Andalucia's most luxurious rural self catering holiday home - new photos!

We've been busy in the photography world this year ... take a look at some of our new look bedrooms, bathrooms, communal rooms, and the breathtaking roof terrace and scrummy hot tub! :

We're still only charging £495 for parties of up to 4 people with a small supplement for parties up to 10 .... it's a no brainer of a luxurious place to stay :)

Casa La Celada - Andalucia's most luxurious rural self catering Holiday Home

Guest House becomes Holiday House ....

I should begin this blog by apologising profusely ...

Many people have kindly followed our antics in Spain through a plethora of different blog sites ... THANK YOU!

So today, after months away from my computer, I write to say that you can now rent Casa La Celada in her entirety!

Zack and I moved back to the UK to do some serious education catching up last August. Love Spain to pieces as we both do, I knew I couldn't look him in the eye aged 18 and say to myself "I did everything I could to ensure his passion for learning was fed and nurtured" in a learn by rote in silence environment.

So we returned to the UK, changing Casa La Celada's status from Luxury B&B (which was, in its time, the best in Córdoba), to stunningly fantastic holiday home.

You can now rent the house all year round or for a week or a month, by filling out the contact form on the website or going via Owners Direct or Homelidays - or via here of course!

It's a LONG story which I won't bore you with, but I now teach Yoga believe it or not - the hot sweaty type that sculpts body, mind and spirit!

Que cambio!

Luxury B&B Guest House Blog : Spring Calendar 2009

Luxury B&B Guest House Blog : Spring 2009

In order that holidays can be planned around events you really want to get to, I thought it would be helpful to map out some of the most important and most local Fiestas and Festivals that go on in Andalucia. Where I have been able to source some historical information I have posted it too ....

This is one to bookmark as the dates are pretty much year on year ...

Flamenco Festivals : These are Andalucia wide from mid January right through until the end of March. I have already written about the XIII Jerez Flamenco Festival, and will cover the Noches de Embrujo later on in the year but suffice it to say, evenings in Córdoba through August are breathtaking - "Magical Nights" in the ancient quarter with free Flamenco Shows ...

1st - 5th February celebrates the Dia de la Candeleria : The Feast of the Candles is traditionally to celebrate the end of olive harvesting. Families use olive prunings to build the bonfires. Candelaria (Night) is celebrated in many towns and villages across Andalucia and across the Spanish speaking world. La Candelaria is a reminder of the light of the Baby Jesus. It is celebrated in different ways but all involve candles and huge bonfires. I've already blogged about my extraordinary experiences in the North of Spain on this day - when horses with their riders came into the bars!

Varied Festival de Cadiz - This is the oldest festival in Spain and is world famous. Every year the parades get longer and more magnificent and the costumes get more stunning. The celebrations last for around 10 days but sometimes the locals get carried away. It is an event not to missed if you are lucky enough to be in Andalucia during carnival season.

ANDALUCIA - WIDE - Dia de Andalucia - 28th February - celebrated across Andalucia to commemorate the date of the successful referendum vote on autonomy. Nothing is open at all - ever!

ALGARINEJO - Carnaval de la Viña - falls around the end of Feb beginning of March depending on weekends - it's where one of my favourite restaurants is ...

MARCH / APRIL ...

SEMANA SANTA - EASTER HOLY WEEK ....

Maundy Thursday (also known as Holy Thursday}
Viernes Santo (Good Friday)
Dia de Pascua (Easter Sunday)
Holy Week - The Week preceding Dia de Pascua (Easter Sunday) is celebrated across Spain with magnificent processions and floats …

Cabra:

Holy Week (Semana Santa), declared to be of touristic interest, is a majestic occasion of great splendour, with 17 processions, a total of 28 pasos (fraternities carrying floats depicting episodes of the crucifiction) and over two thousand nazarenos (penitent marchers dressed in robes and pointed hoods).

Carcabuey:

Holy Week (Semana Santa), all of the processions are worth seeing, but perhaps the most unusual is el Silencio (the Silence), in which the image of the Cristo de Ánimas (Crucified Christ) is accompanied by a multitude of torches, while the spectators remain completely silent, its passage along the Calle Alta street is especially beautiful, as the image of Christ is lifted above the rooftops, casting its shadow on the Calle Baja.

Iznajar:

Holy Week, the most typical feature of which is El Paso or the representation of Christ's Passion (La Pasión), performed in the parish church. Perhaps the most noteworthy of the processions are the one which takes place on Palm Sunday, in which both Jesus riding a donkey and the apostles who accompany him are real people, and the Jesus of Nazareth (Jesús Nazareno) Procession on Good Friday, also featuring live protagonists.

Priego de Cordoba:

Holy Week (Semana Santa), Priego's festival par excellence, the highlight of which is in the early hours of Good Friday, when the Virgen de los Dolores and Cristo de la Buena Muerte fraternities return to El Calvario Chapel (Ermita del Calvario). In the morning, the whole village congregates at St. Francis' Church (Iglesia de San Francisco), from whence the statue is carried out to be paraded through the streets.

And if you're thinking of coming for Easter please be warned, our Andalucia Guest House B&B has only one room left for Semana Santa .....


Seville Feria de Sevilla - The fair begins two weeks after Semana Santa. Celebrated with all night Flamenco dancing, bullfights, dancing in the streets and horse riding - People travel from all across Spain to come and enjoy the revelries.

