ANDALUCIA TOURISM NEWS DECEMBER 19 2002

WORLD FLAMENCO FESTIVAL
The world association of four and five start hotels, specialists in congress, incentive and business tourism – Selected Hotels – hold their World Flamenco Festival in the Don Miguel hotel in Marbella until December 31. The event, sponsored by Turismo Andaluz, the Biennial de Flamenco and Selected Hotels, will see a new work from dancer Antonio Canales called 'Ojos Verdes' in which he directs the winners of the Giraldillos Jóvenes prizes awarded at the last edition of the Biennial in Seville. Performing with them, artists of the importance of Manuela Carrasco, guitarist Gerardo Nuñez, composer Dorantes and singer songwriter Arcángel, will all tread the stage of the Don Miguel Hotel in Marbella. The World Flamenco Festival is the first event of its type to be held in Spain and intends to show an international public the culture of flamenco in all its facets. We have the chance to enjoy it until December 31.

BELÉN VIVIENTE DE BEAS 2002
A hundred children take part in a real life nativity scene in Beas, in Huelva province – a tradition which the village has held for the past 32 years. This nativity scene takes up an area of 3,000 square metres, and mixes the story of Jesus with that of the municipality, given that you can see people representing historical trades now lost in the village, with goods and chattels from the same. The event is organised by the local Brotherhood of Nuestra Señora de los Clarines, and is it's main source of income, spent mainly in events such as the spring pilgrimage. The setting up of the Nativity Scene is a job which is started during the summer, with the construction of the settings which are completed by the start of December. Around 25,000 people visit this living Nativity Scene in Beas each year – it continues open until January 6.

SWEET NUNS OF GRANADA
Christmas sweets are some of the most popular products consumed at this time of the year. Yemas, Truffles and the typical Mantecados. Exquisite sweets which delight the sweetest of teeth, especially when made by the nuns of convents, such as the Comendadores de Santiago in Granada. Sugar, Manteca, Eggs and not a preservative of colouring in sight. The 23 nuns of this closed convent, 16 of them Hindu, work hard each year to offer us these products which you can ask for through a hatch. A kneading machine, mincing machine, and whisk are the only appliances used to make the 16 sweet specialities made here. Everything else is done by hand, with large helpings of care. Eight hours a day surrounded by sweets, to improve a convent which has more than 5 centuries of history.

MEDINA AZAHARA INSTITUTIONAL HEADQUARTERS
The future Institutional Headquarters for the Archaeological site of Medina Azahara, in Córdoba province, will have an area of nearly 8,000 m2 and be located in an area outside the archaeological site. The objective of the plan is, according to the Regional Council for Culture, to give the Medina Azahara facilities at the level of one of the most important archaeological sites in Europe. The future headquarters will be the starting point for visitors to the site, offering information to all the people who go there about the history of the area. The proposal from the Junta de Andalucía is to go beyond the idea of a reception centre, to create instead both permanent and temporary displays, and to add the infrastructure needed for continued conservation and research. The Medina Azahara project will also see a garden area of nearly 24,000 square metres in size.

WOMEX 2003
The 'World Music Expo' fair – Womex – the main international event dedicated to Folk and Ethnic Music, will be held next year in Seville, following an agreement reached between the Regional Council for Tourism and Sport, the organisers of the event, Fibes, and the Flamenco Biennial. The Andalucian capital will become the first city in the south of Europe to hold this event which, since its first edition in 1994, has always been held in northern countries. Womex 2003 will be held in Autumn in the Seville Exhibition and Congress Hall, coinciding with the World Flamenco Fair, thus making Andalucia the world centre for ethnic music, with special emphasis of course on Flamenco – and giving the region a chance to promote this Andalucian culture to the tourism sector. Womex consists of two parts – The first dedicated to the displays of the products from professionals and the second with musical performances on four different stages over three days. A fair aimed both at professionals and the general public which next year comes to Seville.

QUÉ RICO DIOS MÍO
Qué rico, Dios mío – my God how tasty! This exclamation would have been said many times by people in Cádiz at the moment. That's because the city has held the 7th edition of the show titled in the same way – 'Qué rico, Dios mío' which was held between December 12 and 15. 3,000 kilos of handmade sweets have been on display and sold, with liqueurs made in 9 closed convents of the province –in Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Arcos de la Frontera, Medina, El Puerto de Santa María and Cádiz itself. This year new products such as Doraditas have been shown – almond and nut delights, and the Alegrías de Navidad, all hand made products made from natural ingredients and the large amounts of care given by the nuns of the convents. As well as being a delight to taste, the convent sweets contain the flavours from so many centuries of Andalucian culture and the products from the lands of Andalucía.

GORAFE MEGALITHIC PARK
The town council of Gorafe, located in the North of Granada province, has signalled the creation of the Megalithic Theme Park – the only one in Spain and one of the most important in Europe, by uniting some 250 dolmens from the Neolithic and Bronze ages. The future information centre will contain and interactive ethnological museum and exhibition hall. This centre will be the reference point of the Gorafe Theme Park, which already has three of the six routes planned signposted so we can admire these prehistoric funeral monuments. The Gorafe dolmens were discovered in the 19th century, and according to historians at the time, were constructed by locals from the lower Guadalquivir and what is now Almería, at the end of the Neolithic time. These inhabitants had the idea of a new funeral ritual, according to the studies made, given that the burials, different from those in earlier times, where made outside the caves – this gives a special singularity to the Gorafe dolmens.

MINING BASIN HISTORICAL SITE
The assets of the Huelva Mining Basin, will have legal protection following approval from the Junta de Andalucía of the declaration of this area as a historical site and one of cultural interest. These assets, according to the Andalucian government, are outstanding for their artistic, historical, landscape and archaeological interest, key values for the discovery of the cultural diversity of the area which has been characterised by successive mining societies and their relationship with the environment, making the most of the mineral resources – all important when trying to understand the historical trajectory of the region which today makes up the province of Huelva. The Riotinto Historical Site includes more than 140 items of interest, among them those of megalithic character are outstanding, together with a bronze age necropolis, roman settlements and cemeteries, British architecture, and landscapes such as Corta Atalaya – the largest open cast mining site in Europe.