Category: spain

La Isla Bonita: San Fernando, Cádiz

On By Laura Ferries WriterIn cadiz, holidays in spain, spain2 Comments

“There was something in the air that night, the stars shone bright, Fernando.”

I can’t help but begin this blog entry on San Fernando, Cádiz, with the tentatively linked Abba lyrics that simply mention ‘Fernando’. Anti-chronologically, I will also make the first photo of this post the last I took in San Fernando which was a beautiful sunset that recalled those lyrics as we watched on, cerveza in hand, bare feet buried in the cool, powdery sand as the tide lapped in peacefully in soft, white frothy waves.

I have long loved the Andalusian province of Cádiz which is located in the southwest of Spain, close to the border of Portugal and views of Morocco from Tarifa. (Also see- El Puerto de Santa María and Algeciras)

My friend Chris and his partner (now pareja de hecho) Pilar and their Pomeranian called Lobo moved to San Fernando a couple of years ago and they invited me to stay at their beautiful house built back in 1874 complete with a well in the hallway, a spiral staircase, stained glass windows and a traditional Andaluz patio complete with patterned tiles (I have a thing for these types of tiles!).

Continue reading “La Isla Bonita: San Fernando, Cádiz” →

A Guide to Spanish Customs (Part 2)

On By Laura Ferries WriterIn spainLeave a comment

Welcome to part 2 of my guide to Spanish Customs. They may seem strange to anyone not from Spain as they did to me at first.

Read on to find out a little bit more about how it is to live as a local in Spain.

Some of these show how living in Spain isn’t all beaches and sangría but actually a very difficult baptism of fire when new, alone and lacking in local lingo…

(For part 1, click here)

Continue reading “A Guide to Spanish Customs (Part 2)” →

A Guide to Spanish Customs (Part 1)

On By Laura Ferries WriterIn spain1 Comment

In Spanish they would call these curiosidades, that is, curious facts about something.

Like any place in the world, what is totally normal to one nation could seem peculiar to another. As an Englishwoman in Spain, it provided endless fascination to discover more and more curiosidades along the way. When I moved to Córdoba, I knew I was going to have to quickly adapt, battle with the language and learn how to cope in the heat. What I didn’t anticipate though was that I was going to have to learn all the little ways that actually make a big difference to day-to-day things such as going shopping or eating out.

Here, I’ll tell you about 12 of these along with some explanation as to how they came about! If you know of any more or want to find out more about the following, please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this post.

1. The tooth fairy does not bring a coin in exchange for a fallen tooth, in Spain it is a mouse

El Ratoncito Pérez (Pérez the little mouse) is the figure who takes away children’s fallen teeth and leaves behind a coin in exchange, all over Spain and Latin America. He originated in Madrid in 1894 by a Royal Counsellor named Friar Luis Coloma.

He was commissioned by the royal family to write a story for the 8 year old Alfonso XIII when he lost a tooth, so Coloma conjured up a story about a little mouse who collects teeth and takes them back to the little biscuit box where he lived with his family.

In Madrid, there is actually a small museum dedicated to this fairy tale called ‘Casita Museo de Ratón Pérez’ which is obviously, a child-friendly thing to do whilst there.

France also has its own version of the tooth collecting mouse, called La Bonne Petite Souris.

Click here to watch a brief animation in English of this story!

500_F_174517947_OGV8K0vYzpWle458iOIfRXK8nnMIB8VQ
Pic credit: Fotolia/Adobe

Continue reading “A Guide to Spanish Customs (Part 1)” →