MANILVA VENDIMIA SUNDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER 2010.

SUNDAY 5TH.SEPTEMBER 2010.


We had a little lie in after the two previous late nights; breakfast was tea, toast and Nectarine’s as we sorted ourselves out for the day ahead. We had decided to have a brunch before we went out for the rest of the day;Bacon,Eggs,Sausage,Mushrooms and Sauté Potatoes soon put us right to take on the world and Manilva’s Vendimia !

The village fills up from 12-oclock and it kicks off at 2 -00pm when the two bands start, they then play for the rest of the day until midnight. All the bars and Sonbrajo’s are full to bursting point and the dancing starts in front of the main stage; during the day at different times they give out the Vendimia hats, they are thrown to the dancing crowds and there is a mad scramble to catch them, they are very much prized and we got our two as we both dived into the melee! We had planted again our glasses at Bar Rojas and had our first but not last Gin and Tonic and Bacardi and Coca Cola! We them moved along the main street and visited all the party Sonbrajos to collect all the freebies and drinks, at the Mayors we started to use our free vouchers which we had enough of to keep us going for the rest of the day; everybody was also serving food and at two of them including Bar Rojas had the very large Paella’s on the go, sorry but I missed getting a picture as I was being interviewed on Manilva TV! I managed once again to get on the TV, they have camera crews filming all along the street and as I now know the presenter it was easy to get on, as my Spanish is improving I was able to answer some of the questions in Spanish and the rest was translated by the presenter.

Around five o’clock we made our way back to Bar Rojas and got a table right on the street to watch the Andalucian Horse display; this year there was over 70 riders and their horses who parade up and down Calle Mar under the canopy which has the fine cool mist spraying down on them in the middle of the street, they also get the horse’s to dance and prance in front of the crowds as they ride along as you can see in the pictures below. More drinks followed as it started to get near to 7 o’clock and the climax of the Vendimia; they fill up the winery with the grapes that were collected and the crowds mass around ready for the proceedings to start! All the Town Councillors are at the back to watch over things as the two young nominated crushers take there place and start the process off which you can see in the pictures; then at the right moment and after a health and safety warning from them I climbed in to a great cheer and round of applause from the crowd, lead by Brenda!! I had changed into my special wine crushing shirt and had the new 2010 Vendimia hat on, the pictures below just give you a little idea of the day but you can’t feel the atmosphere which by then is really electric and very, very noisy at the same time. As I climbed down all the councilors lead by the Deputy Mayor Salvador Zatano,hugged and kissed me, thanks especially to Paqui Lopez,who organizes the Vendimia,Mario Jimenez,Diego Urieta,Diego Diaz and Diego Quiros from the cultural department for a “ Helluva ”weekend. I am now officially the second Englishman, and the oldest to crush the grapes, remembering that I was the first two years ago! Next year I hope to become the first pensioner and the third Englishman, that is if I am still able to climb in!!

Meanwhile the band on the main stage starts up again and by now the crowd has gone mad, we retired to the house for a little supper and than shot back out to finish off the night at Bar Rojas; just a quick mention to two people,Luisa who is a friend of Lumi and was helping her in the kitchen, she spoke to us as she was leaving with her husband and was very nice, earlier in the street Gabriel who teaches music in the school and who we had met before when Fernando introduced him at a band concert had a long chat with us, in Spanish and English and was very complementary of the blog and our input into village life. Well that was yet again another “ Helluva ”weekend in sunny Manilva,


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