A FEAST for all the senses is guaranteed in Mallorca this Easter with the annual wine festival and seasonal food markets.
Pollença is home to a huge fair held in the stunning grounds of the Claustre del Convent where local tipples are poured for visitors and literally hundreds, from the young, cheaper varieties to vintages, are on sale.
Someliers, oenologists and amateur wine connoisseurs from all over Europe will be attending.
This all happens at a time when shops across Spain fill with delicious Easter treats, and many of these - home-made, of course - will be on sale in food markets in Mallorca whilst the wine festival is going on, as well as in other towns and villages along mainland Spain's coasts.
Cakes, chocolate and other confectionery soaked in wine and honey mean Easter in Spain is a sweet and succulent banquet, whilst the sombre fiesta parades on Good Friday and the triumphant Reencuentro when the resurrected Jesus Christ reunites with the Virgin Mary on Easter Sunday, means the entire country is a hive of activity over the holidays.
Fiestas and food are some of the main reasons, along with hot summers and mild, sunny winters, for northern Europeans to buy holiday homes in Spain - and in the unlikely event they become jaded with the Easter celebrations, this can be a lucrative time to rent out a property in the country so that visitors can experience a real Spanish festival.
Easter week is celebrated in Sevilla with more pomp and circumstance than anywhere else in the country, and holidaymakers will be surrounded by all those flashy and fabulous stereotypes of red polka-dot dresses, flamenco dancers and castanets.
And food is not limited to Easter, of course - if your holiday home is anywhere near the coast, you're guaranteed wall-to-wall fresh fish restaurants and fish counters in supermarkets and indoor markets easily four times the size of those in a typical UK store and with infinitely more variety, including many you may not even know the English names for as they will be completely new to you.
One of the best side-effects of the financial crisis has been restaurants dropping their prices in a bid to draw in customers and attract tourists to Spain, meaning sumptuous meals made with fresh, local produce are comfortably affordable for holidaymakers.
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