GIBRALTAR - Gibraltar (UK) Commonwealth Day - 12th March

LA CELADA - Dia de San José - March 19th - a weekend of festivities, revellries, free food and celebrations for our village's Patron Saint. Games in the street for the children and adults alike, food and bar open later with disco during the night for the younger and young at heart! Our B&B Guest House is nearly fully booked for this Fiesta too!

APRIL

Luque - one of the Sierra Subbética villages celebrates St. George's Open-Air Festival (Romería de San Jorge), Sunday after 23 April - this festival is organised by the Hunter's Association, after mass, a variety of events follow, the traditional kid in sauce is eaten, along with hornazos (buns made with dough and oil, decorated with almonds and filled with hard boiled egg). A trap shooting competition is also staged in the country.

IZNÁJAR & All over Spain - Romeria de San Marcos - 25th April: Traditionally families spend the day in the campo picnicking, swimming in the lake and barbequing. It can go on long into the night!


I hope that's helpful - if you have any plans to come out and visit there are always a LOT more fiestas and festivals that don't get to me before I get to the typewriter ... so do ring and ask or alternatively, Google Fiestas in Andalucia!

Felices Fiestas a todos!

Do follow me on Twitter if you want to ; @dreamingspain

B&B Guest House in Andalucia
Quirky Watercolour Paintings Website
Living the Dream in Spain Blog
Iznajar B&B blog
Art Blog

Ecademy España - Ecademy Spain

Luxury B&B Guest House Blog : The Rain in Spain....

It's a funny thing you know - rain in Spain is such a mixed blessing for so many - it goes like this :

Anyone with accommodation to rent curses it while waving a stick and having a hissy fit all over the place ...

Anyone with half an eye on climatic change bows down at the rain clouds and asks them to stay much longer ...

Anyone with an olive grove (I'm talking rural Spain here) both loves it and hates it : Loves it because it means the olives two years from now will be an extraordinary crop; Hates it because how on earth can they get out into their groves now and gather the needed olives for this year's oil harvest?

Personally, I love the rain. We have so much sun in any given year that to have several days of pouring rain provides fabulous cloud formations to gaze upon, and seeing the campo flushing with green absolutely everywhere tells me that this year, Spring is going to be absolutely magical.

And then, of course, there is our wonderful lake - Lake Iznájar. No-one can possibly argue that watching her refill again is truly a gift to behold.



And as for the holiday makers? Well, thankfully Spain is 1% beaches, and 99% fascinating and richly cultural food fests for the discerning traveller so even if a rainy day does come, there is always masses to do ...

Not sure what? Well, ask away!

Running a B&B on ... drugs?

It's been the zaniest couple of weeks imaginable ...

Our last guests, the first of 2009, had to cope with a hop-a-long hostess for their last two days thanks to the universe deciding to disable me with a trapped nerve in my back!

They were so very kind about it - only commenting on the fact that I was walking like the Elephant Man on their last day.

Thankfully, the pain killers worked sufficiently for me to function normally, but after they left, WHAM the nerve went mental, and I became immobile!

I love my chiropractor - three sessions and some out loud shrieking later and I am fit again and preparing for our next guest - a lovely Kinesiologist who is coming here to not only have a break but also to give treatments too!

Luxury Spain B&B Guest House near Spanish Flamenco Festivals

WE'RE REGULARLY RATED THE NO.1 B&B GUEST HOUSE IN ANDALUCIA 3KM FROM LAKE IZNÁJAR SPAIN.....

Why?

"If we were the King and Queen of Spain we could not have been better looked after..."

"Amanda is an amazing hostess who bends over backwards to make her guests welcome, comfortable and relaxed"

This Gorgeous luxury B&B Guest House near Lake Iznájar Spain is extremely proud to be

consistently rated 5/5 by TRIP ADVISOR

Here's what our guests say about this lovely Bed and Breakfast in Andalucia :

"Your hospitality cannot be surpassed"

"Sorry to be leaving, we want to stay forever"

"No España sin Amanda"

"Wonderful home from home"

And now, at the beginning of 2009, we look to Spanish Flamenco once again - the XIII Jerez Flamenco Festival is due to start at the end of February ... and of course right opposite the Córdoba Mezquita there is the fabulous Tablao Flamenco Shows every Friday and Saturday night ... An hour from the Alhambra Palace, we make a perfect base for sightseeing the treasures of Inland Andalucia ...

We can arrange drivers for you, we can arrange tickets for you - all you need to do is choose which of the exquisite and passion evoking shows you'd like to see, and the rest is left to us! Make "Luxury Spain" come to life, but with the heart of personal service that is second to none.

We were featured in The Sunday Mirror

and are about to be featured in Wye Valley Life ...

Our service is second to none - YOU come first - and we will do everything in our power to give you the best B&B Guest House Experience you have ever had.


Please contact us on +34 957 534 939 or email Bed and Breakfast in Andalucia - amanda[at]casa-la-celada.com we are here and waiting to help make Luxury Spain come to life for you!

Andalucia B&B Blog - The Sierra Nevada has SNOW!

As of this weekend, the Sierra Nevada ski resort of Borreguiles is enjoying a TWO METRE fall of Snow! And at more than 3,000m above sea level - considerably higher than some of France's most well known resorts - it looks TEMPTING!!

We're lucky - from our lovely Andalucia B&B we can jump in our cars, laden with ski wear, and be on the slopes by 10am, picnics in rucksacks and gloves on hands .....

Yep, I'd say we're lucky here :)



Bed and Breakfast in Andalucia - Iznájar Spain
Quirky Watercolour Paintings Website
Living the Dream in Spain Blog
Iznajar B&B Casa La Celada Blog
Art Blog

Ecademy España - Ecademy Spain