FERIA

This past weekend was my last long weekend before I return back to Seattle. I had six nights to spare and decided to head to Sevilla for the annual Feria de Abril celebration. During this week the children are out of school and the dance, drink,and enjoy the company of others for seven days. 

 Half of the Feria is like a fair with rides, games, and greasy food. I could not believe how many people were here. This pictures makes it seem like the weather was not very nice but overall it was quite warm the whole weekend.

 The other half is full of both private and public "tents" called casetas. This is where people spend most of their time. In this picture of the boys you can see a pitcher of rebujito. This is the drink of Feria which consists of a fortified wine and sprite mixture. The cups that they we drank this in were the size of shot glasses. In the tents there is seating, a small bar/restaurant area, and a dance floor that always seems to be full. 

 I saw this family on the horse and couldn't resist from taking a picture. The streets are filled with horses and buggies. I have been told that the people that use this method of travel usually have quite a bit of money. I saw several groups of men just parked on their horses drinking. The sight of this bothered me some and I hope is not a sign of how these horses are treated regularly.

 In this picture you can see the line up of all the tents on one of the many long streets. During this week the men typically wear a tie and the women a flamenco dress. The woman spend over one thousand dollars just for one of these dresses and most of them own more than one!! That just seems crazy to me but they are very colorful and pretty.

 This is the door to Feria which is very large and lit up every night. On the first day they have a lighting ceremony and on the last night at midnight there is a fireworks show.

 This is a picture of the inside of Santi's families tent. The private tents are co-owned by several families. This is the tent we spend the majority of our time at during Feria.

I do not own nor did I purchase one of the dresses but I did try a friend's dress on just so I could take a picture :) Overall it was a successful weekend but I look forward to this weekend on the beach relaxing as well!!