What an adventure!
So, we have been living in Spain now for almost three weeks and it has been a crazy ride already! Certainly not “Driving Miss Daisy” this is more like “Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift” style of crazy ride!
On Oct 7th, however, we took a break from the madness and decided to enjoy some local culture and a little local madness instead! On Oct 7th the city of Rota celebrates a (strictly local) holiday. This local holiday is to honor the Patron Saint of Rota, the Virgin of Rosario.
The Patron Saint Festivities in Rota are celebrated in honor of the Virgin del Rosario Coronada, that dates back to the 16th century. We weren’t able to participate in the entire day of festivities but we were able to watch the solemn procession of the Patron Saint traveling through the city streets in the company of the citizens of Rota.
This means that that these narrow streets are packed wall to wall while still leaving a path for the Patron to be carried through the streets (trust me she needed the room). The whole experience was FANTASTIC! I had seen these parades in movies before but in all my years of travel I’ve never seen one of these religious processions in person.
This was also a learning experience for me as a travel nerd – You should know when you are traveling if it is a time for a Holiday (like Christmas) or if there is a LOCAL holiday happening during your travel plans. Trust me, if I were traveling to Rota during this week and I found out that EVERYTHING was closed because of a local holiday, which altered my plans (which can be for the better of course), I’d be a little upset.
I know a lot of travelers fly by the seat of their pants – but for travel nerds such as myself who enjoy the research process of a trip almost as much as the travel (not really but I am a travel nerd) I like to know about these little holidays or festivals! Not because I know things are going to be closed but because it gives me a chance to experience local culture in an unplanned manner…aka ADVENTURE!!
I am looking forward to all of the other random holidays and festivals I will encounter during my next several years here!
No Comments