Seville Day 1 - Semana Santa

If you are in Seville during the Semana Santa week, its almost impossible to miss the sheer excitement in the city. Its almost like the whole city comes to the halt for the evening procession.

So what is “Semana Santa”? “Semana Santa” means “Holy Week”. Starting with Palm Sunday, the last week of Lent leading up to Easter Sunday is a pretty big deal in Spain, but especially in Seville. Even if you aren’t religious, it is impossible to miss the incredible celebrations.

What’s the celebration about?  So the churches have hermandades (“brotherhoods”), which are like religious organizations/clubs that people can join. In Seville, the 55 or so brotherhoods take part in the processions carrying over 105 pasos (floats) that carry imageries of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, the Saints, etc. The icons are cared for all year long and then during Semana Santa they’re carried through the streets in grand parades/processions. The processions are managed by the city, which sets very specific schedules and provides other kinds of preparation and assistance, including police officers, barricades, blocking off streets and public transportation, etc.

How to view it? First thing to do is choose a procession to try and see, and then try to get there early so you can get a good spot. In some areas, we saw stadium-style seats which I am told are booked in advance and are pretty expensive. Husband and I were pretty tired due to the 300 am start and we didn’t intend to see the full procession. So we found a spot near the cathedral but it was a free spot – meaning people could just stand on the road and view the procession pass. It important to go a bit in advance of the schedule because by the time of the procession, it was pretty packed.

The Marching Order – We noticed that in the procession, the first thing was the Cruz de Guía (the guiding cross) and then followed the ‘nazarenos’. These are people that march in front of the pasos, and are members of the brotherhood who have volunteered to do this. Some carry small crosses or rosaries, candles, and some even hand out candy to kids that are in the crowds watching them pass by.

The nazarenos wear long robes and capirotes: pointed caps, along with hoods that cover their faces, except where there are slits for their eyes. The colour can vary with the brotherhood but we mostly saw either black or white. It can invoke an image of the Ku Klux Klan however let me reassure that there is no connection whatsoever. The people who wear the capirotes are respected for their religious devotion and commitment.

Then comes the “paso” – am image or a set of images set up on a movable wooden float. The structure is richly carved, ornately decorated, colorful, covered with flowers and magnificent to the viewer. Most hermandades have a paso with Jesus, and one with Mary, but some have an additional paso depicting a scene from the Bible. Many of these pasos are kept on display inside their churches so they can be enjoyed throughout the year.

The pasos were moving and stopping at intervals and that is when we realized that they weren’t actually moving on wheels. They were actually carried by members of the hermandades! I later found out that the pasos usually weigh around 4,000 pounds and between 25 and 50 people, called costaleros, carry the pasos on their back and shoulders. People volunteer to do this job! The team of men called the costaleros (literally "sack men", for their distinctive - and functional - headdress), supporting the beams upon their shoulders and necks, lift, move and lower the paso. As they are all inside the structure and hidden from the external view by a curtain, the paso seems to move by itself. 

As each procession leaves its home church, (an event known as the salida), at its return (the entrada), and along the march route, improvised flamenco-style songs may be offered by individuals in the crowd or from a balcony. These songs are generically calledsaetas (arrows). The high point of the procession is when the float exits and enters the respective church. 

For the people of Seville, it was generally just a time to be social. Kids enjoy holding out their hands to try and get candy from the nazarenos. The entire scene is alive with colour and sound, thanks to the polychromatic variety of tunics, hoods, ensigns and banners, in short, its one of a kind of experience.

The marching band

Nazarenos

Pasos

Seville Day 1 - Will the Real Alcazar please stand up !

By now, it was well past 300 pm and we managed to claim our right to the room. As we were heading out, we stopped by the reception to pick up a city centre map but mostly to see if we can get a few tips on where we can stand to get a perfect glimpse of the evening Semana Santa procession. During half english and half dumb-charades type banter, she told us that the ticket line to the Real Alcazar is usually massive and it’s important to book it online, we promptly agreed her advice and later found out how true it was.

