La Noche de San Juan Beach party in Sabinillas, Manilva, Sunday June 23rd 2013
Every year on the evening of 23rd June, Manilva has a fantastic beach party on the beaches of Sabinillas celebrating the start of the summer, in honour of St John the Baptist, on the shortest and most magical night of the year
It is known as “La Noche de San Juan” which is a festivity of pagan origin which celebrates the arrival of the summer solstice and coincides with the evening celebration before the feast of St John.
It is a night full of rituals, bonfires, fireworks, music, dancing, sardines and bread.
On Sabinillas Beach in Manilva, a large monumental bonfire is constructed a few days before the event which takes the form of a different theme each year.
Originally, the effigies were supposed to represent Judas Iscariot but now, the religious relevance seems to have become secondary to the enjoyment factor but the principle the same.
At midnight these effigies are set fire to to become monumental bonfires.
The pagan purpose of this ritual was to ‘give more force to the Sun’ beacuase as from this day of the year onwards the days are becoming shorter until the winter solstice.
Symbolically the fire also has a ‘purifying’ function in people who watched it
According to tradition, if people jump three times over a bonfire on San Juan’s night, they will be cleansed and purified, and their problems burned away.
This year festivities begin at 9.15 pm when students from Manilva’s Rhythmic Gymnastics School carry the Blue Flag along Sabinillas promenade from Burger King to the Plaza del Cali where it will be raised in a ceremony involving local dignitaries.
This will be followed by a display of rhythmic gymnastics.
Around 10.15 pm the group “‘Tentación” will begin their evening’s performance.
At midnight the bonfire will be lit which will be followed by a fireworks display along the beach in front of La Noria.
It is always a fantastic night and one to put in your diary when you plan your holidays or are thinking of things to do when you live in Manilva.
To see a extract of last years event watch this YouTube clip:
The fabulous Lola Boys will be welcoming the summer here in Manilva with a party tonight June 15th at 8pm at Chiringuito Malibu – in front of Los Granados de La Duquesa, Manilva, Spain.
For those of you who havent heard of the Lola Boys yet, they are an international West End cabaret act with over 20 years of professional experience playing lead roles in the West End and internationally.
They bring this experience and their own unique brand of humour to their Lola Boys show which they have been entertaining the residents of Manilva and elsewhere along the Costa del Sol and Gibraltar for several years now.
If you feel like letting your hair down and having good party then going to see the Lola Boys is a must as they really know how to throw a good party.
The dinner and show has been organized by Manilva’s Foreign Residents department and tickets can be bought by contacting 952893548.
Manilva will be celebrating its 3rd Manilva Horse Fair or Feria de Caballo tomorrow Saturday 15th June in Sabinillas.
It is being held on the beach to the east of Sabinillas in front of the area known as La Noria.
The event starts at 18.30 with a parade of the participating horses and riders along the streets of Sabinillas.
This will be followed by a number of different equestrian tests and competitions including lancing (with a pole similar to jousting), the ribbon test and a horse race along the beach.
If you are on the Costa del Sol this weekend why not visit Sabinillas to watch this typically spanish event and follow it up with a lovely meal in one of the excellent restaurants in Sabinillas or Puerto de la Duquesa.
For more information please email me at lucy@barringtonhomes.eu or leave a comment below.
I love living in Manilva as there are so many things to do for children and adults alike.
There is so much to do here in Manilva that even those who chose to retire here happily “complain” that there are not enough hours in the week to do everything they want to do.
Manilva has excellent sports facilities where you can participate in a wide variety of sports including football, basketball, netball, handball, padel tennis, tennis, karate, kick boxing, judo, fencing, rock climbing, rhythmic gymnastics, swimming and fitness classes.
From the beautiful and varied beaches of Manilva you can take part in a variety of activities such as wind karting, paratriking, volleyball, beach tennis, beach football, sandcastle building, rock jumping or even just sunbathing!
Wind Karting on one of Manilva’s beaches
Enjoy the exhilarating Paratrike experience and view Manilva from a different perspective.
For those that love being in the sea www.duquesaactivities.com offer a number of fantastic activities such as jet boat rides, wake boarding, banana boat rides, kayaking, boat trips where you may see the dolphins, sea fishing, scuba diving, PADI courses and snorkelling.
Golf lovers can enjoy a lovely round of golf at the scenic La Duquesa Golf Course – www.golfladuquesa.com.
