Information about Spark’s Home Town
When on a school languages trip to Spark, you’ll spend most of your time in the beautiful town of El Puerto de Santa Maria , or just El Puerto for short. Its name means “The Port of Saint Mary” in Spanish, and this small city is a cosy retreat away from the tourism and bustle of larger cities. Here are a few interesting facts about El Puerto.
- El Castillo de San Marcos, shown above, was built in the 10th century and was originally a mosque in the Muslim village Al-Qanatif. Over the centuries, it has served as a castle, a church and a town hall.
- Approximately 88,000 people live in El Puerto.
- The magnificent Royal Bullring in the Plaza de Toros is over 60 metres across and can seat 12,000 people. It has a superb reputation — film star Joselito once said, “Whoever hasn’t seen a bull fight in El Puerto doesn’t know what a day at a bull fight really is.”
- It is said that famous explorer Christopher Columbus lived in El Puerto for a few years and set off for his second voyage to the Americas from the port.
- The Río Guadalete, which flows through the town into Cadiz Bay, is 157 km long and provides drinking water for a million people across Spain.
- El Puerto has five different beaches which stretch along 16 km of the coast.
- The patron saint of the town is La Virgen de los Milagros, the Virgin of Miracles. On 8 September, her holy day, there is a huge profession through the town, where bearers carry an efigy of the Virgin on a flower-decked float to the Iglesia Mayor Priorial in the Plaza España.
Please don’t hesitate to consider our school group tours to Spain. Lessons in our school trips can be catered exactly to your group’s needs. Customise your own tour here.