Creativity and Culture
It’s November and we are not entirely sure where this year has gone, but we are looking perilously close to the end of 2019.
In October, we facilitated the last of our Creative Course holidays here in our village. For those of you who have missed out on this action, we launched an experiential travel company at the end of last year, through which we organise and run creative and culturally inspired holidays in Moclín.
When we first arrived in the village, we were shown around by one of our neighbours, Rafa, and the history and architecture of the place triggered thoughts of some sort of cultural tourism. Moclín must be one of Granada Province’s best-kept secrets. Despite being only 35 minutes’ drive from the city of Granada, and it can indeed be seen from Granada, very few people know about the village. Mention Moclín, and many people will say that it is the village of Cristo del Paño, but that same number will admit to never having visited the place.
A lot has been written about neighbouring Montefrio, listed by National Geographic as one of the 10 villages with the best views in the world, but in our mind Moclín is just as stunningly situated with equally breathtaking views.
We have written, in the past, about the significant historical links held by the village: the 13th Century Castle that was home to the Catholic King and Queen, Isabel and Fernando, for 6 years from 1486 - 1492 before they captured Granada; the importance of the village as one of the Siete Villas, providing grain to the then Catholic-controlled Granada; the network of caves inhabited as long ago as 60,000 years; the fiestas in Honour of Cristo del Paño amongst the most important religious festivals in Andalucia. This is not just some humble pueblo, but a strategic stronghold that has been important for millennia. Sitting on top of a mountain at just over 1,000 metres, the village is also one of the prettiest we have seen. The ruins of the castle seem to be at one with the rocks on which they sit, visible from miles around. The moorish walls form a necklace around the mountain’s neck, with the Santuario Cristo del Paño the jewel between the links. Houses tumble down the hill below the castle punctuated by jagged, rocky exclamation marks.
The village of Moclin
Despite its often bloody history, this is a village that has a charm and warmth that is wholly representative of the welcome afforded by the people of Andalucia. Like many rural villages, Moclín is trying to find a new commercial way of surviving. Younger generations are not enough to provide longevity as employment prospects are minimal, and school-leavers need to head to the cities to continue their education or find work. Agriculture is the primary employer, but the type of farming here is labour intensive and not always lucrative; it can still be a very hard life for many people. Income provided by tourism is something that can be increased and, as in many similar villages, this income is essential for the survival of the place.
With that in mind, Andrew and I wanted to bring creative holidays to the village, holidays that would provide the guests with unique access to elements of the culture, history, food, wine, art and people of Andalucia. This all sounds very altruistic, but we love the village so much that we simply wanted to share the place with like-minded people and make a bit of an income.
For 2019, our first year, we ran three courses. We did have a fourth course planned, Yoga and Qigong, but it transpired that this is rapidly becoming a very saturated market. There are many, many yoga retreats around Spain, and these retreats rely on groups coming with their own tutor or instructor as a complete package. We took the decision to cut the yoga course, and we doubt if we will attempt to run such retreats in the future. It also occurred to us that we are not offering retreats, as this rather suggests that we cut ourselves off from the outside world. What we are in fact doing is trying to integrate our courses with the village, sharing our passions with the local people so they can see how the landscapes and culture inspire our guests to create their own beauty.
We ran courses in Andalucian Cookery, Flamenco (Dance, music and history) and Botanical Watercolour Painting, all three very different. We had some lovely guests, and the reviews were fabulous, given that this was our first year. There is no doubting that each course was hard work, but all extremely rewarding in their own ways.
Highlights from our courses 2019
Seeing how guests, brought together to enjoy a common interest, evolve as a group as they get to know one another. A particular highlight was witnessing one of our cookery guests, a straightforward gentleman from the north of England, squeeze himself into a glittering boob-tube.
We ate delicious food during the cookery course. The idea was to demonstrate new ways of cooking very traditional Spanish dishes, and our chef managed this extremely well, developing menus and recipes concurrently with our cooks, and with emphasis on healthy eating. Another cooking highlight was seeing our lovely neighbour, Mari-Petra, bashing out dough with our guests to cook traditional Andalucian pastries, despite barely speaking a word of English and describing one of our male guests as ‘una maquina’ with a twinkle in her eye. Click here to watch the video.
We took our group of Flamenco dancers to see a performance that formed part of the Granada Festival. The show was so avant-garde that we were left slightly speechless by the end, but the conversation in the car on the way back to Moclín from Granada that evening was hilarious.
Putting on a Flamenco performance for the village at the end of the Flamenco course. Although we had a few technical issues leading up to the performance, and we all had a fear that we might not get an audience, we were overwhelmed by the response from our neighbours. Our tutors, Natalie and Cacho, put together a fantastic show, incorporating the dance that our guests learned over the course of the week. So impressed was our local Asociacion de Mujeres (Women’s Association) that they threw an impromptu fiesta for the performers after the show. These unexpected moments of great generosity are what memories are made of.
Cacho’s poem about Moclín.
The comments left by one of our village neighbours following the performance.
Comment from one of our lovely villagers.
Enjoying local food and wine at the end of both the cookery course and the watercolour course. We are immensely grateful to Andalucia Delicatessen and Bodegas Calvente for being so supportive and giving our guests such a great introduction to the produce of Granada.
We loved the concentration during the watercolour course as olives, prickly pears and pomegranates were captured on paper with glorious results.
Meeting and getting to know our guests. We would both hope that they all had a wonderful time, learned many new skills, enjoyed good food and company and had a unique experience. Above all, we very much hope that they loved Moclín as much as we do, and that they did get insights into a very traditional Spanish way of life.
Now the works starts all over again for next year.
If you, or anyone else you know, would be interested in coming on one of our creative and cultural holidays next year, do take a look at our website and share it as much as you like! We’d love to see you here.
Cookery course tapas tour of Granada.
