You already know that the Alhambra Monkey Weekend It is a one-of-a-kind festival. This weekend, June 14, 15 and 16we can enjoy The Port of Santa Maria of a poster that is also unique and about some charming locations and unusual scenarios whose route we will mark for you so that you don’t miss anything, not even you.
Let’s start our Monkey Route for our headquarters, nothing more and nothing less, than a castle with three stages! Currently owned by Bodegas Caballero, the Castillo de San Marcos was built in the 13th century from an ancient Islamic mosque, and later transformed by the grace of Alfonso X El Sabio into a fortified church. Its four towers, in addition to serving as a defense against invasions from North Africa, hosted visitors as illustrious as Christopher Columbus. Or Juan de la Cosa, who painted the first world map on a parchment between those walls, a whopping 523 years ago. Of course, if ye-yé encyclopedism is your thing, don’t miss the video clip that Marisol and Tip y Coll shot in 1972… wonderful!
Inside we can find three scenarios. Our Alhambra Stage, located in the most spacious patio, will host on Friday, June 14, the inaugural concerts of Cuerda Huida, Shanghai Baby, Viva Belgrado and Pony Bravo, almost nothing, and on Saturday, June 15, the no less anticipated live concerts of GAF and La Estrella of Death, Mohama Saz, Esperanto and Za! + Perrate. That Saturday the 16th we will also enjoy the beautiful stage located in the Patio del Olivo, as soon as we cross the doors of the Castle, where two bands that are practically debutants but with veterans among their ranks will perform: Que Dios Te Lo Pague, with Branquias Johnson and Alberto Charro (Los Malinches), and Masa, with Nuria Capote and Dani Escortell (Glazz, Derby Motoreta’s Burrito Kachimba). And since there are no two without three, the Bodega del Castillo will serve one more year as a nightclub for the most night owls: on Friday the 14th Durovino, and the remember session by Jesús Psycobeat in homage to the city’s legendary Cremallera room, will make us dance The pretty; and a day later the Saturday night fever will continue with the help of Los Voluble, Mondongo Boy and Dj Hidrataccioni.
Oh my, and that’s just inside the Castillo de San Marcos! Because outside, in the Plaza Alfonso from the live performances of José de los Camarones, San Remo, Australian Blonde and Sick Buzos. Yes, we know: we think of everything. You are welcome.
On the morning of Saturday the 15th, a good handful of those unusual locations that we like so much await us. Let’s start with the Pico Distillery. Within its walls we find a dozen stills, each with its personality: El Mellizo, El Cuvillo, El Chico… For almost 200 years, an anniversary that will be celebrated in 2024, they are the key tool for that mixture of alcohol and roasted cocoa ground it ends up becoming the delicious liquor with an intense chocolate aroma. Beyond Cacao Pico, other drinks are currently distilled here, such as vodkas and gins, but always with that artisanal character that their owners, the Merello family, continue to give them since they acquired this monument of industrial architecture back in the years. 50. Nothing strange then that an artist with a desire to recover tradition like María de la Flor gives us her songs live on a stage like this.
Another space that will open its doors at noon, and will also continue open in the afternoon, will be The Little Hospital. That is what we call here this neoclassical building with a much more bombastic name: the Hospital of Divine Providence. Built in 1753, until 1881 it maintained its welfare work, intended exclusively for orphaned, sick or helpless women, to then become a school that would remain open until 1986. Today it is the headquarters of the Municipal Museum of Archeology. In its chamfered façade two of the most traditional streets of the town coincide, Ganado and Cruces, and very very very close, the curious will find another must-see space: the Bodega Obregón. El Hospitalito will be the home for one day of Júlia Colom, Marina Gallardo and Los Sara Fontan.
Photo: Pablo Bernardo
We continue the Monkey Route with flamenco sounds, and on Saturday morning the restaurant will also open its doors. Peña Flamenca Tomás “El Nitri”, home of the Tertulia Flamenca of the same name, which was founded in 1949 and moved to this space in 1980. According to the archives, the singer Tomás el Nitri, born in 1838 and died in 1877, was a very gypsy, hermetic, somewhat bohemian gypsy. and, according to his nephew Caoba, “he was a drinker and a partyer.” Monkey meat, come on. We will honor his spirit at noon on Saturday, June 15, with a live performance by another bohemian like Pedro de Dios, the renowned guitarist and singer from Guadalupe Plata.
Don’t go away, there are even more peculiar scenarios: right in front of Bugalú, that place that has become an inevitable meeting point for Portuenses eager for sandwiches with sparkle, we will find A garage which, at street level, will this year be the address of our appointment with the Jaguares Karaoke! Paco Loco, Pablo Errea and Patri Espejo are already waiting for us with an arsenal of hits from yesterday, today and always well smashed so that we can sing them at the top of our lungs. One more June, IT’S LITTLE.
As it will also get messy, and big, at the Jägermusic Court located one more year in the mythical Calderon Park. From July 1895 to February 1896, Severiano Ruiz Calderón ordered the remodeling of the river channeling wall, expanding the space with the territories gained from it in the previous decades, “an impassable and filthy place”… that would end up transformed into the epicenter of the city, meeting place for countless leisure activities (from evening parties to summer cinemas, from raffles to concerts) and home to multiple establishments, such as the Pedro Morro or Luis Bononato booths, the Fernando Post or the still current Bar Santa María. For generations it has also been the park for gadgets, with its carousels and its bumper car track that, for the second year in a row, will host the Jägermusic Stage. A stage for young and old with performances by Vatocholo, Tetas Frías, Dalila, Nueve Desconocidos, Teo Lucadamo and Marcelo Pantani. Once again, Calderón Park will once again be an indi(e)spensable destination.
Photo:Javier Rosa
Another common destination for music lovers in the city is the Milwaukee Room, our last scenario. More than three hundred years of history are housed in the imposing walls of this former sailor’s house, later converted into a fishing market and, before becoming a regular pilgrimage for music lovers, also into a boat accessories store. There at the end of the 90s of the last century it became Milwaukee, first as a regular meeting point for Harley lovers, hence its name (the first motorcycle owners club of the brand had been founded in the city shortly before. American, as well as a dealership) and later as a concert hall. We, always so ready to turn the scenes around, prefer to set up the party in their patio, a real luxury. There we can enjoy live shows, attention, from Restinga, Jordi Ganchitos, Snackbar The Ambassador and Sin Bragas. The party, family, is served.
Oh, and as a final culmination, don’t forget that on Sunday the 16th there is also mandanga! Starting at 12:30 we want to get rid of your hangover with morning responsibilities: the Jardín Menesteo Choral School will invite us to participate in a Participatory Choir at the Castillo de San Marcos, where any little guy will be able to bring out his artistic gifts, even if not! have!
Of course, hurry up because tickets and season tickets are flying at the rate of a unicorn crossing the skies of Cádiz from this link. Get your site now and design your Monkey Route: the best way to go sightseeing… and with the best possible soundtrack.
