{"id":438,"date":"2010-10-23T09:40:52","date_gmt":"2010-10-23T08:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=438"},"modified":"2010-10-23T09:40:52","modified_gmt":"2010-10-23T08:40:52","slug":"week-41-moros-y-cristianos","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=438","title":{"rendered":"Week 41: Moros y Cristianos"},"content":{"rendered":"

The second week of October is always nice around here. The weather is usually still pleasant, and since 12 October is Spain’s national day, there is usually both a long weekend and numerous fiestas. In this case, the Moros y Cristianos festival in the suburb of El Campello. The festival commemorates the conquest of Spain by the Moors in the 7th-8th centuries and the Reconquista a few hundred years later (the late 13th century in case of the Valencia region where I live), but frankly it is all about fun, noise, food and drink.<\/p>\n

Main<\/strong>
\nTwo days before the battle, this is the scene, the beach near El Campello harbour:
\n\"_1020625\"<\/p>\n


\nAlternates<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Alternate 1<\/em>
\nPeople are doing last-minute drills for the event to take place two days later:
\n\"_1020632\"<\/p>\n

Alternate 2<\/em>
\nFull speed:
\n\"_1020628\"<\/p>\n

Alternate 3<\/em>
\nFiner technical points are discussed:
\n\"_1020634\"<\/p>\n

Alternate 4<\/em>
\nPeople are watching along the beach, but some are not so focused on the action:
\n\"_1020642\"<\/p>\n

Alternate 5<\/em>
\n12th October, D\u00c3\u0192\u00c2\u00ada de la Hispanidad. The Moorish invasion lands in El Campello:
\n\"L1003086\"<\/p>\n

Alternate 6<\/em>
\nThe invaders do not look particularly fearsome:
\n\"L1003093\"<\/p>\n

Alternate 7<\/em>
\nNot at all fearsome:
\n\"L1003099\"<\/p>\n

Alternate 8<\/em>
\nThe Christian defenders of the tower:
\n\"L1003119\"<\/p>\n

Alternate 9<\/em>
\nIn the end, this is what it is all about:
\n\"L1003115\"<\/p>\n

Alternate 10<\/em>
\nAnother Moorish participant:
\n\"L1003130\"<\/p>\n

Alternate 11<\/em>
\nMusician resting; he has been working since about 7 a.m.:
\n\"L1003133\"<\/p>\n

Alternate 12<\/em>
\nThe throats must be properly lubricated:
\n\"L1003134\"<\/p>\n

Alternate 13<\/em>
\nWatching it all from above:
\n\"L1003143\"<\/p>\n

The remaining images are from the usual meanderings around the Alicante area.<\/p>\n

Alternate 14<\/em>
\nWaiting:
\n\"L1003068\"<\/p>\n

Alternate 15<\/em>
\nMy sister and brother-in-law are visiting from Poland. My dog likes them very much, particularly since there is often a chance to score something:
\n\"L1003177\"<\/p>\n

Alternate 16<\/em>
\nAbout 50 km north of Alicante, along the old Valencia road, the local rich Russians (don’t ask…) have built a nice new Orthodox church, allegedly greasing the palms of local officials along the way in order to obtain the required building permits etc.:
\n\"L1003151\"<\/p>\n

Alternate 17<\/em>
\nLighting candles for dead relatives is a tradition:
\n\"L1003153\"<\/p>\n

Alternate 18<\/em>
\nIn the town of Alcoi, in the inland mountains, an urban renewal project was started a couple of years ago, but aside from the billboard proclaiming a new housing concept, not much seems to have happened:
\n\"L1003198\"<\/p>\n

Alternate 19<\/em>
\nChildren playing on the main square of Alcoi:
\n\"L1003201\"<\/p>\n

Alternate 20<\/em>
\nA group of guys from the office go out for lunch every Friday to a modest restaurant called Don Adolfo, in a decidedly downscale part of town called Benalua. There is no menu, you get when Don Adolfo made that day. But it is delicious and the atmosphere is wonderful:
\n\"L1003166\"<\/p>\n

Alternate 21<\/em>
\nAnd at the end of the meal, you get something sweet and a strong chupito<\/em>, whether you asked for it or not:
\n\"L1003173\"<\/p>\n

Finally, a couple of images from the market in San Juan pueblo.<\/p>\n

Alternate 22<\/em>
\nCatching up on local news:
\n\"L1003182\"<\/p>\n

Alternate 23<\/em>
\nPeppers:
\n\"L1003183\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The second week of October is always nice around here. The weather is usually still pleasant, and since 12 October is Spain’s national day, there is usually both a long weekend and numerous fiestas. In this case, the Moros y Cristianos festival in the suburb of El Campello. The festival commemorates the conquest of Spain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":329,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/438"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=438"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":440,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/438\/revisions\/440"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}