Fería de Abril has arrived!!!!!!
Most of yall are probably wondering though, what is fería? Basically it's a giant fair ground that holds tents (casetas), rides, food, & tons of people. The tents are owned by families & business companies who pay for entertainment (usually a band of some sort) & waiters during the week. You can eat, drink & dance inside the tent all night long! Unfortunately not all the tents are open; they are guarded by security & you have to know someone inside the tent to get in...like a secret society! haha. Fería is 6 days long & is usually 2 weeks after Semana Santa. This year is unusual because Easter was very late, so Fería was only 1 week after Semana Santa & also in May (an April fair in May, weird!).
Day 1 of Fería begins with el alumbrao, where the portada (giant entrance to the fair) is lit up. The lighting means the fair has officially started. Apparently the portada was real ugly this year, because all the Spaniards kept saying "que feo." There were a ton of people out!
Proof that Katie & I went to el alumbrao. It was midnight on Monday, because the fair started on the 3rd.
After watching el alumbrao, we went in search of a public caseta (tent). The public casetas are open to the general public but are usually really crowded & serve expensive food & drinks. The picture above shows a few Spaniards dancing the Sevillanas, the official dance of Fería. It's sorta like flamenco, but choreographed with a parter.
After hanging out in the public tent & watching the people dance Sevillanas, we headed out to the rides! We rode a giant ferris wheel for 4 euros (que caro!) At least we said we did it...
Okay so that's a summery of what fería is like! Imagine 6 days of that...that's what will be happening until the 8th!
Since fería is the same thing about every day, my friends Morgan, Katie & I decided to take a day trip to Ronda, a city about 2 hours away from Sevilla. When we first got there we were really confused because there was absolutely nothing to do/see. It's a tiny town. Then we walked a bit...and found the prettiest scenery ever!
We spent a lot of time just looking out at the gorgeous view, hiking around a bit, until a torrential downpour occurred! Luckily we were able to hide under this arch thingy during the 20 minutes of rain.
After walking through the rain we treated ourselves to some Ronda pastries! I can't remember what this was called, something almendras, but it was muy delicioso!
So that's Ronda in a nutshell! I will be enjoying the rest of Fería until Sunday, & attempting to do school work somewhere in there too! Sending my love to you, xoxo B
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