Anyone going to the Dragon Festival 2008
- Thread starter jonH
- Start date
We'll be there ... more later etc. 
Essential information : this fest is EASTER WEEKEND (Thursday 20th to Sunday 23rd March) so you need to get yer skates on re booking flights/transport to Spain.
Essential information : this fest is EASTER WEEKEND (Thursday 20th to Sunday 23rd March) so you need to get yer skates on re booking flights/transport to Spain.
Lisarocket
In bed with me dinner
We'll be there ... more later etc.
Essential information : this fest is EASTER WEEKEND (Thursday 20th to Sunday 23rd March) so you need to get yer skates on re booking flights/transport to Spain.
Aye. That's a word from the wise there...
You coming along Lisa? 
Well I fucked up royally on getting there in 2007
, but this time we're all sorted! 
If anyone knows anything about fast coaches between Malaga (our airport of arrival) and Granada, and whether/how you can book them in advance, any information woukd be gratefully receied ...
Well I fucked up royally on getting there in 2007
, but this time we're all sorted! If anyone knows anything about fast coaches between Malaga (our airport of arrival) and Granada, and whether/how you can book them in advance, any information woukd be gratefully receied ...
strummerville
vinyl lover
Hire a car (cheap) or get the train. Spain has a v good and cheap train network.
We're looking into trains too, but a hire car is out, as we have a lift lined up from Granada to the fest
At this stage we just need to get between Malaga and Granada.
lighterthief
Well-Known Member
Fairly sure you can get a bus. Yep.We're looking into trains too, but a hire car is out, as we have a lift lined up from Granada to the fest
At this stage we just need to get between Malaga and Granada.
Cheers --I'm getting more information from a contact in Madrid who seems to know the coaches score as well. Oh and Stanley Edwards of this very site (resident of Granada!) has sent me some more. Tis all good.
I'll have pix and reports zenes ....
Shame you can't make it this time tho'
Shame you can't make it this time tho'
Mooncat
Hug me - I'm vaccinated
The bus is really cheap in Spain. Cost something like 7 Euros from Granada airport to Orgiva.
Sadly can't make it this year due to prior commitments but it is one of, if not the best festival I've been to. Nice chilled out green field one side then proper tekno chaos the other.
My advice to you all is:
Take loads of water - there are natural springs on the way down. The best one is near the petrol station between Langaron and Orgiva. The one on site takes an hour to fill your water-butt
Take goggles and face mask - its on a dry river bed so if the wind gets up its a nightmare - we were eating grit-stew for 3 days.
Search out the serviços compostos (compost toilets) there are 2 or 3 on site and its far better than squatting in the woods.
Check out the after party at the hot-springs in Santa Fe. A giant hot-bath with all your mates. Might well be able to make this if I pull my finger out.
Enjoy you lucky bastards!
Sadly can't make it this year due to prior commitments but it is one of, if not the best festival I've been to. Nice chilled out green field one side then proper tekno chaos the other.
My advice to you all is:
Take loads of water - there are natural springs on the way down. The best one is near the petrol station between Langaron and Orgiva. The one on site takes an hour to fill your water-butt
Take goggles and face mask - its on a dry river bed so if the wind gets up its a nightmare - we were eating grit-stew for 3 days.
Search out the serviços compostos (compost toilets) there are 2 or 3 on site and its far better than squatting in the woods.
Check out the after party at the hot-springs in Santa Fe. A giant hot-bath with all your mates. Might well be able to make this if I pull my finger out.
Enjoy you lucky bastards!
Can't do the afterparty, but thanks for that other advice
The take lots of water thing has been advised to me already ... several times ...
The Dragon website claims to be laying on many more toilets this year, to appease disgruntled residents near the site ....
The take lots of water thing has been advised to me already ... several times ...
The Dragon website claims to be laying on many more toilets this year, to appease disgruntled residents near the site ....
Cool pix ... I hope to be taking loads myself this year
... I hope to be taking loads myself this year
Mooncat
Hug me - I'm vaccinated
Can't do the afterparty, but thanks for that other advice
The take lots of water thing has been advised to me already ... several times ...
The Dragon website claims to be laying on many more toilets this year, to appease disgruntled residents near the site ....
Yeah it was pretty bad. You get a lot of weekend warriors who just don't give a shit where they take a shit. There was loads of rubbish left over too.
Spent a couple of months on site last year as its basically a traveller site in the sun. Loads of English ex-pats and its practically a grave-yard for Dodge vans.
Shame you can't stay around longer as there's some other cool sites nearby. Teepee valley is worth a visit if you need a lentil massage massage and your chakra re-plumbing
Mooncat
Hug me - I'm vaccinated
Cool pix
I lunched out the camera as per usual.
