CASA MUSEUM GARCIA LORCA EN FUENTEVAQUEROS
The house of the birth of the poet Federico García Lorca in the Granada village of Fuentevaqueros opened its doors as a museum to the public 15 years ago - on July 29. The house was the summer residence of the poet and dramatist’s family, and now offers dance, theatre and puppet shows for children during this month of July. The summer activities have been planned by the Huerta de San Vicente and also contain the holding of the traditional verbena and a guitar concert. The provincial government, which now runs the house as a museum, has organised several commemorative activities, headed by an exhibition ‘15 years passed like this’ in which we can see the most valuable of Federico’s items owned by the museum, such as manuscripts, drawings and letters, as well as books dedicated to Lorca’s friends and collaborators and donated to the museum. The house museum where the Granada poet was born on June 5 1898 keeps its original appearance, with items such as his cot, the early recordings which Lorca made with la Argentinita, or the dresses with which the actress Margarita Xirgú opened some of his plays. The long list of programmed activities also includes a cycle of concerts, recitals, and children’s theatre - ‘Lorca in Spring’. A meeting place for young and old alike, the house can be found some 20 minutes from Granada. It is a permanent homage to Federico García Lorca who, through the museum, keeps his figure alive. The museum helps to promote the extensive literary legend left by the poet and dramatist from Fuentevaqueros, and the activities this summer make it a real recommendation.

CÁDIZ SIERRA TRIP
You are looking at some very special tourists. They are a group of journalists which have travelled from the Canary Islands to the Basque country to discover the charms of the Cádiz Sierra and Seville city. The familiarisation trip for professionals in the communications media is an idea from the Andalucía centre for tourist initiatives, which is integrated as part of the public company Turismo Andaluz. CENTIA works to develop the growing tourist sector. Seville, Grazalema, Zahara de la Sierra, El Bosque and Arcos de la Frontera have been the places visited as part of this tourist promotion of inland Andalucía.

SYNAGOGUE AND SEPHARDIC MUSEUM MÁLAGA
Málaga city council has reached an agreement with the Jewish community for the construction of a synagogue and a Sephardic msueum. The new construction will be another attraction for the Jewish area of the city between Calle Granada and Calle Alcazabilla and will serve to continue the redevelopment of the historic city centre. These enigmatic constructions will form part of a network of Jewish areas in Spain ‘Camino de Sefarad’ and will contain remains and historic documents from Andalucía and North Africa.

INVESTMENT IN BEACH IMPROVEMENTS
Good news is bathing Andalucian beaches. The ministry for the environment is to invest 1211 million pesetas over the next three years in improving access to the beaches. The funds are designed to eliminate the physical barriers, thus helping access for the physically challenged or for older people as well as improving the quality of the environment of the Andalucian coastline. The main objective of this initiative is to ease the use and enjoyment of the Andalucian beaches and promote them as an area that is more comfortable and safe for the population. The work will take place along 255kms of coastline on 116 tourist, urban and semi-urban beaches. Most of the investment will go to the coasts of Cádiz and Málaga, followed by Huelva, Almeria and Granada.

LUCENA - RECOVERY OF JEWISH CULTURE
The council of the emblematic village of Lucena, in the province of Córdoba, wants to rescue the cultural and intellectual heritage which the Jewish community left behind during the 9th to 11th centuries. To do this they have published the second edition of the book ‘Los Judios y Lucena . Historia, Pensamiento y Poesia’ written by specialists in medieval Jewish culture. The council considers it necessary to promote the culture and recover the importance the town had when, during those past centuries, it was known as a city of poetry. Therefore, together with this initiative they are to create an association to recover the heritage and promote more courses and seminars on the subject, as well as opening a museum of Jewish art and starting a school for tourist guides - all of which will promote the image of a glorious city which Lucena had with the Jewish presence.

