Results tagged “Seville” from Intelligent Travel Blog

Hola, city-lovers! Today we're heading to Seville, Spain, where Shawn Hennessey shares the best the city has to offer.

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Seville, Spain is My City

The first place I take a visitor from out of town is out for tapas.

When I crave pringá I always go Bodeguita Romero.

To escape the HEAT in summer I head for the Cádiz coast (Costa de la Luz).

If I want to feel alive I go out in the streets. Nobody does street life quite like Sevillians.

For complete quiet, I can hide away at the Cartuja Monastery.

If you come to my city, get your picture taken with the Giralda Tower behind you; best location is on the Doña Maria rooftop terrace.

If you have to order one thing off the menu from Modesto it has to be the "fritura". 

El Corte Inglés is my one-stop shop for just about everything.

With the beads and revelry of Mardi Gras behind us and in the throes of the Lent season, it's time to look forward to Semana Santa (Holy Week), a elaborate commemoration of the last week of Christ's life. Though I'm not a religious soul, I fell into marking Semana Santa while studying abroad in Seville, Spain.

My initiation to the reams of tradition associated with Semana Santa started our very first day in sticky Seville when my classmate asked our Spanish lit teacher why Ku Klux Klan lollipops were for sale in shops throughout the city. She gasped and launched into an explanation of Semana Santa and the Nazarenos (Nazarenes), members of local churches' cofradías (brotherhoods) who wear capirotes (peaked hats similar to those of the infamous Klan) while accompanying their Baroque wooden sculptures of Christ and the Virgin throughout the city.

Semana Santa has been celebrated in Seville in pretty much its current form since the 16th century. Over 50,000 cofradía members don traditional robes and solemnly traverse the city in over 116 pasos (passes) from Palm Sunday to Easter morning. A capella saetas (sad songs) accompany some processions, brass bands others, while some remain silent. Some pasos occur during the day while others are candlelit and border on spooky at night. During Semana Santa, the sweet smell of azahares (orange blossoms) muddled with incense and loads of candle wax permeates the city.

After the jump, get some tips on how to get the most out of Semana Santa if you're lucky enough to experience it this year, April 5 to 12.