There are also tennis courts at La Duquesa Golf and Country Club where you can have private lessons with Noe noetenis25@hotmail.com.
If you love to sing and or dance there is a singing group called Parasol Singers and a number of dance schools teaching a wide range of styles from Sevillana and Flamenco classes to ballroom and even Hip-Hop. There is also a new theatre in Manilva and a 600 seat theatre being built down the road in Estepona.
If you enjoy exploring the countryside there are a number of beautiful walks and horse-riding and cycle routes.
If you enjoy dining out there are numerous high quality restaurants in Manilva Municipality to suit most tastes including traditional Spanish, International, Indian, Chinese, Thai, Italian, Japanese, British Fish and Chips, Argentinian and Mexican.
In the summer there are Arts and Crafts stalls in the marina of La Duquesa and many Arts and Craft exhibitions throughout the year for people to exhibit their work.
Manilva Town Hall Foreign Residents department organizes a number of fun events and days out throughout the year as well as organising group spanish lessons twice a week to help the foreign residents integrate and settle into the community. There are also all the wonderful ferias and fiestas that are held thoughout the year that shouldn’t be missed.
In fact there is something to suit most people and if what you like doing isn’t available at the moment in Manilva let me know and I will see if we can set it up.
I will be blogging about my favourite activities and places in Manilva and if you would like to keep up to date with what there is to do in Manilva and be notified of any special offers, please click the “like” button on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thingstodoinmanilva
If you have an activity in the Manilva area that I have missed off the list please let me know by either emailing me at lucy@barringtonhomes.eu or by leaving a comment below.
I love living in Manilva but what is it really like as a family holiday destination?
Well, this week I got to see it through fresh eyes as my eldest brother, his wife and their three children aged 8, 6 and 3 1/2 (the half is very important to him) visited us in La Duquesa, Manilva for the first time in 7 years.
The last time they came (Easter 2006) they remember the area being like a building site with cranes everywhere and lots of trucks on the roads.
This time they were very impressed with how the area has been improved and what a beautiful place it is with so many nice things to do.
Here is a brief summary of what they did while staying in Manilva over the last 7 days.
Day 1 A walk along Rio Manilva and a visit to the Roman Baths
The kids loved looking for fishes to catch in their nets and then going for a swim in the Roman Baths.
Day 2 Castellar Zoo followed by lunch in Castellar and an ice cream in Castillo de Castellar.
The kids loved feeding the animals at Castellar Zoo
The adults enjoyed the beautiful scenery in and around Castellar which is only a 30 minute scenic drive from Manilva
Day 3 Horse riding and picnic in Manilva Countryside followed by an afternoon swim in the pool.
Both adults and children loved horse-riding in the beautiful countryside of Manilva.
Day 4 Day trip to Gibraltar
They enjoyed their day in Gibraltar learning about its history, exploring the caves and seeing the monkeys. They also enjoyed shopping along Main Street.
Day 5 Day trip to Selwo
The kids enjoyed their trip to the zoo and even got to ride a camel.
Day 6 Tivoli World in Benalmadena
They had a fun filled evening at Tivoli World which is a great theme park for all ages but particularly the under 12’s
Day 7 Day at the beach at El Castillo de La Duquesa, Manilva
They spent their last day having a relaxing day at the beach at El Castillo de La Duquesa.
They had a lovely time looking around La Duquesa castle and browsing the small exhibitions inside it followed by a couple of hours looking for fish and crabs in the rock pools in front of the castle.
After a delicious lunch of fresh fish, chips and salad at the popular Andres y Maria Chiringuito we all took a short stroll down the recently renovated Paseo Maritimo to Puerto de la Duquesa.
They enjoyed delicious ice creams from Garibaldis whilst enjoying looking at the boats in the beautiful marina of Puerto de La Duquesa.
Like most of the other days they finished the day off with a swim in the pool back at their holiday home for the week.
They told me that they really did have a wonderful time and we had a wonderful time with them.
If you are planning your holidays Manilva really is a fantastic place to stay. If you need accommodation www.barringtonholidays.com have a number of excellent properties available for holiday rentals. Email Jessica at info@barringtonholidays.com and she will be happy to help you.
If you would like to know more about what there is to do around Manilva please email me at lucy@barringtonhomes.eu or leave a comment below.
Alternatively please “like” our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/barringtonhomesduquesa. as I will be writing about all the wonderful things there are to do here over the coming months.