TOURIST APARTMENTS IN DEMAND
The Costa del Sol is, once again, one of the most requested places when it comes to spending the summer holidays. A report presented by a prestigious real estate agency has shown that the majority of Spaniards choose the Costa del Sol and Marbella in particular for the purchase of a summer apartment. The Spanish prefer that such an home be on the beachfront or close to mountain areas or golf courses. They also take into account the availability of public services such as hospitals, transport or banking facilities. Another of the preferred areas nationally is the Costa Blanca and Benidorm.

CONSERVATION OF CAVE PAINTINGS
The Junta de Andalucía has started a programme for the conservation and defence of the 42 places located in Jaén province which have been declared humanity heritage sites by the general assembly of UNESCO. Among the projects already carried out is an investment of more than four million pesetas in the cave painting at the Tabla de Pochino in Aldeaquemada. Other works worth nearly 14 million pesetas are to be carried out in the caves of Engarbo in Santiago de la Espada. In this way the Culture Delegation of Jaén is promoting the conservation of these places of such great ecological and historical value.

FILMS ON THE COSTA DEL SOL
Another film shoot has to be added to the long list of titles which have used Málaga as a backdrop for filming this year. The latest production to confirm its presence is ‘The impatient Alchemist’ based on the novel by Lorenzo Silva who obtained the Nadal prize for the work. The Costa del Sol has taken more than 100 fictional characters to the silver screen - It’s impossible for Spaniards to forget the antics of inspector Torrente, the crazy arm of the law, who used the Costa del Sol for his latest adventures. An endless list of shoots which continues this autumn with the films ‘Malas Maneras’ and ‘Torremolinos 73' which we will have to see on the large screen.

START OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND INFORMATION CAMPAIGN ON BEACHES
With a uniform of shorts, t shirt, white cap and bag, the volunteer members of the Environment association GEMAS have started to distribute 200,000 small ‘beachcleaning boxes’ with which the local council and cleaning company FCC intends to improve the cleanliness of the sand. The volunteers are based in several lookout posts on the San Cristóbal, Puerta del Mar, Fuentepiedra and Velilla beaches - and distribute the boxes with information on their use together with tips on health and cleanliness and useful telephone numbers.

AGENDA 10-17 JULY
The Niebla Castle festival of theatre and dance continues in Huelva province on Saturday 21 of this month with Misericordia by Benito Pérez Galdós - performed by the Manuel Canseco company.

The national doma vaquera dressage competition takes place in Paterna de Rivera in Cádiz on Friday 20 and Saturday 21 of this month.

Joaquín Torres García shows his ‘Constructive Universalism’ in the exhibition hall of the Picasso Foundation in Málaga until August 14.

The La Caracola flamenco festival takes place in the Seville town of Lebrija on Friday 20 of this month.

The Isla Canela golf trophy is held on Saturday 21 July at the Isla Canela golf club in Ayamonte, Huelva.

The night of the half moon is held in the Córdoba province town of Aguilar de la Frontera on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 of this month.

The 5th edition of Etnosur takes place between Friday 20th and Sunday 22 of this month in Alcalá la Real, Jaén, where some 20 musical groups and 100 artists will take part.

Figures - Visions of contemporary art continues until July 20 in the Puerta Real cultural centre in Granada with works from Picasso, Antonio López, Botero or Henry Moore.

The group ‘El Giradillo de Comedias’ performs on the 20, 21 and 22 of July in the Plaza de San Francisco in Seville as part of the ‘Customs and Manners Theatre show’

Manolo García has a concert in the sports hall of the Cádiz town of Villamartin on Saturday July 21.

The El Espejo Negro theatre company show ‘La Cabra’ in the Eduardo Ocón municipal stage in the Paseo del Parque in Málaga between Thursday 19 and Saturday 21 of this month.

The Manuel de Falla exhibition remains open in Granada until July 28 in the composer’s centre in Granada city.

‘La Trama y El Oro’ bring together 16 reproductions of dresses from the Renaissance and Baroque times and can be seen in the Real Alcázar in Seville.

The carnival festival ‘Me rio de Janeiro’ is held in the José María Pemán theatre in Cádiz on Friday July 20.