Originally founded as a fort governors of Seville in 913, the Alcázar has been expanded or reconstructed many times in its existence. The history goes that in the 11th century, Seville’s prosperous Muslim rulers developed the original fort by building a palace called Al-Muwarak. Later on, in the 12th-century, the Almohad rulers added another palace. However, in 1248, the Christian monarch, Fernando III captured Seville and moved into the Alcázar. Fernando’s son then replaced much of the Almohad palace with a Gothic one. The credit for the best part of Alcazar however goes to Pedro who between 1364 and 1366 created the Alcázar’s crown jewel, the sumptuous Mudéjar Palacio de Don Pedro. Needless to say, this is a UNESCO world heritage site and the palace is still used by the Spanish royal family when they are in Seville

The palace can be entered from the Plaza del Triunfo through the Puerta del León or Lion's Gate. From the ticket office inside the Puerta del León (Lion Gate) you emerge into the Patio del León (Lion Patio), which was the start of the original Al-Muwarak palace. Off to the left of the Patio del León one can enter the Sala de Justica (“Hall of Justice”). This room was likely used as a residence of Peter I during the construction of his palace.  Also, it is said that Peter’s step-brother, Don Fadrique, was murdered in this room by order of Peter himself.

Passing through the rear arch of the Patio del León, one enters the heart of the complex which is called the Patio de la Montería.

Patios De La Monteria

Patios de la Monteria is named after the hunters (monteros) who met here with the King before they went out hunting. 

In front is the Palacio del Ray Pedro I de Castilla (“Palace of King Peter I of Castille”), built in 1364. On the left is the Palacio Gótico (“Gothic Palace”), built in the mid-13th century.  On the right is the Casa de la Contratación (“House of Trade”) where Columbus signed his contract with Queen Isabella.

At this point the husband needs a restroom break. It is extremely important that the husbands visits every bathroom at every place – be it a restaurant, a café, a theatre, a cinema or any other location so why leave out the Real Alcazar. Once the husband is back, we continue on the most magnificent part of the Alcazar - Palacio del Ray Pedro I

Palacio del Ray Pedro I

The Palace of King Don Pedro I starts with a facade which harmoniously marries Moorish features - horseshoe arches, Arabic lettering ("No one is victorious but Allah") - with Christian words (the very noble... Don Pedro... ordered ordered these Alcazares built"). It is amazing how the both co-exist.

Hall of Ambassadors – This was the main hall of the palace and the throne room of the king Pedro I. It’s a sqaure room similar to Muslin “Quba” where the square represents the earth and the dome represents the universe. A decoration of the combed muquarnas forming a star joins the square to the circle.

Patio De La Doncellas

The Courtyard of the Damsels was the centre of public area of the king Peter I palace. Its surrounded by the poly lobed arches, one of the most characteristic motifs of the Almohad dynasty. This was named for the legend that the Moorish rulers of Andalusia would demand 100 virgins from the Christian kingdoms each year.  This story was used to spur  the Christian reconquest of the Moorish territories that took place during the Middle Ages.

Patio de las Muñecas (“Court of the Dolls”)

Private life in the Palace of Pedro I revolved around the Patio de las Muñecas, which leads to the bedrooms and private halls. The small hall is enclosed by a gallery with marble columns and lobed arches. The name of the Patio de las Muñecas - Patio of the Dolls - is derived from four small heads that decorate one of the arches.

From the Mudéjar Palace we passed without realizing it into the Gothic Palace, and entered the Gothic Palace Chapel. From the palace we passed out into the massive Gardens of the Alcázar.

The Gardens

A visit to the Royal Alcazar also allows entry into the royal gardens. The expansive area is divided into a number of separate gardens some of which are terraced. 

The first thing that caught our eye was the lovely Pond of Mercury. It is said that the This pond was originally an irrigation reservoir that was fed by a Roman aqueduct!  In 1575, it was converted into a more decorative pool with a theme based on the Roman god Mercury, the messenger of the God.

From the pond you have a view over a walled-in section of the garden, laid out in a formal style. To the right of the pond are a number of smaller terraced gardens all connected to each other via gates and small staircases. The gardens are decorated with fountains, grottos, a labyrinth and even a small artificial mountain.

The arch is connected to a gallery - the Galeria del Grutesco - which was once part of the original Moorish palace. 

Mercury Pond with the Galeria del Grutesco in the background

Garden View from the Gallery 

All in all, the Alcazar is a must visit when you are in Seville and specially if you want to avoid going all the way to Granada to see the Alhambra. 

