Its Feria Season in Andalucia

Its Feria season in Andalucia and if you've ever been here or watched a documentary on TV about it, you'll know this is the time of year when people party all night, and then do it all over again the following night, some of the Ferias actually go a whole week.

Like this one in Jerez de la Frontera, a city located a little over an hour from Ronda, on the road between Cadiz and Sevilla. Jerez is a reasonable sized city, one of the larger cities in Andalucia so they get one of the most impressive Ferias which is more than just a party.

The partying lasts for a week, I'm not kidding, but there is a difference, the Gonzalez Hontoria Park gets a real treat in the form of a couple hundred horses and carriages parading around the showground streets and is one of the most important equestrian events in Andalucia.

Its perfectly safe, the carriages are the only traffic allowed on these streets and they generally walk fairly slowly so its quite safe for pedestrians as well, and I think all the local horse breeders, gypsies, and landed gentry bring out their finest carriages and best groomed horses.

I'm sure we've all seen these in fairy tale movies, and no doubt many of the ladies who read my blog will be enchanted by the magic of it, and believe me, it really is a magical experience seeing a couple of hundred carriages circling the main plaza while the horses occasionally treat you to some fancy footwork.

But if you're looking for something a bit flamenco, wait till you see the ladies, mmm, just beautiful, its amazing what a full length flamenco dress does to a lady. Most tend to wear heels as well, accentuating the length of their legs, but of course making it very difficult for them to walk at anything more than snail's pace.

The day we went was ladies day, the other half went absolutely nuts at the beautiful dresses, and of course many of the ladies were more than happy to do a little dance or flutter their eyelids at the tourists. All in all it was a fantastic day.

The Jerez feria was our first traditional Spanish Feria, but having seen it once, I think it might have to become an annual event for as long as we live in Spain. Next weekend we'll get to see the Ronda Feria, and whilst its a bit smaller, we've been promised its well worth the visit.