MANILVA,FIESTA DE LA VENDIMIA.

Saturday 6th. September.

We had a lie in as we had a long day ahead of us,Andy called in at lunchtime with the second PC on which he had got rid of all the virus’s and he had also updated all the anti-virus programmes,thanks Andy! We then had a light lunch and went for a walk around the village as the sun was not out and it was cool;Around six o’clock we walked down to the church where all the village gather’s in their finest to follow the procession led by the village band up to the Main street;all the children and senoritas carry grapes in little baskets at the same time.You can see in the picture’s below this as it happened.By the time the procession reached the Town Hall stage it was starting to go dark and all the lights came on.They stopped at the top of our street and parked the “ Virgen De Los Dolores ” next to the stage then they had a weigh in to find the largest bunch of grapes ! as you can see below.All the bars are by now doing a roaring trade and it is starting to get lively as the evening goes on.We popped into our house for a little snack of cold cuts and baked potato to keep us going .The procession then makes it way back to the church and then the bands start to play,one outside the Town Hall and the other at the end of the main street, they played alternatively and the crowds move from one end to the other which you can see in the pictures below.We danced and sang along with the music as we stopped at each bar for a little light refreshment ! The music went on until three o’clock as we made our way home along Calle Mar to end a “ Helluva Day” In the pictures below I have again appeared doing a “ Alfred Hitchcok” walk on part!!