A Trip to Andalucía for Holy Week (Semana Santa): Part 1--Sevilla

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An AmeriCorps friend and her boyfriend came to Spain for vacation during Holy Week, and I headed to Sevilla to meet them. I took a twelve-hour overnight Alsa bus from Ourense to Sevilla, on which I got much less sleep than anticipated (lots of stops including two half-hour stops where we had to get off the bus). But when I arrived to blue-skied, colorful Sevilla, with the help of a “manchao” (manchado—literally “stained”, but meaning milk stained with coffee), I rallied.



After dropping bags off at my AirBNB, I went to the train station to rendezvous with my friends. Over the next few days, as the streets became increasingly full of tourists, we took in Sevilla. Sevilla hosts some of the most popular Semana Santa festivities. Members of ‘hermandades’ (church brotherhoods) do processions throughout the city. “Processions” in this sense are groups of men carrying antique, valuable floats of either Jesus or the Virgin Mary. Typically there are also people dressed in gowns with hoods carrying candles, and sometimes there are bands or singers who sing in an a cappella ‘saeta’ style, which has a soulful flamenco sound. Watching the floats go into and out of churches and even turn is cool because the 20-30 men carrying them have to be coordinated, and are essentially walking blindly from under the float.



My favorite experiences in Sevilla aside from the processions were going to a flamenco show at La Carbonería (really neat place even without flamenco), visiting the Museo de Bellas Artes, and strolling around the neighborhood of Santa Cruz. The other ‘major’ sights we went to were Plaza de España, the Cathedral, and Triana. A quick note that Christopher Columbus’s tomb is in the Cathedral. We hypothesized that much of the gold on the floats and in the Cathedral was taken from the New World which he introduced Spain to. For me, Sevilla was (expectedly) crazy, but it was great to be able to see the processions. I think many Sevillanos leave the city during Semana Santa because their city basically turns into chaos. For me, the processions were really impressive, but I hated having to fight to get anywhere, either to see processions or just to walk through the city, especially in the evening.



I think if I were going during Semana Santa in the future, I would go Tuesday through Thursday, and then head to Ronda or Cordoba. Some of the most interesting/important processions happen Thursday night into Friday (“Madruga”), but if you see some you’ve seen them all, because it just gets more and more crowded. Another consideration is that Thursday, Friday, and Sunday almost all stores are closed, so if you’re planning to buy stuff from the grocery store, or do any shopping, you should plan to go on either the Wednesday or Saturday. The city’s sights are spread out, but it’s really flat and walkable. A very detailed map or active internet on your cellphone are a necessity due to the winding streets with names that change every couple of blocks, especially when you have to detour because streets are blocked for paying procession viewers.



See Part 2 to learn about the rest of our trip!

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Photos

Macarena, Sevilla
Church that's home to Virgen de la Macarena, one of the most famous hermandades. You can see some of the old city walls that remain.

Macarena, Sevilla
Church that's home to Virgen de la Macarena, one of the most famous hermandades

Plaza near Museo de Bellas Artes
Statue of Murillo

Comments

[Kitat]

The Real Alcazar
You can't go to Seville and not see the Real Alcazar. One of the top sights in Sevilla. Beautiful building and lovely gardens

[Loora]

Real Alcazar
Oooops! Yeah, we skipped it, knowing that we were going to the Alhambra in Granada. But when I'm back in Sevilla, and there are fewer crowds, and I have more money, I'll have to check it out! :-)