Manilva Town Hall’s Department of Youth has organised another Young Persons Marathon Event
After two successful pre-marathons in Sabinillas and El Castillo, tomorrow, Saturday June 1 there is going to be the Young Persons marathon I event in Manilva’s multi-purpose Pavilion.
This first marathon, organized by Manilva’s Department of Youth is structured in three large blocks of children’s leisure and sports activities.
Children’s activities:
10 h – 21 h: bouncy castle
11 h: Health Gymkhana
13 h: face painting and balloon twisting
Leisure activities:
10.30 h – 14.30 h: Bouncy Castle & football pitch
16 h: treasure hunt
5.30 pm – 9.30 pm: Car race track
17.30 h: Graffiti Workshop
21 h: Karaoke
The particularity of this marathon, which has a significant logistics, is that their activities are linked to the development of the children and their training. For example the Health Gymkhana will have prizes in the form of pieces of fruit
There will be gift vouchers for the municipal gym and membership of municipal sports activities.
If you would like more information please email me at lucy@barringtonhomes.eu or leave a comment below
Manilva Foreign Residents Department have organised a day out to Fuengirola Zoo this Saturday.
Spend an incredible day out with your family in one of the biggest zoos in the area, right in the centre of Fuengirola. For reservations call 952893549 or 689948672 ( Valentina) or pop by the Duquesa Castle!
Prices:
Children (0-2 years old) – €5
Children and Adults (3 +) – €15
Price includes entrance to the park and bus and there will be some free time available to visit Fuengirola.
The municipality of Manilva’s Foreign Residents Department has organized a street party tomorrow which will take place in the Plaza de los Naranjos in the area of Punta Almina in Sabinillas, Manilva Municipality, Costa del Sol, Spain.
The party will start at 13.00 with a fancy dress contest and there will be bouncy castles, faces painting, raffles, flea market and many more surprises.
There will also be musical performances by Daniella, Sam Oliver, Mitch Jansen, Clive Live, Gary Fearon, Phil Evans and Castle FM Radio’s very own Pete Black and Andrew Charles.
It is in collaboration with collaboration with O’Callaghans Bar, D’s Bar, La Barca and Graingers Bar and the proceeds of this charitable event will go to the The Duquesa Charitable Society of St. George.
For more information about the event please call telephone 952893548 or 647715521.
I love the Summers here in Manilva as the kids are off school for almost 3 months (c. 21st June – c. 10th September) and the pace of life slows down.
The rushing around ferrying kids to school and back and then to their various activities is replaced by supervising them by the swimming pool or taking them to one of the lovely beaches in Manilva.
The average temperature in the Summer in Manilva is about 28 degrees Celsius or 83 degrees Fahrenheit.
What do you like doing in the Summer?
Please leave a comment below or email me at lucy@barringtonhomes.eu
“I don’t sing because I am happy, I am happy because I sing” William James
This time last year I was preparing myself for one of the most momentos experiences of my life.
I had been given a very,very,very small solo part to sing in an amateur singing group production of Les Miserables in Concert.
Now for those of you that know me well, this was completely out of character for me. I don’t like any type of attention focused on me and will try and avoid all scenarios that may lead to it. However I love singing and have always loved singing, I just don’t like singing in front of people.
Anyway one day at the beginning of last year (2012) my good friend Jo Fraser, who I have shared other life changing experiences with here in Manilva, asked me if I would like to join in and sing in the chorus of the production of Les Miserables in Concert that her family was putting together. I told her that I would be a nervous wreck performing on stage but she reminded me that I make my children go to Stagecoach in Marbella to improve their self esteem and confidence so I should do the same for myself!
She had a point and as my husband was off work on the evenings that they had rehearsals I didn’t have any excuse to say no.
So nearly every Thursday at the beginning of 2012 I would go to rehearsals in Gibraltar. The first couple of times I went with Jo and her family but I soon realized that they had enough on their plate with the organising and managing of other people without having to worry about me. Plus I didn’t need the stress of trying to be on time for them as I had 100 other things to juggle beforehand.
I made friends with some other members of the chorus and soon discovered that singing with other people made me feel really happy – and that was singing the depressing lyrics of the songs of Les Miserables!
One Thursday I arrived at rehearsals half an hour early and for the first time I heard all the principal singers sing “One Day More”. It sounded amazing and brought goosebumps to my skin. It was that moment that I knew I was privileged to be part of something very,very special.
