After spending a day in Seville it has become my favorite city in Spain. We couldn’t have had better timing because we were there during Feria de abril. It is an annual festival in April that has been tradition in Seville since 1847. It’s a celebration of the culture including the cattle, bullfighting, family, and flamenco in Andalucia. During the day we got to see many famous monuments in Seville including Plaza de Espana, Cathedral de Santa María de la Sede, Isabel II's Bridge that cross the Guadalquivir River, Plaza de Torros, and Torre de Oro. One of my favorite parts of the day was seeing the beautiful women of Spain around town wearing traditional flamenco dresses, Spanish jewelry, shawls, and flowers in their hair. I was envious of every girl I passed. They looked so beautiful and elegant in their festival attire.
During the night my favorite part was going to the Feria celebration. It was pouring down rain but it didn’t stop us from enjoying the fun. There were tons of circus like tents filled with people and twinkly lights strung between each tent. Sounds of laughter, flamenco music, and the Spanish language poured out of the tents. The city was so full of life and magical. The people gave off vibes of happiness, positivity, cheerfulness, sensuality, and cheer. It reminded me of my younger sister Lane and made me miss her.
I was in heaven when I got a chance to go inside one of the tents and watch men and women dance flamenco to live guitar. The movement of the dresses, the music, quality of dance, the power in their rhythmic stomping and clapping, and the intensity between the leads and follows gave me goose bumps. I crossed another goal off my Spain checklist- watch flamenco dancing. It was even better than I imagined because I got to see the style in its truest form where it was born in the south of Spain. As I checked one thing off my list, I’ve added another. I hope to have an opportunity to travel to Seville again and learn how to dance flamenco.
Cathedral de Santa María de la Sede
Plaza de Torros
Pepe Luis Vazquez Statue
What a macho man
Alex y yo infront of the Plaza de Torros
Girls in flamenco dresses
Torre de Oro
The blurryness adds to the artistic photograph, right?
La Plaza de Espana
Girls in flamenco dresses at La Plaza de Espana
I was very jealous by this point
I was very jealous by this point
Me in the Santander section of Plaza de Espana
A young flamenco girl
Luz
Flamenco dancers at Feria de Abril
The lighted arch at Feria de Abril
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