Dolores Coronada 2016
Only two weeks to go to Palm Sunday, the day we should arrive in Álora and take up residence in the Sánchez Spring Palace on Calle Benito Suarez. We'll be a bit late this year but in good time for the main events of the main event of the year - Semana Santa.(Holy Week). We missed it completely last year- an absence which did not go unnoticed. Nearly all of the many processions go past our door and it would not be going too far to say that Mrs. Sanchez, Tommy and I have become an essential and much loved element of the rich tapestry which is Holy Week in Álora. Our door is always open to desperate portaleros (throne carriers) who are bursting for a piss.
Tenacious readers of this humble organ will be aware of the role played by the hermandad and cofradia organisations who organise and pay for the tronos (thrones) which are paraded through the streets of the town during this most holy of weeks. Almost everyone belongs to one or more of them. Our neighbour, Juani belongs to all of them. We don't belong to any of the eight ( 6 of pasión and 2 of gloria) because no-one has invited us to join and because athiests are not generally encouraged. It is a religious festival when all said and done.
Despite our heretic status we are very pally with folk in both the two clubs in the Premier League; Nazarino de las Torres and Dolores Coronada (in no particular order) and we do get invited to some of their parties. They are both buena gente who manage to combine deep devotion with eating, drinking and having a good time. They both have sedes (headquarters) in Calle La Parra, on opposite sides of the street. Even though there is a fierce rivalry between the two hermandades they usually get on very well together and go to each other's parties. So do we, and we have to be very careful not to favour one or the other. The big event of the the week 'The Despedía' on Viernes Santo ( Good Friday) is a thinly disguised bit of sparring between the two tronos. Go and see it. It may end in a punch up one of these days.(2.30 pm. Plaza Baja. (Bottom Square) Bars are open for drinks and tapas.)
Semana Santa kicks off on Domingo Ramos (Palm Sunday) with the procession of La Póllinica which is Jesus on a donkey (not a real one). Tommy is particularly fond of this one. Here he is looking out for them (looking the wrong way).
Looking the wrong way Tommy.
Here they come.
We're going to miss this.
Easter is early this year so some of the processions may be cancelled. Rain on Good Friday spells disaster for all the bars in Álora but Manolo who runs Bar Mocho in the Plaza Baja would suffer more than most. It's one of only two big events which take place down there during the year.
Manolo at Bar Mocho
Why can't they make their minds up about when Easter Sunday is anyway? My vote would be for the second Sunday in April. We could work the other days out ourselves. Everyone would benefit. The Archbishop of Canterbury agrees with me and the Grimsby Evening Telegraph,.is running a referendum on it.
If David Cameron could get the EU to agree to it we'd be falling over each other to vote to stay in.
It's got to be better than waiting for a Paschal Moon (the first full moon after a vernal equinox) or we could have it when Greece has theirs, a week later. I can't see how it can make things any better if you live in Grimsby, though...or any worse for that matter.
Olivar Caicunes Olive Oil is proving popular in Birmingham. Next week it will be on sale at the annual St. Patrick's Day Market. ('Come and get a drop of the green stuff!'). We've even got a Facebook page.
Q. What have Liverpool and Manchester got in common?
A. The best Spanish restaurant north of Gijón.
Mrs. Sánchez and I went 'up north´ last weekend to see a pair of Áloraphiles who live near Glossop, Terry and Moira.
As luck would have it, Glossop is within striking distance of Manchester which now has a branch of Lunya (as in Cataluña). I may have gone on a bit about the one in Liverpool already in this organ; I lose track of what drivel I have already drivelled. Well, however good I said Lunya in Liverpool is, Lunya in Manchester is even better. Like the one in Liverpool it has a big 'deli' section, too, where you can salivate over Serrano hams, super olive oils, wines and all the gastronomic goodies that Spain has to offer. The food in the restaurant is very good indeed. It's not cheap and it's right across the road from a branch of La Tasca, which must be feeling the pinch a bit. The pulpo (octopus) is 'de puta madre'. I am not getting paid to write this. Honest.
You can even get genuine Manzanilla there, but you could buy a bottle of it in Álora for what they charge for a glass there.
Before Lunya we went for a drink in 'The smallest bar in Europe' but 'the biggest welcome in the world', 'The Circus'. Very cosy but no room to serve food so we went next door but one to The Old Monkey where they had stopped serving food. As luck would have it there is a chippy in between the two pubs so I bought their entire stock of hot pies and smuggled them into The Monkey.
The Old Monkey
I know a Holland's meat pie when I see one and this one was a perfect specimen. Mmmmm.
Two good pubs with a good pie shop in between....the perfect sandwich.
While we're on the subject of pies, take a look a these little belters that I found in Oldham Indoor Market.
If you're looking at this on your phone, may I suggest you look at this little lot on your laptop at least. The variety is staggering. I couldn't manage the 'Desperate Dan' but I took home 4 beef dinkies and two suet puddings (which they call 'rag puddings' here). Pie Paradise.
Juanito Sánchez March 6th. 2016
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