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January 8, 2013

Beat the January Blues and see the Three Kings in Manilva

Beating the January Blues


The first week in January is a great time to visit Manilva.  The blue skies and sunshine will boost your spirits and you can recharge your batteries after the madness of Christmas and New Year.

It’s normally perfect weather for outdoor activities such as golf, tennis, cycling and horse-riding and it is the time when The Three Kings visit Manilva.

We arrived back from spending Christmas in England on Thursday night and spent Friday washing our clothes and unpacking while the kids played outside with their friends.  This left the weekend free to do the things we enjoy.

On Saturday morning we went to La Duquesa Golf Club where the girls played tennis while the boys played golf.

Playing tennis at La Duquesa Golf Club

Tennis lessons at La Duquesa Golf Club, Manilva, Spain

Learning to play golf at La Duquesa Golf Club

Boys learning to play Golf at La Duquesa Golf Club, Manilva, Spain

Then after lunch we went horse and bike riding in the beautiful Manilva countryside.

It was great to be back out in the sunshine and seeing blue skies again.

Horse riding in Manilva

We got home in time to get ready and go out again for  6 o clock to see The Three Kings.

The Three Kings aka Los Reyes Magos


In Spain the Christmas festivities are not over until the 3 Kings have paid their visit and delivered their presents.

One of the three kings at El Castillo de la Duquesa, Spain

Epiphany is celebrated on the 6th January and is the day that the 3 Wise men or Kings (Los Reyes Magos) from a far off country (now believed to be from Andalucia!) arrived at Bethlehem and gave baby Jesus their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrhh.

For many Spanish children this is the day they have been waiting for to receive their presents as they don’t celebrate Christmas Day quite like we do in the United Kingdom.

My children are lucky as they get presents from Father Christmas and Los Reyes!

In Manilva the festivities begin on January 4th when the 3 Kings visit the churches in Manilva to collect the childrens’ letters.

The celebrations continue on the 5th January with the traditional Three Kings Cavalcade or procession ( Los Reyes Magos Cabalgata).

The Three Kings at El Castillo de la Duquesa

The procession usually starts at 18:00 at El Castillo de La Duquesa and the Kings take a tour round this pretty little fishing village throwing 100s of the 2000 kilograms of sweets out to the children.  The kids (and adults) love it, all excitedly scrabbling to collect as many sweets as they can.

Los reyes magos El Castillo de la Duquesa

The Three Kings Cavalcade in El Castillo de La Duquesa, Manilva, Spain

Three Kings procession at El Castillo de La Duquesa

A band playing at the Three kings procession in El Castillo de la Duquesa

Spongebob Square Pants and friends at The Three Kings Parade at La Duquesa Castle

Spongebob Squarepants and friends at the Three Kings Procession

At about 19:00 the procession winds its way round the streets of Sabinillas and then at about 20:00 it arrives in the white village of Manilva where the atmosphere is full of excitement.

Three Kings procession in Manilva with Spongebob Squarepants and friends

This year we found a tapas bar to sit at and enjoyed some bacon and pork montaditos and a few drinks while we waited.

Our table was on the pavement so when the procession went past we were so close that the sweets were like plastic bullets bombarding us.

Being bombarded with sweets at Three Kings Parade Manilva

The sweets went everywhere – even in our drinks,  and the kids and adults were grabbing the sweets from all directions.  It was a fun, mad and crazy evening enjoyed by us all and an event on the calendar which has become part of our family tradition too.

Sweet collecting at Three Kings Procession Manilva

If you are thinking about visiting Manilva there are 11 other dates during the year that Manilva celebrates with a fiesta (party) and are well worth experiencing:

Important Fiesta Dates in Manilva, Spain

  1. Los Reyes or Three Kings (4-6 January)
  2. Carnavales or Carnival (February)
  3. Semana Santa or Easter  (March/April)
  4. Romeria or Pilgrimage to the Roman Baths (27th June)
  5. El noche de San Juan (23 June)
  6. Nuestra Sra del Carmen The Fishermans Patron (16 July)
  7. Santa Ana  (26 July)
  8. Fiest Luna Llena or Full Moon Party (3rd August)
  9. Feria Grand or Big fair (2nd week August)
  10. Dia del Turista or Day of the Tourist (15 August)
  11. Verbena de San Luis – Patron Saint of Sabinillas (25 August)
  12. La Vendimia or Wine Harvest (1st September)

I have been to and will be going to most of these and will blog about them in the coming months.

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Bye for now

Lucy 🙂