With the bad weather soon properly behind us, this can only mean one thing: festival season is imminent. Be it a huge cheese, lingerie parties or a jazz train, Veronica Stivala chooses some of the best, original events across Europe this summer in the first part of a double feature.
Catania, Sicily, hosts a yoga festival next month.Sun salutation
What: Yoga Festival
Where: Palazzo della Cultura, Catania, Sicily
When: May 23-25
Rebalance your mind, body and spirit while being kissed by the hot Sicilian sun.
Practise your downward-facing dog and humble warrior in the splendid setting of the 15th century Palazzo Platamone.
Now in its third edition, this festival has seen some top names in the yogi world and this year looks set to offer a veritable feel-good massage to the chakra with the likes of Monica Bertould from Paris, Philippe Djoharikian from Montpellier, Jayadev from Germany and the Italian Antonio Nuzzo, to name a few.
If May is too early or too hot for you, there are festivals later in the year in Rome (September) and Milan (October). Namaste.
www.yogafestival.it
Say cheese
What: Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling
Where: Brockworth, Gloucester, England
When: May 26
The origins of this daring dairy festival date back an almost unbelievable 200 years.
It makes sense though, considering that without internet, television or electricity, how did you entertain yourself other than chase a giant cheese down a 295-foot hill in the English countryside?
An international field of dare-devils compete, but there’s definitely an element of hometown pride at work; 20-something local legend Chris Anderson is often a fixture, having won 13 races.
To get the best view, stand at the bottom of the hill to watch the catchers – a squadron of rugby players or other locals deployed on scene to ‘catch’ or at least break the fall of those madly careening downhill by tackling them.
www.cheese-rolling.co.uk
Whisky lovers won’t want to miss the Speyside Festival, with more than 350 tipple-related events to choose from.Dram good
What: Speyside Festival
Where: Speyside Region, northeast Scotland
When: May 1-5
If savouring the smoky tang of a 28-year-old single malt Scotch tickles your fancy, or perhaps basking in the muscular peat notes of a 10-year-old Laphroaig, then the Speyside Festival is surely any whisky lover’s heaven.
Held annually during the first long weekend in May, the festival combines music and malt to produce a “mouth-watering cocktail of entertainment”.
The 350 events to choose from include a whisky and photography workshop, a Range Rover tour and of course a plethora of whisky-tasting sessions.
Get cracking if you’re interested; some events are already sold out.
www.spiritofspeyside.com
All that jazz
What: Montreaux Jazz Festival
Where: Montreaux, Switzerland
When: July 4-19
Although it’s called a jazz festival, this event really features any music with soul and pizzazz, as British singer-songwriters Amy MacDonald and Ed Sheernan bookend the billing.
From hip-hop to acid jazz, techno to indigenous African bands, this festival has it all and more: there are boats on the lake dedicated to salsa or samba, jazz trains and even a rock cave.
The lake is the beautiful Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps.
This festival attracts what can be described as a cosmopolitan crowd where taste, rather than money, is what matters.
A haven for any music lover, it features jazz workshops, jazz labs and jazz clubs. See the full programme online.
www.montreuxjazz.com
Audience members in the Dance Arena at Exit Festival in Novi Sad in 2011.No exit
What: Exit Festival
Where: Novi Sad, Serbia
When: July 9-13
Château d’If eat your heart out, this island fortress festival trumps you by far.
One of the most sought-after music festivals in the world, the Exit Festival not only boasts unparalleled musical offerings but one of the most impressively stunning locations – Novi Sad’s 17th century island fortress.
Add to the mix a healthy dose of radical politics and, hey presto, you’re set to exit.
The roots of Exit lie in a student organisation that established the first festival in 2000 as a means of protest against the sitting government under Slobodan Milosevic.
One of its star features is the ‘After 2am’ dance party held each night, featuring electronic acts performing until dawn. Headliners this year include Damon Albarn, Disclosure Live and Skrillex.
www.exitfest.org
Garden party
What: Secret Garden Party
Where: Abbots Ripton, England
When: July 24-27
Winston Churchill once said: “Some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their party.”
You might just do both for the Secret Garden Party.
Held on a lovely farm in Abbots Ripton near Huntingdon, the festival was started in 2004 as an alternative to the mainstream British festivals.
The Secret Garden Party has been best described as a surrealist summer camp for hedonists. Besides the musical stages, the lifeblood of the festival is ‘action camps’ where, erm... all the action takes place, from lingerie parties, a gypsy disco and reportedly a ‘pool of naked liberation’.
This year’s theme is ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’, so if you are sickened by commercial gigolos and the false promise of fame and fortune achievable only through wearing the right deodorant, the garden’s the place to go.
www.secretgardenparty.com