Like the Christmas story itself, this was always set to be something of an incredible journey. As we left Pearly Grey in Tenerife’s southern resort of Callao Salvaje, headed for Arcos Gardens in Arcos de la Frontera, Andalucía we knew we weren’t making it easy on ourselves.
With Christmas just around the corner a feature on how the Spanish celebrated the festive season would be great for LiveShareTravel readers. With our next destination near the town of Arcos de la Frontera, which each year hosts Spain’s oldest Belen, or Living Nativity, we knew we had to get there in time for the big Christmas show.
As direct flights between Tenerife and Andalucía’s airports either didn’t fly on the day we were travelling or arrived too late we figured there was only one way to ensure we got to Arcos de la Frontera on time. We would drive from Callao Salvaje to the island’s north airport, fly to Madrid, take the train to Seville, pick up our hire car and drive the 73 kilometres to the town that most defines Christmas in Spain. A cunning plan – if a circuitous route. However despite our cunning our Christmas journey didn’t get off to an auspicious start.
After leaving Pearly Grey at 4.30am for our 7.30am Spanair flight to Madrid, we were shocked to find ourselves still sat on the tarmac at 9am. Yes our flight was delayed and rather royally. It was all the result of some vague problems that meant air traffic control made us wait an hour and 50 minutes for take-off. Thankfully we’d planned for delays – allowing three hours grace between our projected arrival and the departure of our train from Madrid’s Puerta de Atocha station.
We felt defeated. We’d travelled 2,450 kilometres, to see a traditional Christmas scene only to arrive to something of a damp squib.
Touching down at Madrid’s Barajas airport, we raced out to the first available taxi with just 45 minutes to our train, the 20-degree drop in temperature between Callao Salvaje and the mainland making us catch our breath with every hurried stride.
RENFE’s high-speed AVE train proved a reliable and relaxing journey, with staff providing complementary earphones to listen to a film shown onboard and seasonal polverons (crumbly sesame and cinnamon Spanish Christmas delicacies), best of all we arrived into Seville with needle-sharp punctuality – on the stroke of 4.30pm.
Now we sought out our hire car for the last leg of our 15-hour Christmas jaunt. The first car offered was simply not big enough to accommodate all the paraphernalia that us LiveShareTravellers require. Thankfully a Seat Leon was available and we set off through the pouring Spanish rain to attempt to reach our destination on time. It is said that the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain, however on this day it fell mainly on southern Spain and particularly on us.
The Spanish countryside flashed by as we continued towards Arcos de la Frontera’s Belen but as we neared the town we were told the horrendous rain might see it cancelled making the whole purpose of our Christmas journey rather fruitless. Still, we pressed on in the vain hope that the weather would ease enough to let this renowned annual festival take place.
Arriving in Arcos the rain finally stopped (at least for a while) but we found a very quiet town, almost devoid of people as Christmas lights shimmered hopefully on the dank, dark streets. We felt defeated. We’d travelled all this way – around 2,450 kilometres, made an incredible journey to see this traditional Christmas scene only to arrive to something of a damp squib.
Suddenly our phone rang. We were told that despite the weather the Belen was on, it would be only half the size anticipated, but Arcos’ locals were determined not to be defeated by the elements. “Great,” we shouted. “But where is it? The town’s empty.”
Hmm, despite all our efforts to be there we were on the wrong side of the town. After a few wrong turns we managed some right ones and eventually joined the throngs of people pouring towards the centre of Arcos’ old town.
Our Christmas journey to Arcos de la Frontera had taken us on planes, trains and automobiles, but arriving at the section with Mary, Joseph and a tiny baby Jesus we knew it was finally complete.
* Given our race around Spain all photos were taken on the hop with a mobile, hence the less than outstanding quality!
[...] nativity story.At LiveShareTravel we just love discovering these cultural traditions and so we made an extra special effort to get to our accommodation at Arcos Gardens in time to see this fine festive offering. Despite [...]
Thoroughly enjoyable read, excellent, and so good to hear what you compulsive travelers got up to once you left our very own Pearly Grey. You certainly had an adventure of sorts, look forward to seeing you both again in the not too distant future.
Thanks Dennis! Yes it was a bit of an adventure – never like to go about things the easy way. Had another long journey on Saturday – Innsbruck to Milan by train seemed a great idea, a chance to see the stunning scenery of The Alps, until the train was replaced by a bus service. Swiftly going off public transport!