Grand Tour nostalgia

Why the holiday season is never over in Andalucía

Georgina Oliver

Malaga

Friday, 27 December 2024, 11:09

This holiday season's bow tie and maxi dress New Year TV specials will most certainly feature "Tourists go home" protests in their potpourris of " ... What happened in 2024".

In these times of overtourism and touristification, nostalgic branding and television series that whisk viewers away on a "Grand Tour" of little-known regional and international destinations, introducing them to rural localities and traditional recipes, are the flavour of the moment.

Gap year projects with an ecological twist, away-from-home internships designed to shape a future career trajectory... are also in the air.

Youthful travel experiences perceived as an initiatory stepping stone will never go out of fashion. The Christmas episode of Emily in Paris aired last September, just before Netflix renewed the series for a fifth season.

"And... The winner of the best director award" at last May's Cannes Film Festival was... Grand Tour: a whimsical cinematic 'trip' named after the culturally enlightening tour of Europe, which distinguished young Brits and Americans used to embark on - that "Great Pleasure Excursion" Mark Twain described in his all-time bestseller, The Innocents Abroad.

Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes injects his chiefly black and white silent movie-like colonial saga, incorporating contemporary footage he shot in various Asian locations, with a splash of Joycean stream of consciousness merry-making. The Molly in his story is a giggly won't-take-no-for-an-answer fiancée (jilted in Rangoon, on what would have been her wedding day), who pursues the reluctant groom from one exotic stop-over to the next.

Upper-crust tourists

Grand Tour aficionados will warm to The Westmorland in Malaga, a scholarly tribute showcased at the Unicaja Cultural Foundation, housed in one of our "ciudad redonda" / "all-round" tourist hotspot's architectural gems: the Palacio Espicopal, within steps of the Cathedral.

This historical overview is a tale of several cities, linked to an event, which took place on 8 January, 1779. On that date, two French warships captured a British frigate, The Westmorland, and escorted it towards Malaga. The vessel, which had set out from the Tuscan port of Livorno, carried a cargo of VIP souvenirs including stately portraits, marble statues, etchings, watercolours, books and sheet music, shipped home by artistically inclined Grand Tourists.

Highly recommended for fans of virtual voyages, the exhibition's QR code circuit walks visitors around sculptures, flicks through documents and proposes a "soundtrack" reflecting the musical tastes of these aristocratic collectors.

More in tune with yuletide, is a magical display of nativities, also to be seen at the former Bishop's Palace. The show consists of a spectacular selection of glowing mainly 3D crib scenes, on loan from the Museo Internacional de Arte Belenista, situated in Mollina, a village in the province of Malaga, 15km north-west of Antequera, on the A92.

Visitable all year round, the museum spotlights the full spectrum of this time-honoured craft, from antique and vintage nativity collectibles to present-day avant-gardists, incorporating miniature figurines as well as life-size outdoor creations.

Secret Spain

During the second half of the previous century, notably in the aftermath of WWII and as the European Communities blossomed into a fully-fledged EU, a number of options were open to adventuresome students keen to broaden their cultural horizons. "So long" Grand Tour. "Howdy" G.I. Bill. "Bonjour, hola..." Erasmus.

The beneficiary of a scholarship awarded to her by the Juan March foundation in 1973, Cristina García Rodero was able to constitute a powerful visual testimony entitled España Oculta: Hidden Spain.

Young Cristina had received the foundation's grant, while studying photography and fine art in Italy, but suddenly felt compelled to re-connect with her native Iberian roots, in order to document singular religious rituals and popular customs, kept out of sight under El Caudillo's propaganda-fuelled dictatorship.

The fruit of her investigations carried out in remote agrarian areas, over a period of 15 years (instead of five, as originally planned), became a book, and Ms Rodero was welcomed into the fold of the prestigious Magnum Agency.

Hosted by the Malagueta Cultural Centre (in the bullring, on the Paseo de Reding, within walking distance of the Pompidou Centre aka "El Cubo"), the resulting photo-reportage is an absolute must-see.

Epiphany

All three events last till 12 January, 2025, a week after the first procession of the year: the Cabalgata de Reyes Magos (Cavalcade of Magi), a source of unbridled excitement to Spanish children, who have to wait until Epiphany to receive their Christmas gifts, not from Santa but from the Three Wise Men.

On 5 January, the eve of that morning they've all been expecting with stars in their eyes, tourists mingle with locals, as floats presided over by Melchiors, Gaspars and Balthazars parade through the streets, their pages and maids of honour throwing candy at eager fellow kiddies.

To each season, its procession. Throughout Spain, congregations are forever preparing for the next family festivity. However, in the realm of ferias and Semana Santas, Andalusians are hard to beat... They have a special year-long from manger-to-cross rapport with their beloved Santísima Virgen, Madre del Niño Jesús.

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