If you follow the river up-stream there's this huge weir and loads of caves that were used in the Spanish civil war that's worth a look. The Anarchists got proper fucked by (at the time new) mobile artillery.
This time next week we'll be heading for Spain!!!
<getting excited
>
22C and Sunny in Malaga** in the coming days .... lets hope that holds!
**nearest weather station I could find on the BBC five day forecasts
<getting excited
>22C and Sunny in Malaga** in the coming days .... lets hope that holds!
**nearest weather station I could find on the BBC five day forecasts
The traditional W of W pre-festival weather check (just getting into practice like! )
BBC 5 dayer for Malaga (nearest BBC station to Granada)
and 22C, Friday and Saturday ....
We fly out tomorrow morning!!! Luton to Malaga, Easyjet, hmmm ... first flight since 2002 ....
)BBC 5 dayer for Malaga (nearest BBC station to Granada)
We fly out tomorrow morning!!! Luton to Malaga, Easyjet, hmmm ... first flight since 2002 ....
Finally found a forecast specifically for Orgiva
Rain (quite light) will be over by Thursday evening. Nicer after that, especially Sunday and Monday, but not nearly as warm as Malaga, and pretty chilly at night, good job we've brought plenty of layers
It'll be a grand party whatever
Rain (quite light) will be over by Thursday evening. Nicer after that, especially Sunday and Monday, but not nearly as warm as Malaga, and pretty chilly at night, good job we've brought plenty of layers
It'll be a grand party whatever
Vack from Spain now!
As mad and chaotic festivals go, that was theest I've been to in many many years
Very much a case of more later. I have shedloads of pix, not all of them vehicle porrn and I will sort something out when I get my shit together .... whenever that might be ...
As mad and chaotic festivals go, that was the
est I've been to in many many years Very much a case of more later. I have shedloads of pix, not all of them vehicle porrn
and I will sort something out when I get my shit together .... whenever that might be ...
I posted a version of this on efestivals yesterday ....
Fantatic festival all round, Deb and I seriously enjoyed it. Pix to follow next week. Warning : these may include vehicle porrn ... the site was a haven for live in vehicles (very many of them, especially on the permanent Travellers area of the site) of UK origin and some very nicely painted up.
The vehicles and the DIY aspects of so many of the stalls and signage, and the chaotic and free and easy atmosphere (yet generally safe and friendly) was a bit of a nostalgia trip for this ageing festographer -- it all brought back strong memories of Stonehenge 84 -- updated with multiple sound systems. I have not been to such a wild and old school free festival for many many years in the UK.
I was pleased to find that an efestival contact, purlpower, was half of the Hicksters who played the Green Dragon stage on Sunday, she was the musical partner/friend of a very good old friend/musical collaborator of my brother, when they both were very active in Cambridge's thriving acoustic/folk scene. Meeting him by chance was quite freaky as well. That was a very nice set by the Hicksters, purlpower's voice was excellent and Rick is a very accomplished guitarist.
There was plenty of good stuff like that in the on the live stage in the Green Dragon Field (including the seriosuly rude and shouty Cunning Stunts, Brummie punks! ). But our favourite spot was the Aqua Libre area next door, with a CIDER bar (in fact a bus!) to make us feel more at home, various interesting ciders (including English Traditional perry and a local Spanish cider) served out of barrels at amazingly cheap prices, and the sounds from the cider bar's sound system included lots of old style rock and roll, ska, reggae, roots, punk, cheesy pop tunes, all more danceable than the more in yer face techno further down the main drag
Plenty of techno of various kinds for the Teknival heads -- large numbers of vehicles from the UK, France, Eastern Europe and Spain setting up their rigs ... they were kicking off big time on Friday night especially.
Being old farts though, we tended to hang out at the live stage opposite the Aqua Libre bar, this was generally pretty good, very Avalon Stage like in atmosphere and band style -- our favourite one was a great Irish frantic folk band, name never caught, on Sunday evening.
Lots of English people about, I'd guess as much as between 30% and 40% -- not unexpected cos many of the organisers are English folks from the Travellers site or from Orgiva and nearby villages. Most signs bilingual. With zero Spanish between us, Deb and I were relieved by this ease of communication -- nice to be able to get a fried veggie breakfast and a cup of tea too! The Green Dragon field Geko Cafe was the best of many good food outlets. My only regret was that I never tried the Paella Vegetal at a different stall. And if you see Falafelicious at any UK festival, try them, their Falafel wraps were the business and very filling!