Few weeks later, when husband and I are watching Game Of Thrones season 6, we will get excited to see that the Alcazar gardens are the gallery are being used to show 'Dorne'.

Perhaps, this will make us go back again !

Seville Day 1 - Alice in wonderland

Metropol Parasol is the world’s largest wooden structure and stands tall in the ‘La Encarnacion Square’. It consists of six huge parasols and standing below them, I felt like I was enacting a scene from the Alice in Wonderland simply because the shape of the parasols resembles huge gigantic mushrooms. That is the reason, the Metropol Parasol is also referred to as ‘Las Setas’ which is the spanish word for mushrooms.

So the history goes that this square was a market place in the 19^th century and as the building got dilapidated, it was finally torn down in 1976. The first attempt in 1990 to redevelop the area was put to a halt as ancient ruins from Andalusian era were discovered during the construction. The second attempt began in 2005 with a view to create this unique wooden structure but soon it was discovered that the design was technically infeasible (does this remind us of India?). So the work again halted in 2007. Finally, a new technique using glue as reinforcement was used and finally the Metropol Parasol opened up in 2011 for the visitors after spending more than 100 million euros.

Ok, good, so I no longer find it bizarre that India needed a ridiculous 10 years to construct something like the Bandra-Worli sea link, there are others as well!

Although the people of Seville like to call it mushrooms, the husband and I liked to refer it as waffle due to Metropol’s interweaving waffle-like wooden panels that rise from concrete base to the crown. The ticket queue was surprisingly short and shockingly cheap – 3 euros per person to go to the top of the Metropol and it also includes a free drink!! I mean in London, they wouldn’t even let you step on the tube if your oyster card has that low balance, forget visiting a touristy site.

The lift in the Metropol Parasol will leave you at Level 2 which hosts the restaurant. The panoramic terrace starts from there and is simply amazing offering one of the best views of the city Centre. You can also see the top of the Seville Cathedral, from which this architecture was inspired. In the words of the architect, this is a ‘cathedral without walls’!

The husband and I were already elated due to the cheap entry ticket and the prospect of a free drink but we decided to behave like good tourists and walked around the entire walkway stopping and taking pictures, enjoying the views, soaking the shining sun and meanwhile thinking about the free sangria that was waiting for us.

After a full round, we were back at the restaurant. Finding a nice table outside on the terrace is crucial and only a person who has travelled during the peak time in a Mumbai local can do so. Some tips to finding a good table – be quick, be shameless, stand near the table where you can see the glasses almost empty and hedge your bets and get the husband to stand near another table. If you aren’t able to grab a good table, in either case, do sit down for a while and enjoy the city from above.

All in all, I felt that Metropol Parasol has a fantastic, daring, creative and inventive sculpture-like repetitive geometric plan, making it a must visit if you are in Seville! The parasols provide for shade, the game of light and shadows is definitely attention grabbing and unique and it’s a contemporary landmark merging the historical medieval city and the contemporary city beat! 

The view of Las Setas from the square

 

Level 1 - Market

Level 2 & 3 - The panoramic terrace

And on the sixth day, God created MANchester...

An unusual start to the weekend, I get up early, pack my bags, get ready and am off. The husband and I do the usual sprint to the train station. No matter what time we need to reach, we are always running and this is always how we start the holiday, so nothing quite unusual about this part.

The Virgin train is waiting for us at the Euston station. As soon as we step in, the doors close and the train bids goodbye to the station. After crawling through several connected compartments we finally reach the reserved seat. The coach seems to be unusually empty, quite a contrast to what the booking website showed when we made the booking a week ago.

There is a group of middle aged woman who seemed to have settled down long time back. They were already half way through their wine bottle and were giggling over jokes that I didn't seem to comprehend. I like to think that it was more to do with age than my IQ. I look around and everyone is already glued to their smartphones so I take the window seat and decide to do the same.

The train is classy and clean with plush red seats. The train zooms out at breakneck speed. The scenery outside changes soon as we slowly move out of the London city centre to the countryside. Large glass building are first replaced by brick houses and then to vast green grasslands. Sometimes I see  the sheep are grazing sleepishly and sometimes there are huge mustard farms. The weather seems to be kind and the sun is shining in bright blue sky.

I walk to the pantry and ask for a tea. The girl acknowledges and asks me something in a heavy Manchester accent. I don't quite understand what she asked but in the end I am handed a hot tea, some sugar and a milk sachet. I am pleased.

