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GUADEC 2018 Almería Bid
Status: finished.
City presentation
Almería is a sunny, lovely city on the Southeast coast of Spain. Looking over the Mediterranean sea, the city was founded in 955 by Abd-ar-Rahman III, who ordered the construction of the famous Alcazaba (the Citadel), one of the largest moorish castles in all of Europe. The Alcazaba is said to be second only to Granada’s Alhambra. The modern city has grown over the hills that surround the Alcazaba, staying true to its visual and architectural tradition.
Almería is also the administrative capital of the homonymous province and part of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia. The region is famous for its prolific production of vegetables, having over 100000 acres of greenhouses in the Poniente province. Almería also hosts scientific research facilities like the Calar Alto Astronomy Observatory, the Almería Solar Platform and the Experimental Station of Arid Zones.
The city has about 195000 inhabitants who are welcoming to visitors and always happy to enjoy the city's excellent weather with a vibrant day and night life. Some famous almerians are Nicolás Salmerón y Alonso, the third president of the first Spanish Republic; musicians such as Antonio de Torres, considered the father of the modern Spanish guitar; José Padilla, best known as “Maestro Padilla”, Manolo Escobar; and more recently José Fernández Torres “Tomatito” -one of the best flamenco guitarists in the world-; and David Bisbal, the famous pop singer.
Almería is also famous for its popularity with the filmmaking industry. A good number of world famous films have been shot in the incomparable and varied landscapes and towns of the province. Since the sixties, Almería has attracted an enormous amount of films, commercial video and videoclips. Recent films like Exodus and TV series like Game of Thrones or Penny Dreadful have filmed here.
Aldous Huxley visited Almería in 1929. He was so taken by Almería that he wrote a sonnet about it:
Winds have no moving emblems here, bud scour
A vacant darkness, un untempered ligth;
No branches bend, never a tortured flower
Shudders, root-weary, on the verge of fligth;
Winged future, withered past, no seeds nor leaves
Attest those swift invisible feet: they run
Free through a naked land, whose breast recived
All the fierce ardour of a naked sun.
You have the Ligth for lover. Fortunate Earth!
Conceive the fruit of his divine desire.
But the dry dust is all she brings to birth,
That child of clay by even celestial fire.
Then come, soft rain and tender clouds, abate
This shining love that has the force of hate.
As a reference you can check the Almería map we created for the PyConES 2016 conference regarding city infrastructure and places (in Spanish, sorry).
Proposal of organization model
Based in our recent experience hosting big conferences like PyConES 2016 and Akademy 2017, we have organically developed and iterated an organization model that keep tasks and responsibilities clear for both the local team and the organizations.
Venue description
Description and details of the venue
Accommodation
The proposed main hosting site is the university dormitory.
But the city has other hotel offers.
Travel to Almería
Description of alternatives for travelling to Almería
Social and tourism in Almería
Visiting Almería is a great opportunity to enjoy some tourism with different landscapes and weathers, all less than 100km away from the city.
We are also proposing a set of evening social activities for the best possible GUADEC experience.
Budget estimations
An approximation to the possible conference budget
Recent organizative experience
We recently organized PyConES 2016 and Akademy 2017, we know the work 
Local community group
Final considerations
It's important to remark the campus best availability is in July. In August the campus is closed for holidays (as is almost any non-touristic business in Spain). We think it will be not a problem for GUADEC. Other options to consider, if needed, are the last weeks of June and the first of September.
As the GNOME community knows, celebrating GUADEC in Spain is something recurrent and we want to contribute to this commitment too. Our city is modest but modern and equipped with everything a conference assistant could need, and our installations, specially at the university campus, fits well for these activities. Add to this our lovely non-massive touristic opportunities.
And take in account the recent experience we gathered on the organization of big opensource developers conferences.
And if you believe Almería, being at the South of Spain, can be very hot... well, maybe it is, but probably not as you expect. Other cities in Andalucía, far from the sea, can be really hot by day with 40 ºC or more and hot enough by night it can be hard to sleep. But being at the seaside our temperatures are always smoothed by the Mediterranean sea. Its weather is similar to places like Málaga, Barcelona, Alicante or Mallorca, who receive millions of tourists each year ;-).
Give yourself an opportunity to fall in love with Almería