Conil Property Rentals

Archive for May, 2010

Ruta del atun

Conil Tourist Board is inaugurating its Tuna Route today, Friday 28th May, an initiative which aims at encouraging people to visit local bars and restaurants, to try different tuna dishes, and to promote the local fishing industry.
The Tuna Route will continue until June 13th and 21 establishments are taking part. They will all offer different tuna-based dishes, showing that there are at least one hundred different ways to prepare this fish.
Anyone interested in participating can visit any or all of the following restaurants:
Antonio; Blanco y Verde; Casa Manolo; El Chuletón; El Rezón; El Roqueo; Francisco-La Fontanilla; Fuente del Gallo ‘El Marinero’; La Fontanilla; Pizzería La Gaviota; Mirador El Roqueo; Oasis; Venta Cabo Roche; Venta Melchor; Parrilla Venta el Andaluz; Camping La Rosaleda II and Camping Roche. And the following bars are also taking part: Juan María, Sopa, Piluso and Taberna La Chanca.

La Romeria de San Sabastian video

La Romeria de Sabastian is an anual pilgrimage, and the first fiesta of the year in Conil. It falls on the closest Sunday to the 20th January (weather permitting. This year it was postponed twice). The whole of the area shuts down for this fantastic festival of fun, food and drink (MUCHO!)

First a sort history lesson…Who is San Sabastian:

Sebastian was a captain in the imperial Roman guard of  Diocletian. When he openly professed to be a Christian, he was condemned to death, and the emperor ordered him to be shot by archers. They left him in the field for dead. Irene, a Christian, found Sebastian still alive and nursed him back to health. Soon after he recovered he went back to the emperor to denounce him for  his cruelty to Christians. This time Diocletian had him beaten to death with clubs. His body was recovered from the sewers of  Rome  and buried by his fellow Christians. The name Sebastian stands for “the Sublime”, “the Venerated”.

Timetable of events

On the morning of the pilgrimage a mass is held at a local church. From here thousands of local people and visitors from all over the world escort a statue of the saint either on foot,horse back or tracktor for  a 7 km  trek through pine forests. Local people spend many weeks decorating their carriages, complete with music systems for people to sing and dance all the way to the pilgrimage chapel of Fatima. On route the drink of the day is “rebujito” which is a mixture of dry sherry, lemonade and ice. Although just about everything is drunk!!

The pilgrimage arrives at the chapel around 2.00PM were the are welcomed by a warm crowd of people in the main square. Meanwhile in the pine forest people are lighting barbeques and very elaborate picnics for a truly wonderful family occasion.

Around 6.00PM the staue is carried back to Conil (usually not in a straight line!)

On Wednesday, more than fifty of Spain’s best and most famous chefs visited Barbate to learn more about the red tuna for which the port town is famous. They spent the day following the whole process of preparing the fish from the time it is caught to the time it is ready for sale, a day described by Juan María Arzak as “legendary”. With this Basque master chef in Barbate were Ferrán Adriá, considered by Restaurant Magazine to be the second best chef on the planet, Quique Dacosta, Alberto Chicote, Sacha Hormaechea, Koldo Royo, Andoni Lis Adúriz and a whole host of other award-winning and famous names in the world of haute cuisine.

If you fancy having a go at learning Spanish.Why not join a growing number of similar minded people at

Its free to use and makes learning Spanish fun!! It is also great for word and paragraph translations. It will monitor your progress, and there is a very friendly online forum for help, support and any proof reading required. Best of all….It’s totally FREE!

Google map link

Restaurante Patria is a restaurant run by a very friendly Danish couple.  Åse is front of house and Thomas being the chef.

The restaurant is located on top of a hill and has fantastic views over the town and beaches of Conil and Vejer, which you can enjoy from the outside terrace or the conservatory. The interior is decorated in a cool mix of traditional and contemporary.

Thomas and Åse, concentrate very much on fine local “in season” produce. The menu is small and selective and changes very regularly. It is presented beautifully and tastes heavenly.

Keen wine drinkers themselves, they have an excellent selection of fine Spanish wines to suit all budgets.

At certain times of the year they open for Saturday and Sunday lunch when they serve a wonderful buffet style lunch of fabulous quality.

In a nutshell… One of the best restaurants in Andalucia on our doorstep. Please try it..You wont be disappointed!!

RESERVATION RECOMMENDED!!