Semana Santa is Spanish for holy week. Every day, churches have parades in which huge sculptures representing the Easter story are paraded through the streets of the town. My family and I were invited to visit the family of my sister's spanish boyfriend during this time, thus, getting to witness a Spanish Easter first hand.
One of our first stops was Seville. The Plaza de Espana (pictured above) is a beautiful town square surrounded by government buildings. The boats on the river and decorative bridges made it look like a little bit of Venice in the middle of spain! Tiled mosaics around the outside show all of Spain's provinces, hence the name 'Spanish Square'.
We also visited the Alcazar of Seville, a royal palace still used today. It's moorish roots are very clear in the beautiful architecture, similar to that of the Alhambra Palace in Granada. The gardens are also lovely, with lots of different courtyards and corners to explore. I'm afraid I couldn't choose which picture I liked the best for this one!
Sadly, the parades in Seville were cancelled that day, due to the rain. Various cancellations happened all week and the news showed the people of Spain were distraught. To be involved in a parade is a great honour and different people are chosen every year, so it is a once in a lifetime opportunity. The people who were chosen for the cancelled parades were understandably wailing with sadness as they may never get the opportunity to be part of an Easter parade again.
No comments:
Post a Comment