I go back to my seat and settle down. I borrow the husband's iPhone and play my favourite songs one after the other. The train moves forward adding a rhythm to the songs and I enjoy my favourite croissant and gaze outside to infinity.

Slowly the scenery starts changing again and we are closing in. I can see some distant traces of old mills and their chimneys rising above the otherwise commercial buildings. Old warehouses now seemed to be converted to shopping  complexes and the train makes a screeching halt.

We are here finally ..the city of Manchester. Time to put on the walking shoes and get ready to soak in some history....

Seville Day 1 - Food for thought

We were tired, we were shabby and we were starving. We needed to rest, take a shower and eat and there was no plan in place for either. The girl at the hotel reception very kindly told us in her broken English that we could step into the room only at 300 pm so clearly the first two necessities of the hour were thrown out of the door. Note to self - the check in time for a hotel is an important consideration in booking the hotel - Note complete.  We left our luggage at the concierge and reluctantly stepped out.

The hotels location was fabulous and we were right in the middle of the old town. Seville's old town has a charm of its own and you have to visit it to feel it. We were in the city in probably one of its most action packed week - the Semana Santa or the Holy Week. Many apartment balconies had the red and gold cloths or palm leaves draped over them making it look even more beautiful. Even if you are not religious, it is impossible to ignore the sheer excitement and the enthusiasm floating around the city. The city was virtually shutting down for the evening procession and we promptly added the evening procession to our itinerary.

We made our way from a small lane into Calle Campana that opened up into a Plaza and lo behold! we found the two most common American chains - Starbucks and McDonald's. We too, like most people, succumbed to this American consumerism but mostly because we were starving and had no energy left to walk any further.

The McDonald's menu was obviously in Spanish and though we could understand some of it, the husband thought it was important to display our 'techieness' to the person on the counter rather than asking for the egg & cheese McMuffin minus the bacon and decided to pull out his phone and use the Google translate app. Now this app requires you to point your camera at the text that you want to translate and then the translated text will appear on the screen instantly.

Point to note that Google has put in a small footnote when you download this app that sometimes the translations aren’t perfect and might not work if the text is too small, written by hand etc. , meaning more often than not, it doesn't quite work. Now having tried and failed multiple times in using this app in Peru & Bolivia last year, I was obviously not keen in testing it another time but sometimes hunger stops the person from thinking straight so I agreed to play along.

The person on the counter was looking at us suspiciously and the moment the husband pointed the camera on the McDonalds menu she started screaming that no photos were allowed inside. Now first of all, who on earth would really take a photo of the McDonald's menu when there is a beautiful city outside to explore but I was in no mood to argue. So after several attempts, we finally ordered the McDonalds breakfast menu minus the bacon and hoped that she understood what vegetarian means.

Now that the stomach was full and the coffee was kicking in the blood, we were all set to explore the city.

City preparing for the evening procession for Semana Santa :-

1. Chairs ready to be laid out on the roads



2. Making way for the procession path

 

3. This part of the road is all set

 

4. The balconies of buildings also decorated with Red and Gold cloth

Seville Day 1 - From Touchdown to Downtown

Seville's San Pablo Airport has a IATA code as SVQ - don't ask me why because there is no V and no Q in the name and I have never understood how they come up with these codes; they probably use a dart board with alphabets. Anyway, its a charming little airport and is about 10 km to the north east of the city. 

The immigration queue at the Seville airport was extremely short. When we reached, there were two windows open - one for EU residents and one for the non-EU ones and Ripley's Believe It Or Not, husband and I were the only ones in the non-EU line! The immigration officer scanned our passports with a fair amount of doubt and some amount of disbelief about the fact that the Schengen Visa on our passport was indeed not a fake one. Being an ardent SRK fan, I wanted to say the much rehearsed dialogue of "..and I am not a terrorist" from My Name is Khan but the husband nudged me and asked me to shut up.

We didn't waste much time wandering around the airport after that as we were too excited to get out and wander out into the Andalusian sunshine. I suggest you do the same. 

