Semana Santa

Semana Santa is a big deal in Sevilla. It is probably the biggest week of the year. There are dozens of "Paseos" which are big processions with these elaborate floats. Underneath these huge heavy floats are people (costaleros) who have been training all year. This year it rained - a lot. Most of the processions were cancelled. I managed to take some photos earlier in the week.



This is the first procession we saw.



This is how the bridge looked where the procession was taking place. No bueno.



These gents are Nazarenos. They often carry black crosses and candles. They are not to be confused with other infamous cloth-wearing white supremest groups. It was a bit different though.



The next day or so, I saw this procession.



Later, I saw this procession. This area is brand new in Sevilla. It supposedly looks like a mushroom. I disagree. There is some drama about the new building being too modern for the city. I think it is a really neat contrast.



With ever procession there one Jesus float and one Virgin. Also, there are often full bands.





Some more Nazarenos






The Nazarenos started off more as a way of showing submission (walking barefoot and not speaking), now it is more of a cultural staple of Semana Santa.



The rest of the time - it rained.

Semana Santa was pretty great. There were a lot of tourists.

I just went to the Alcázar of Seville and took some pictures. I'll post them soon. Also I'm going to Italy in two days!

Bridges

Bridges! There are some really cool bridges in Seville. I've taken pictures of some of the bridges that are closer to where I live, but my friends and I took a walk to go see the big famous harp bridge north of the city (not positive whether it is actually called the harp bridge or not). It was pretty awesome. So here are some pictures.

I'm not sure why they designed it to have a slide in the middle. Maybe the just wanted people to potentially hurt themselves while trying to deface the bridge 25 feet in the air.















This is the back side.



This is the bridge before the harp bridge.


And this is some random bridge on the walk.

It's been raining most of the week and that has interrupted the processions of Semana Santa, but I'll make a post soon.

Graffiti

I like graffiti. While strolling through the centro in Seville, my friends and I walked past over a mile of pretty impressive graffiti. I took almost a hundred photos, but I'll give the viewer some of my favorites.









Now that I look at this one again, it is kind of confusing at first glance what layer of art I'm looking at / are those vines real?












This was actually outside of my window. I thought people were staring at me from across the train tracks, turns out it's some installation artwork.



I was impressed with some of this art. I also took a lot of pictures of the famous bridges here in Seville. Those will be up soon.

Bull Fighting Ring & University of Sevilla

Well, let's put some random pictures online. What we've got here is the University of Seville mixed in with some pictures of the bull fighting ring. The University of Seville is gorgeous.




This is the front entrance of the University. **UPDATE** Apparently the University of Seville was a tobacco factory after the discovery of tobacco in South America. Pretty neat.












And this is the ring.




This is where the royal family sits to watch the fights.




And this is in the bull fighting museum part of the ring. I don't know what this is, but it's by far my favorite sculpture - ever.



Sometimes people get gored by bulls.

Currently it is Semana Santa here in Seville, which is the biggest celebration of the year. I'm going to be taking loads of photos over the next week and will post them soon. Also, I really want to see an actual bullfight - a couple of friends and I bought tickets for May 15th. Hasta luego!

La Catedral

So I finally went to the Cathedral here in Seville with a fellow Boonie. Apparently the Cathedral is the 3rd largest in Europe and it is HUGE. I thought that I couldn't be amazed by any more ancient huge Cathedrals. False. I took a few pictures (not that they ever upload in order).
Here they are:




Some door knocking device



This is in the courtyard outside of the Cathedral. We climbed that tower which is called the Giralda. It's called the Giralda because it used to be part of the mosque that originally was there. It was used for the call-to-prayer.



The supposed burial site of Christopher Columbus is here in the Cathedral. If that is his actual tomb, he was a bite-size explorer. He died in northern Spain and was transported to the Dominican Republic 30 years later. After the island became independent, he was moved to Cuba. Then later Cuba became independent and his remains were brought to Seville. So there's a little doubt as to who is actually here in the cathedral.







We got to here those bells in action - LOUD.



Courtyard in black and white



Plaza de Toros















From the top of the Giralda


So that's the Cathedral in Seville. I think I'm going to spend more time exploring more Seville in the next few weeks.