FISH for Christmas dinner? No presents on Christmas Day? Grapes at midnight on New Year’s Eve? What is going on? Paul Whitelock checks out the Christmas scene in Spain in general and Andalucía in particular.

BACK in 1979 my Spanish mother, Ana and my stepfather Malcolm lived in Edificio Acapulco on the cliff above Burriana beach.
I was in my early 20’s and Nerja was a fantastic place for young foreigners.
One long, hot summer I worked at Ayo’s beach bar. I met young people from all over the world, Ylvamarie from Sweden, Jutta and Ernie from Germany, Jimmy and Maria from Canada.
I returned every year to stay for at least six-months; it was my idea of paradise. We swam at night under the stars and had beach parties at the end of Burriana beach. We never had much money but we could survive on a beer and a tapa in “Pepe Caroles” bar.

LAST night I went to my first live bullfight… and as I have said to friends, “You cannot complain about politics and politicians if you have never voted.” So…  I have never liked bullfighting, but I had to see it in the flesh to be really true to my beliefs.

MONDAY, 15 August 2011 is another public holiday here in Spain, so make sure you get your shopping done today!

15 de agosto is a very important día festivo in Spain, since it’s the day of the Virgin Mary, the date of her Assumption into Heaven.

According to the belief of Christians of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as other churches, the Assumption of Mary was the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her life.

THE best Spanish play of the 20th century gets an airing in Ronda next Saturday. “La casa de Bernarda Alba”, written by Federico García Lorca in 1936, takes to the stage at Teatro Espinel at 21.00 on Saturday 13 November, tickets 7 €.

Part of the dramatist’s rural trilogy, with “Bodas de Sangre” (Blood Wedding) and “Yerma”, The House of Bernarda Alba is a drama of women in the villages of Spain. His last play, completed on 19 June, 1936, two months before his execution at the hands of Franco’s nationalists, it was not performed for the first time until 1945.

REMEMBER that many Spanish businesses will shut on Tuesday 12 October, to celebrate the Fiesta Nacional de España.

It is the national day of Spain, also known as the Día de la Hispanidad, Día de Colón (Columbus Day) or 12-O.

It commemorates the day in 1492 when Christopher Columbus first set foot in America. As such it is related to the Columbus celebrations held on the same day and for the same purpose across the Americas.

This means that banks, official buildings, offices and most shops will be closed next Tuesday. The only places that are likely to be open for business are some bakeries and some corner shops – and bars and restaurants, of course!

FIRST discovered Montejaque ten years ago this week, while on a tour of Andalucía with my then wife.

As we drove from Ronda through the stunning scenery of the Guadiaro valley, calling at the Cueva del Gato on our way, we crossed the river, turned up the hill and suddenly we saw our first ever pueblo blanco, Benaoján, clinging precariously to the mountainside above us.

BACK in 1998, when our daughter was a toddler of 18 months, we decided we needed a break from the long drawn out winter of Denmark to rejuvenate our souls with some southern winter sunshine.

Ryanair wasn't quite so prolific then, but we managed a flight from Billund to Madrid and, using public transport and backpacks, leisurely made our way south to the Costa del Sol for a holiday.