On a basic note there was PLENTY of choice of all sorts of intoxicants as well as the cider, at very cheap prices, including people (English, inevitably) selling Special Brew from slabs on the main path or from the back of vans, at 1Eur. a can ... Spanish wine and Spanish lager even cheaper! Not to mention the more exotic ... bit of a supermercado if you see what I mean.
Assuming this festival returns next year (there may just possibly I'd speculate be erm legal issues, we were told by someone who's been there several times) I'd recommend it thoroughly, but make sure you do all the responsible stuff with litter, recycling, using the compost toilets, care with fires! etc. Take or buy lots of water, it got quite hot at times ... take lots of layers, it got pretty cold at night. And be prepared for a wilder atmosphere than you might be used to at more conventional festies .. tis all pretty safe though.
Weather was lovely a lot of the time, warm and sunny, but also fearsomely windy/dusty on Saturday afternoon, and very cold at night especially Sunday night.
I should also add that the valley in which this festival happened is absolutely beautiful -- superb views of the snow capped Sierra Nevada mountains, and a fantastic walk to be had up to the top of the valley where the dam and caves that Mooncat mentioned can be found ...
Fantatic festival all round, Deb and I seriously enjoyed it. Pix to follow next week. Warning : these may include vehicle porrn ... the site was a haven for live in vehicles (very many of them, especially on the permanent Travellers area of the site) of UK origin and some very nicely painted up.
The vehicles and the DIY aspects of so many of the stalls and signage, and the chaotic and free and easy
atmosphere (yet generally safe and friendly) was a bit of a nostalgia trip for this ageing festographer -- it all brought back strong memories of Stonehenge 84 -- updated with multiple sound systems. I have not been to such a wild and old school free festival for many many years in the UK.I was pleased to find that an efestival contact, purlpower, was half of the Hicksters who played the Green Dragon stage on Sunday, she was the musical partner/friend of a very good old friend/musical collaborator of my brother, when they both were very active in Cambridge's thriving acoustic/folk scene. Meeting him by chance was quite freaky as well. That was a very nice set by the Hicksters, purlpower's voice was excellent and Rick is a very accomplished guitarist.
There was plenty of good stuff like that in the on the live stage in the Green Dragon Field (including the seriosuly rude and shouty Cunning Stunts, Brummie punks!
). But our favourite spot was the Aqua Libre area next door, with a CIDER bar (in fact a bus!) to make us feel more at home, various interesting ciders (including English Traditional perry and a local Spanish cider) served out of barrels at amazingly cheap prices, and the sounds from the cider bar's sound system included lots of old style rock and roll, ska, reggae, roots, punk, cheesy pop tunes, all more danceable than the more in yer face techno further down the main drag Plenty of techno of various kinds for the Teknival heads -- large numbers of vehicles from the UK, France, Eastern Europe and Spain setting up their rigs ... they were kicking off big time on Friday night especially.
Being old farts though, we tended to hang out at the live stage opposite the Aqua Libre bar, this was generally pretty good, very Avalon Stage like in atmosphere and band style -- our favourite one was a great Irish frantic folk band, name never caught, on Sunday evening.
Lots of English people about, I'd guess as much as between 30% and 40% -- not unexpected cos many of the organisers are English folks from the Travellers site or from Orgiva and nearby villages. Most signs bilingual. With zero Spanish between us, Deb and I were relieved by this ease of communication -- nice to be able to get a fried veggie breakfast and a cup of tea too! The Green Dragon field Geko Cafe was the best of many good food outlets. My only regret was that I never tried the Paella Vegetal at a different stall. And if you see Falafelicious at any UK festival, try them, their Falafel wraps were the business and very filling!
On a basic note there was PLENTY of choice of all sorts of intoxicants as well as the cider, at very cheap prices, including people (English, inevitably) selling Special Brew from slabs on the main path
or from the back of vans, at 1Eur. a can ... Spanish wine and Spanish lager even cheaper! Not to mention the more exotic ... bit of a supermercado if you see what I mean.Assuming this festival returns next year (there may just possibly I'd speculate be erm legal issues, we were told by someone who's been there several times) I'd recommend it thoroughly, but make sure you do all the responsible stuff with litter, recycling, using the compost toilets, care with fires! etc. Take or buy lots of water, it got quite hot at times ... take lots of layers, it got pretty cold at night. And be prepared for a wilder atmosphere than you might be used to at more conventional festies .. tis all pretty safe though.
Weather was lovely a lot of the time, warm and sunny, but also fearsomely windy/dusty on Saturday afternoon, and very cold at night especially Sunday night.
I should also add that the valley in which this festival happened is absolutely beautiful -- superb views of the snow capped Sierra Nevada mountains, and a fantastic walk to be had up to the top of the valley where the dam and caves that Mooncat mentioned can be found ...
