Easter festivals in Andaucia
 

I will be in Andalucia in April and would like to experiance an Easter Festival. Any comments on the best would be appreciated .

I assume you are referring to Holy Week (Semana Santa)? <BR><BR>For the week before Easter, the churches in the city organize processions called &quot;paseos&quot;. They carry effigies of the virgin and Christ, or scenes from the Passion, all around the town, accompanied by penitents or &quot;Nazarenos&quot; dressed in pointed hoods, women in full black lace veils and mantillas, musicians, and so on. There may be ten different processions making their way through the town at one time. <BR><BR>I've heard that most impressive processions are in Seville, but from personal experience I can tell you that Holy week in Granada is a pretty amazing sight too. <BR>Highlights in Granada include the night procession by gypsies who run barefoot, carrying effigies of Christ and the Virgin down from the Sacromonte (the hill where the gypsies traditionally live), through the town and back up through the Moorish Albaicin quarter to their church on the hill. Fires are lit on the surrounding hillside, and there is much clapping and flamenco singing when they reach the top.

Easter Bunny is there anything like that in Malaga?

Duke,<BR>Holy Week is celebrated all over Andalucia, and though I've never been in Malaga at Easter, it does look like there are similar processions there. The Malaga Tourist office website gives some information on it here: http://www.malagaturismo.com/menusb/ing/marco.htm - click on the &quot;festivities&quot; link in the top menu bar, and then on &quot;Holy Week&quot; in the left-hand menu. Though some of the info is in English, a lot of it does seem to be in Spanish, unfortunately. You could also try a Google search for &quot;Holy week&quot; +malaga...

Malaga does have very impressive Holy Week processions, I believe all week long (Monday through Good Friday, for sure).

Duke,<BR><BR>Just a few practcal comments:<BR><BR>We were in Cuenca during Holy Week and it was absolutely spectacular. Basically every town/city in Spain has some version of the processions. Some are very solemn (Valladolid) and some are very flamboyant and emotional (Seville).<BR><BR>Be aware that this is the biggest season for tourism all year long and all of Spain is travelling back to the cities and provinces of their hometowns.Every hotel is packed, restaurants (the ones that stay open) are crowded, major streets are completely closed off during large parts of the day and night so parking and driving are impossible. <BR><BR>With that warning I would still encourage you to go and experience Semana Santa! It is incredible. But if you do not already have hotel reservations in the center of town (where all the action takes place) Good luck!!!! Start looking immediately. I say in the center of town because you will need to be within walking distance of the procession routes. Many of the processions go all night or at least well into it. Some processions start at dawn.<BR><BR>Any more questions just let me know.<BR><BR>Maria