Tourists, Tapas, & The Virgin

There´s nowhere to park. Not that I drive here, but still. The town has probably tripled or more in population since Friday morning from tourists escaping the heat of inland Andalucia. The beach is a popular choice, and why not? It´s free, and there are lots of fun things to do in and around Chipiona.

Last evening Rocio and I went to San Lucar de Barrameda for tapas and to walk around a different city. Around here, you go to Chipiona for the beaches and San Lucar for the sights. There are plenty of great places to grab a bite, a glass of barbadillo, and sit and people watch. This is the sherry producing region of Spain and they do a good job making sure that you know it. Solear, La Gitana, San Leon. These are some of the most abundant ads you´ll see here.


A bullfight poster in San Lucar de Barrameda

One of strange yet charming things about Andalucia is how people decorate their homes. Its so vastly different from America that its hard to explain. For one thing, I´ve been here 2 1/2 weeks and I´ve yet to see carpet anywhere. It´s just not done. Houses here have names as well as addresses. These names can be anything from Casa Antonio to Nuestra Señora del Rosario in honor of the virgin. I´m not exaggerating when I say that the virgin is bigger than Jesus here, she really is that popular. Every town has their own favorite version of the virgin at their church on display. In America, Christians love their Jesus, but in Spain they love his mom. In addition to naming their houses after the virgin, homeowners often put up huge tiled images with accompanying lighting of the virgin on the side or front of their house. They look great, I must admit.



Tonight is the 4th of July, I should be getting ready to blow some stuff up, but its just another Saturday here...