I continued enjoying going to rehearsals and was comfortable being part of the chorus. Then one day my friend Jo dropped a bombshell on me. She told me that we had been chosen to sing two small solo parts as factory girls! Being in the chorus is one thing but having to stand on stage in front of 100’s of people and sing some words on your own is a completely different matter to someone like me. I started worrying that I would get stage fright or that I would forget my words or that I would become a laughing stock as everyone would see me shaking uncontrollably. Half of me wanted to give it all up there and then but the other half wanted to know what would really happen and I would never know unless I gave it a go. People say that the best way to conquer your fears is to face them head on so I agreed to do it and started to learn my words.
My fears were confirmed the first time I had to sing my very small solo part in front of everyone during rehearsals. I didn’t forget the words but I did start to shake uncontrollably. It was a real worry for me. If I was like that during rehearsals what would I be like during the live performances?
Then one day, whilst I was having a pedicure and manicure by the very lovely Lavanya at Bellissima Beauty in Torreguadiaro (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bellissima-Beauty-Torreguadiaro), I started listening to one of her colleagues, Samantha Donbavand http://www.samanthadonbavand.com/, saying that she did hypnotherapy and could help people overcome many things. I asked her whether she would be able to hypnotize me to remember the words and control my nerves. She said she was confident that she could help me so I booked a session with her.
My sessions with Samantha were very interesting in many ways and it opened my eyes to a whole new world of ways to help and heal people. She has a very special gift and I would recommend her to anyone who needs to overcome something whether it be an illness, vice or phobia.
I am pleased to say that my sessions with Samantha paid off and I didn’t get nervous, shake uncontrollably, forget my words or ruin the show.
Instead I had one of the most wonderful and unforgettable months of my life.
We performed 3 sell out shows in St Michaels Cave inside the Rock of Gibraltar to over 1000 people. We even had standing ovations which gave us all an amazing buzz.
It went down so well that we were asked to perform the show again at various venues along the Costa del Sol including Armstrongs in Manilva.
Unfortunately for me so many well wishers told me to “Break a leg” before the shows that the morning after the last show in Gibraltar I did break my leg! However I still managed to perform in the Manilva show thanks to the help of my friends.
Being involved in Les Mis also gave me an insight into how much work goes into putting such a show together . All the planning, preparation, learning the music and lyrics, organising rehearsals, publicity, sound and lighting, photography, filming and editing, tickets, programs, logistics etc and this was all done by a group of people who had day jobs to juggle as well.
What was particularly lovely about being involved in Les Mis was seeing how everyone worked as a team to bring it all together and how it highlighted the incredible talents some people have.
While we were having our dress rehearsal inside the Rock one of the group had invited a friend, Anthony Williams, to take some photographs. We all loved the results and asked him to be the official photographer for the shows. He brought his daughter Chloe along to help and she also took some fantastic shots.
Aside from being very impressed by the beautiful voices of the Principal singers, Phillip Borge, Leroy Woodjetts, Paul Pitaluga, Bettina Cary, Elainne Perez, Kim Soiza, Jim Fraser, Andria Jones, Bethany Fraser, James Fraser and Cindy Ellis and their ability to learn 100s of words, I was particularly impressed by my friend Jo Fraser and her family.
Nicknamed the Von Trapps of Manilva, they all contributed immensely to the success of the show.
In fact if it wasn’t for them it wouldn’t have happened.
Jo’s stepfather Chris Music was the Musical Director, Conductor and Pianist and had an amazing ability on occasions to multitask all three at the same time! Jo’s mother, Jenny Music, made all the clothes as well as being in the band and supporting her husband. Jo’s husband Jim Fraser played the part of Mr Thenadier as well as help organize and co-ordinate the technical side and publicise and video the performances. Their eldest daughter Bethany played the part of Little Cosette and their son James was Gavroche. Jo, as well as looking after her families needs including her two other daughters, organized the printing of the t-shirts at Reklame in Sabinillas and created the program guide. She also played the role of one of the factory girls alongside me and supported me when I needed encouragement.
It just shows what can be done when you have a dream and a great team behind you.
Music Theatre Company’s next project is “Musicals through the ages” . If you would like to be involved please either leave a comment below or email me at lucy@barringtonhomes.eu and I will pass on the details to you.
