Long time no blog, again. Sorry for laxness!
Seville and Gran Canarias 20-29 April
My American Friend and I went to the south of Spain, Seville, for Holy Week (Easter Week), and almost a week in Gran Canarias. Holy Week (
Semana Santa) is celebrated throughout Spain, but especially in Seville. They have processions from each Catholic brotherhood from their church to the main Cathedral and back again, carrying various floats hundreds of years old, depicting the life and death of Jesus. This meant six or seven daily processions of up to 2000 people dressed like the kkk, carrying the figurines, with a band and incense in the narrow streets of the city centre throughout the day/night for the whole week.
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City Centre in Seville It's very charming, with lots of these small streets, sometimes opening up onto plazas with outdoor cafes |
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| Isn't this the most adorable couple ever? |
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| Creepy, eh? |
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| One of the many Stained Windows Within the Cathedral |
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| Vaults in the Cathedral, Seville |
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| One of the many Side Altars in the Cathedral |
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| Crazy Gold Wall several Stories High, Showing the Life, Death and Resurrection of Christ |
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| One of the Necklaces in the Cathedral's Treasure Rooms |
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| Many Religious/ Political Relics in the Treasure Room |
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| Amazing View of the Cathedral from one of its Towers |
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| View of the rest of the City |
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| Another Exhibition Room inside the Cathedral. Seriously it's huge. |
We saw processions on Wednesday (when we arrived) and it rained all until Saturday, before clearing up for Easter Sunday. The processions were all cancelled for the days that it rained, because the figurines were hundreds of years old, and couldn't be risked.
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Procession on Wednesday:
A few were barefoot, wearing black and pointy hats to signify repentence |
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Look at the length of the line! I couldn't see the end of it.
This brotherhood had around 2000 people in the parade |
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The different colours of their robes represent the different brotherhoods.
They're holding red candles |
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| They look scary... |
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| They have this thing about collecting wax from the candles. Sometimes people watching the parade would beg for a few drops of wax from the passing procession |
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The first figurine that I saw
As it passed, the masses of people fell quiet and stared at it passing by
You could only hear the band playing a dramatic melody |
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Rows of people marching past behind the float (in the band)
They play pretty spectacular music |
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| The same figurine making its round through a different spot in the city. Note how many people there are! The roads are completely blocked, and many businesses were closed, except for bars and restaurants |
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Another Figurine being Carried
It was nigh impossible to walk through the city centre, because so many processions blocked the paths.
A simple ten minute walk could take up to an hour... It got quite frustrating by the end of the night
By the way, all these pictures of the processions (save the last one) come from Wednesday late afternoon. It was raining for almost the rest of the time |
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Close up of another Figure
They had lovely fresh flowers |
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| Many of the Floats were on Display within Certain Churches when it was Raining |
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| Each of the Details of the Floats is Amazing. They put fresh, unblemished Flowers on many |
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The Crowds gathering for the Easter Sunday Processions after three days of Rain
The little girls expression is priceless! haha |
The best thing we did during the rain, was watch to watch a Flamenco Show at night. It was amazing, with great footwork and elaborate dresses with various props, like fans
albanicos, shawls, etc.
Many orange trees line the streets of the city. I wanted to try a Sevillian orange so badly that my friend and I managed to knock an orange off after half an hour of jumping up and down whacking the tree with umbrellas like idiots. It looked good and smelled nice and citrusy, but was terribly bitter and gross =( So don't attempt it if you are ever in Seville!
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| Yipee! |
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It had spots for each city/town in Spain surround the Plaza.
I spent the most time around the Pamps section, of course! |
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| Awesome tiles on the way up the buildings in the Plaza, as always |
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| Cool Art, even on their bin |
There is an interesting custom in Seville, of convents selling sweets, of which the most famous is el Convento de San Leandro, and their signature sweet Yemas de San Leandro (Egg Yolk Sweet). It's a cooked egg yolk in a sugary coat.
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| You head inside the convent, and see this lazy susan at the end of an inner courtyard |
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| You ring the bell, a nun comes and you tell her your order (behind the lazy susan, you never see her), and then put in money, spin the lazy susan and get your order, Yum! |
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| I didn't get good shots of the sweets, so here is one after you bite it open =) |
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| Amazing Beach and Palm Trees From the North of the Islands of Gran Canarias, Isleta |
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| Sunset on the Beach was Amazing, The waves raised a mist in the background against the mountains |
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Candy Store along the Boardwalk!
The Spaniards sure love their candy and snacks! |
There's heaps of typical foods and drink from Seville and Gran Canarias. My favourite drinks from Seville were Pedro Ximénez (a super sweet sheery) which tasted like honey and raisins; and Honey Rum in Gran Canarias - both dessert wines! It's funny that ordering manzanilla in Pamplona means herbal tea, when manzanilla in a bar in Seville would be a sherry.
I definitely enjoyed the variety of cuisine in Gran Canarias, with Indian, Lebanese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean food, etc. First thing was Chinese food with glutinous rice which made me really happy. Then Japanese for the first time in half a year. After the lack of variety in Pamps, it was heaps cool.
Gazpacho or
Salmorejo are really popular summer tomato soups typical of the south region of Spain. They're thick and given extra zing with raw onion/garlic. Served cold and yummy!
My religion class had an excursion for extra credit. So we went on a Saturday to a Monastery and listened to a monk talk about life in a monastery for an hour and a half =( It was weird listening to it in Spanish..
Then we visited the cathedral of a Spanish Jesuit Missionary who had gone to Japan. It was nothing special, but something pretty. Finally we had lunch together, and got to know some of the Spanish girls from class, which was cool. Remember, te quiero doesn't mean you like someone as friends, unless you say te quiero como amigos. haha Very interesting.
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Just outside the Monastery in Navarra after sitting inside the freezing church for an hour |
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Catedral de San Francisco Javier |
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Entrance to Catedral de San Francisco Javier |
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Detailing outside the Church de San Javier Francisco |
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Entrance to the Cathedral If anyone knows how to read latin, can you translate it? |
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Ben and Jerry's Day - Free Scoop of Ice Cream! 12 April Why don't we have this back home? |
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The brightest light is actually the moon, it was big, yellow and hanging the lowest I've ever seen Apparently my American friend calls it a harvest moon |
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Protest outside my Apartment Window, 13 May There was a bus with loudspeakers followed by these people on bikes |
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Another Protest, 13 May against the cutting of Government funds in the public health sector |
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Lovely Pot Plants outside some Apartments in Pamps |
Home Food Blog Section
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| Chorizo with Cauliflower and Spinach |
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| Fried Blood, Rice and Onion Sausage (Morcilla - Typical of the Region) on Bread |
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| Fried Perch with Pesto Spinach and Cauliflower |
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Everything in the fridge cooked together before 2 weeks holiday
Blackberry jam chicken, with chinese cabbage and olives |
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| Mushroom Risotto from a Packet after returning from the trip |
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| Coca Cola Chicken! |
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| My Uninspired Dish |
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Spaghetti Bolognaise
with chickpeas and cheese =) |
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Congee with Salty Duck Egg! yumyum
Though it is the weirdest one I've ever had - with Chickpeas and Onions |