Taxis are probably the quickest way to get the city centre from the airport and the trip should take around 15 to 20 minutes and cost between 20-25 euros. We however chose to hop on to the bus and that is when the fun and struggle with Spanish language begins. The driver blurted out something in Spanish, he was probably asking us for tickets but soon noticed the blank expression on our face with eyes wide open not knowing what to say. He then very kindly held up both his hands to show eight. 

The husband who has a proven higher IQ immediately understood (or so he thought) and promptly pulled out two 10 euro notes and handed them over to the driver. The driver obviously realised our ignorance and that we had not done any homework before landing in this city and gave us back 12 euros and explained to us that two tickets together cost 8 euros. Now for anyone who has lived in London and has paid a minimum of 16 pounds entry fee for  something as ridiculous as a 2 mins round trip in the London eye, this felt like an impossible deal. 

Bus line ‘EA’ (Especial Aeropuerto) links the airport terminal with the city. The journey takes about 35 minutes and Plaza de Armas, in the city centre is the last stop. During this journey I calculated how monetarily beneficial it would be to live in this city and started thinking about possible job opportunities. Four days later, while travelling back to London, I would have realised that the only career option I would have in Seville was to open a Indian tapas restaurant but having evaluated my culinary skills, I would dismiss this career option and make my peace with the expensive London city.

Having got down at the last stop (Plaza de Armas - which is the bus station), we were sort of lost not knowing where to go. The map that we had wasn't really helping much and there were no clear signs on where to head to. Now the husband, like most men, doesn't believe in asking directions. So after having wasted a fair amount of time and going back and forth and around the bus stations, we were still at the exact same place where the bus had dropped us. Few hours later, that night, the husband will look at his Fitbit and be proud of having walked around 20 kms in a day of which atleast 5 will be due to our adamant nature about not asking for directions.

I walked inside the bus station to see if I could find some Tourist Information Centre but instead I found free WiFi. I immediately put our hotel address in Google Maps ans suddenly I was in charge of the situation. Our hotel was around 15 mins walk from the bus station and right in the middle of the old town and with the aid of Google, we finally found our our way to the old town.

Seville Day 1 - Idling in the plane...

By the time the flight took off, I was wide awake.  The husband decided that it was important to catch up on the sleep so he dozed off as soon as the flight was in the air. That means I was stranded sitting between the sleeping husband and a teenage girl who was so engrossed in playing Candy Crush over her Ipad that I dared not interrupt her to start any sort of conversation. I scanned three rows ahead and behind me but I could not find anyone who was awake and without a electronic device glued to their hand.

So I thought that the best way to pass time would be to read the in-flight magazine, except I forgot that I was flying Ryan Air. Ryan Air is a low cost airline, I mean I am cheap too but Ryan Air beats me hands down. They charge you ridiculous amount of money if you forget to print your boarding pass, they sell scratch cards on flight and at one point they were even considering charging people for using toilets, so you know what I mean, they are cheap. Safety cards are printed on a tacky yellow plastic on the back of the headrest in front of you which is simply just offensive to your eyes. Not only that, they have taken away the seat pockets ! So there’s nowhere to put your belongings during the flight. It’s a pointless form of discomfort, probably just devised so they can psychologically screw with their passenger and did I mention that they are cheap?

OK, so the point I am trying to make is that no seat pockets equals to no magazines to pass time and I had to find some other way to beat the boredom.

Just then I realised that no seat pockets also means no sick bags. Now I don't get motion sickness but imagine how it would be just in case there was a turbulence and if I was to get really sick and about to vomit. I started imagining how the events would roll up - I would call for help but probably no one will come because its Ryan Air or the attendant might come with a sick bag but by that time the vomit would be already flying through air.  I imagined how the vomit would come out in slow motion, I tried to imagine it in the way they show in movies where they pause the hero kicking in the air and go around 360 degrees. So I went around the vomit and in between zooming on the expressions of fellow passengers. In all this slow motion imaginations, the husband was still seen sleeping.

I think this weird imagination went on for sometime but I am not going to detail it here lest I make you all sick if I have already not. Eventually I fell asleep because I don't exactly remember on what happened next but I was woken up by a sudden thud when the aircraft landed in Sevilla.

Upon landing, there was this really annoying music that Ryan Air played to celebrate the fact that the flight had landed on time. It was cheesy and probably the last thing I wanted to hear after a really uncomfortable flight but I think was too excited to have set foot in the city where the sun shone brightly in the sky ...