The first part of my trip was spent in Southern Spain--the majority of my time was spent in Málaga, but I also took a day trip to Sevilla. Marli and I traveled together in Málaga. We visited the cathedral, the Castle Gibralfaro, the Alcazaba, the Picasso Museum, and the nearby Cuevas de Nerja (Nerja Caves). All of those were really interesting. The view from the top of Castle Gibralfaro was incredible--just looking out over the Mediterranean and the rest of the town. The Nerja Caves are about an hour to the east of Málaga. We took a bus and enjoyed seeing the little town along the Costa del Sol on the way. I wish I would have had more time to visit all the little towns. One of the reasons we decided to go to Málaga was because it was Holy Week. Holy Week is a big deal in Spain, especially in Southern Spain.
Here's what wikipedia says about Holy Week in Málaga...
"For more than 500 years, Holy Week of Málaga has been constantly present in the religious and popular feeling of people from Málaga. The Holy Week religious celebrations in Malaga are famous countrywide. Processions start on Palm Sunday and continue until Easter Sunday with the most dramatic and solemn on Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Images from the Passion on huge ornate "tronos" (floats or thrones) some weighing more than 5.000 kilos and carried by more than 250 members of Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza, shape the processions that go through the streets with penitents dressed in long purple robes, often with pointed hats, followed by women in black carrying candles. Drums and trumpets play solemn music and occasionally someone spontaneously sings a mournful saeta dedicated to the floats as it makes its way slowly round the streets.
The Baroque taste of the religious brotherhoods and associations and the great amount of processional materials that they have been accumulating for centuries result in a street stage of exuberant art, full of color and majesty.
Every year, the Passion Week in Malaga takes out to the streets a real festival perceptible by the five senses: processional thrones carrying images that are swung all along the entire route, thousands of penitents lighting and giving colour with their candles and robes, processional marches, as well as aromas of incense and flowers filling the air as the processions pass by and thousands of people crowded to see and applaud their favorite tronos.
Holy Week in Malaga is very different to that celebrated in other Andalusian or Spanish places, and those who go to Malaga for the first time will be surprised, as the Passion Week there is not lived with meditation and silence, but it is full of happiness, noise, cheer, spontaneous saetas (flamenco verses sung at the processions) and applause as the images pass by.
Some tronos (floats) of Holy Week of Malaga are so huge that they must be housed in other places different from the churches, as they are taller than the entrance doors; real walking chapels of over 5,000 kilos swung by dozens of bearers. There are also military parades playing processional marches or singing their anthems along the route. All of this does not imply a lack of religiosity, but it is just the particular way that people from Malaga live their faith and feeling during the Holy Week."
The processions were amazing. We got really close for a few of them. Pics are up...so take a peek. Here's a quick photo from a procession...
You're probably wondering about the outfits...they've been used since the medieval period for penitents. The hoods are that way so the identity of the wearer is known only to God.
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I also made a quick trip to Sevilla on Friday. I saw the cathedral, which was beautiful, and I also just wandered the streets. I met up with my friend Sam, who was in Valencia last semester and chatted with her. It was great to see her and catch up.
Next up...Italy! Hopefully I can get that entry done soon!!!
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