dana

5 of us are going to the costa del sol for 2 weeks for easter 2000. i am interested to find out where the best processions are to be witnessed. we are staying in torremolinos and will most likely rent a car and stay at the parador in ronda for 1 night. i've heard that these religious processions are wonderful--- thanks, dana

frank

Seville.

michele

Dana, <BR>Frank is right. Sevile is the place. The processions are magnificent, and Seville is very crowded during that week. Make reservations ASAP. You won't believe your eyes and ears.If you have to pick one night/morning I would suggest Holy Thursday/ Good Friday as it is the grandest procession of all. We started out late Thursday night (around eleven and returned to our hotel at around eight the next morning),

Maribel

To the top for Dana. <BR> <BR>I'll just add that the crowds in Seville are indeed crushing, they reach their fevor pitch in the evening of Mauday Thursday through the morning hours of Good Friday when a procession will pass by aboutt every hour. Viewing these processions, as Michele pointed out, is a very, very late night-early morning affair, particularly for the most famous and most moving ones: The Macarena, the Virgen de la Esperanza de Triana and the Jesus del Gran Poder are the floats that seem to stir the most devotion. Some processions take an astounding 12 hrs. to be completed! There are 50 brotherhoods (hermandades)in Seville that bring out 100 processions during Semana Santa. Each procession is composed of a group of "penitentes" who walk in front of 2 floats called "pasos" -one of an image of "Jesucristo" follwed by the brotherhood's particular "Virgen", both carried on the shoulders of a group of from 40 to even 100 float bearers or "costaleros" hidden from sight under a cloth who march to the pace of their foreman's drum. Excrutiatingly weary, painful work! The ABC newspaper runs the daily schedule of processions, including starting time, when each procession leaves its church, to arrival time back at its church after passing down its official parade route, winding down Sierpes Street, passing City Hall, entering and leaving the cathedral, then back "home". <BR>Viewing the processions can best be done by spending a night or two, preferrably Maundy Thursday-Good Friday, but hotels will now be heavily booked, and room rates can rise by forty per cent or more for that week. <BR>You can read about Semana Santa at www.andalucia.com/festival/home.htm <BR>(or in Spanish only at http://semanasanta.andal.es/) <BR> <BR>The processions in Merida and Cuenca are also quite famous and more "solemne" in tone than Seville's.

Jan

We were in Spain in 1999 for Semana Santa. While Seville is known for the largest procesions, they are everywhere. Since you are staying in Torremolinos, know that only a few miles away, in Malaga, there are also great procesions. We saw the one in Grenada on Tues. of that week, as well, and it, too, was worth beholding, plus hotels were available and the crowds, while hefty, were not nearly so extreme as Seville, more local and less touristy. In other words, the procesions are beautiful, regardless of where you find yourselves and there are sites far less crowded, with fewer pickpockets, than Seville!