Flamencas

They're not Flemish nor are they flaming, so what do you call 75,000 women in flamenco dresses? We tried flamengos, flamengettes, but have settled on the at least gender-appropriate flamenca. Dots or dottees might have worked (you'll see) but flamencas is now entrenched. In my mind anyway. The most interesting and appealing aspects of feria are the women and their flamenco dresses, which are, nearly without exception, of the polka dot tribe. And no two are alike (except the mother/daughter combinations). Here are some examples.

Pretty typical, arriving Wednesday afternoon

All ages; yes, we bought a flamenca outfit for Penelope for
next year

She smiled at me

Many younger flamencas

Mom generally nearby

You're not going to ride the scooter in that thing, are you?

The scooter was parked next to this; seriously;
sculpture of the Unknown Flamenca

Girls' flamenca dress department at El Cortes Ingles; these
are the left-overs! Yours, Penelope, came from a somewhat
less reputable source

In one of the more exclusive shops
downtown (closed for feria)

Practicalities; the dresses have hidden,
zippered pockets under the folds; we
also noted smart-phones stored there and
also more conspicuously in the massive
cleavage areas

More little flamencas

They start them very young (yes, I always ask permission
for shots like these)

Mother and daughter outfits

Matches the pink flamencas; encouraged
by his father, this kid knows how to strike a
pose

Teeny-bopper flamencas

Dancin'

Seville's Feria By Evening

We went back two days later to see and enjoy more of the feria...

In a publico, where I sampled the manzanilla, a sherry-like
drink that is traditional at the feria

And watched the dancing

Ditto

Ditto again

In the streets

Everywhere

I would have fit right in...

We moved on to the adjoining amusement park, and another
50,000 people

All the usual wild rides

Ditto

My idea of a shooting gallery

The larger of the ferris wheels

Errant balloons being hauled away

Main street by night

Rachel, note: this is the Pharma casita

Getting ready for a sit-down dinner

But we had an 11:30 bus to catch and had to leave

But I think we might be back for more
someday

Seville's Feria By Day

Imagine an annual week-long city celebration. A thousand of Seville's elite families, businesses and associations erect sizable casitas (tent buildings, some quite elaborate) on the fairgrounds just across the river from the old city. Each casita has its own kitchen and bar and facilities and can accommodate 50 or more; some many more. The parties go on 24/7 for seven days. Music, dancing, drinking, partying. The women dress up in flamenco dresses and perhaps 1% of the men in traditional caballero garb, the rest mostly in business attire. When things get slow, the elites parade around on their horses and in their buggies. There are even 6 or 8 publicos, places where the preterites--those of us without connections or invitations--can go, sit down, have a drink, watch, dance, pee. And there is also a sizable amusement park (two ferris wheels!) adjoining, for the additional amusement of those without invitations but who are looking for fun. We knew about the feria and timed our visit in Seville to occur in the middle of it. It is an extraordinary affair--culture, family, business, music, dance, dress, food, drink--and we wanted to see it both by day and in the evening. It is unlike any other pageantry we have seen or heard of.

A typical casita

Inside another...mid-afternoon, mid-week; business in
Seville adjusts its hours accordingly (except for the tourism
business; one sees few obvious tourists at the feria)

A larger casita

It's a very family thing

Parade time

Main gate to the fairgrounds

Caballero

The parades go on and on, quite colorful

Woman mostly ride side-saddle...understandably

This is the main street to the amusement park--maybe a
kilometer in length, packed

Posse

Most all the thousand private casitas have their own
security, some conspicuous, some less

Interior of another casita

Another

Here's the listing of all the casitas...our first visit was on a
city-wide holiday, so the buses were running on a reduced
schedule, and we had to get back to Camping Villsom, in
Dos Hermanas, before they stopped running; we resolved to
get back to the feria another day, or night

Seville: A Caution...

Seville has now moved up to 2nd on our list of favorite Spanish cities. It has everything to do with the Abril Feria de Primavera, the week-long spring fair. I'm sorry if the narrative flow doesn't flow. That's how it was. We loved it. Even with temperatures in the 90s. If you don't like Seville, you should skip the next 8-10 posts.

Mezquita, 2013

The Mezquita in Cordoba is one of the world's great buildings, historically. There have been churches or gathering places on this spot for aeons. After the Conquest, the Moors bought the Christian cathedral, then rebuilt on the site, using much of the Visigothic material. Construction of the great mosque took place between the 8th and 10th centuries, and it is thus one of Europe's oldest still-functioning buildings. By the 11th century, Cordoba rivaled Constantinople in many ways. It was an open city, with Jews, Christians, and Moors living side-by-side, their greatest scholars working together to translate and understand the works of antiquity. The library was said to have held 450,000 books. The era of tolerance, etc. ended with the Reconquista. For the next several centuries, Cordoba became a center of the Inquisition. To their (meager) credit, the Christians did not raze the Mezquita, but instead simply "Christianized" it, erecting a large Baroque cathedral in the middle of the huge building. Charles V, who had authorized the cathedral, told the builders that they had "destroyed something unique in the world" in order to give him something ordinary. Sic transit, Gloria. Anyhow, there are rather more pix of the Mezquita from our January, 2010, visit, touching upon the Visigothic, Moorish, and Christian parts of the building.

It is a huge building; here, seen from across the river, only
the cathedral really stands out

One long side of the Mezquita

From the former ablution courtyard, the
bell-tower; within it you can clearly see the
red brick minaret

Now inside the Mezquita, looking through a glass floor, you
can see mosaics from the previous Roman temple

Vicki was right; it just wasn't like the first time, when, despite
reading and studying about the building and looking at
photographs, it still overwhelms you, the expanse, the depth,
the color

There are 850 of these columns supporting a beautifully-
carved timbered roof that must have required nearly a forest
to build; many of the capitals are from the Visigothic church

The Moorish sanctum sanctorum

Dome above

I don't think there's a single place in the
Mezquita where you can see clearly from one
end to another

Typical view

Us in the Mezquita

A parting view

A side street in old Cordoba

A confirmation mass was in the works, apparently, and
children were arriving all around, posing proudly in their
dresses and suits 

Thus