2025 10-12 The Moors and Christians Festival

 The Moors and Christians Festival is in full swing in El Campello.  It started a few days ago - but the big event - the landing of the Moors on the shores of Alicante and then the Christians battling back and then the Moors getting control and then the Christians battling back - don't remember how many times.  But eventually the Christians won and the Moors were ousted from the region.

So this mornings event was supposed to start at 6:55 am with a warning shot and the Moors arriving via boats on the shores of El Campello.  We arrived around 7AM.  No premier seats available you have to get here by 5am to get those.  And those people do not move.  We were far back in the que.

The first photos are all from my phone.  The camera ones are at the end.  I ended up putting the camera in my backpack because of the rain and using my phone most of the time.

Way off in the distance you can see the lights of the marina.  On the beach in the foreground are some Moors and a couple of donkeys.  The fiesta on the beach is happening pretty close to the marina.

The smoke is from musket shots.  The scene consisted of the Moors and /or the Christians standing on the beach and taking turns shooting off muskets. 

But the parades of bands happened on the road just next to us.  It sometimes seemed quite chaotic.  The first one is the Christians.

Then the Moors.  Sorry about the ending.  They did not suddenly start marching up into the sky.

It had already started to rain lightly.  People bailed on watching the Fiesta and got into the restaurant to stay dry.

On the far end where we started was this tractor pulled wagon.  Much later they had food for the parade participants.

                                      

There were about 6-8 big screens set up along the walkway.  So you could see the action on the beach if you could get no where near it.  A quick video of someone on the beach shooting a musket.

There were some big fires put off. This was one of them.

One scene that would have been great to actually see was this one.  One lone guy on a horse in the water.  Did I mention that the surf was up and the boats never actually were in the water and landing on the shore?  It was too dangerous.  The horse did not seem happy in the role he had to play.  The rider kept him in the surf by constantly turning him around and around.

At first I was way behind these tents.  You could not see much.  But if you look close - above the tents and behind the big pole there is a cool sword fight scene.

I kept moving around trying to get better shots.

The tents of the Moors.

Way on the other end of the beach is this hill topped with the Christians.  I had finally made it to the end of the beach where the action was actually happening.  I am standing 3 people back taking photos and videos between people's heads.  And now that it is raining harder - trying to avoid umbrellas in my shots as well.

Finally this line of  Christians came out.

This is at the end of the production.  The dramatic music suddenly was silenced.  I wasn't sure if it was because of the rain as it was now raining harder.  I tried to get my plastic cape on - but between my wet fingers and the rain the plastic would not separate - so I draped it as best I could over my backpack and me.  I walked back and forth 3 or 4 times trying to find Michael or Rene Michelle.    

A group of Christians dressed as important people marched to the center of the beach.  No photos as I was stuck behind umbrellas. All the rest of the people circled around them.  Then the important people started to make dramatic speeches.  It was at that point I found RM.  Michael had already bailed as he was having problems with all the loud noises.  

I took one final shot of the donkeys and Moors - it has gotten much lighter and is close to 8:30

Camera shots - back to the beginning at 7am.  There were some fireworks as well - I think those are the ones that look like lines below.  The starbursts are fireworks.  Those were quite small fireworks.  Just a small spit of light - not like at home on the 4th of July when we get huge spectacles of color raining from the sky.

Rene Michelle and I headed back to our apartment where we got out of our wet clothes, made breakfast, had showers and then naps. 

For our late lunch we went to Bar Ristorante Lami.  We had pizza here last year and it was great.  I had plain old pepperoni.

Renee Michelle had a vegetarian one with feta cheese, olives and onions - maybe more.

Michael's was a sausage and mushroom.  All were wonderful.

We finished off the evening watching a few fireworks back in the real town of El Campello.  The full-on fireworks will happen on Wednesday night in honor of the Virgin of the Forsaken.