog Harvey loves it too!

It wasn't long before I realised that I wanted to share this special valley with others and so the idea was born to create a holiday company similar to our other one that takes women to India. So now, if you have a taste for figs and want to have a relaxing holiday away from the maddening crowd as well as having fun why not check us out .  You never know you might even lose weight?http://www.senoritasinthesun.com/