BERLIN SHERRY IN MAY MERRY I’M SPARTACUS TAKE FIRED UP THE TOURS

France will also cast off its (chic and quite expensive, actually) winter coat in the next few weeks. And what will it replace it with? Yes, leather tunics, chainmail and some sort of warpaint. Obviously. The Great Roman Games (arenes-nimes.com) will take over the ancient amphitheatre in Nîmes from April 28 for three days of chariot racing, gladiator battles and swarthy men acting out their Russell Crowe fantasies. France is such an expert at sipping wine that it can do it with its eyes shut while riding a unicycle backwards up Mont Blanc. Still, that won’t be necessary at the Viti Loire festival (vitiloire.tours. fr), which, held in Tours, will honour the best plonk and produce of the Loire Valley via cycle rides and food stalls, on the weekend of May 27-28. Could there be anything more gloriously incongruous than a festival pinned firmly to Mexican folklore being held in the American Rockies? That the Colorado capital Denver has a Cinco de Mayo bonanza (cincodemayodenver.com; May 5-6) is remarkable. That this year’s is the 32nd edition is a reason to be cheerful. Who doesn’t love a mariachi band? Spain serenades summer’s mid-point, id-point, too, not least in the Galician city La Coruña, a, which marks the arrival of John the Baptist’s feast day in just the way any biblical prophet would uld want – by piling hills of discarded wood onto its ts beaches, and torching them in a pyromania a frenzy (nights of June 23-24; hoguerassanjuan.com). n.com). Health and safety? Not much. Fun and frivolity? ivolity? In spades. What makes a cultural festival go g with a swing? Flamboyant costumes? All right, go on then. Flamenco dancing? dan That would be nice. Sherry? Oh y yes, now we’re talking. So it’s buenos dias Spain, and hola to the annual Seville F Fair (April 15-21; visitasevilla.es/en/history/ visitasevilla.es/en/h feria-de-abril), which revels in all a these things – but particularly the latter. latt artist Donald Judd in Marfa. Discover more about the Texan town at telegraph.co.uk/ marfa-texasdonald-judd