Feria de Abril Parte 1

The entrance to the Feria is lit up at midnight on the first night to kick off the week. This year the puerta was based on the Plaza de España.

Hola todos, you're looking well. This week was the most exciting and fun week I've had on Erasmus, hardly surprising given that it was the biggest week in the Sevillan calendar. The Feria de Abril is really when the party comes to town, and we were lucky enough that summer arrived with it. We have our fingers crossed that we'll only be seeing a bit more rain until the end, as opposed to the seemingly endless downpours of February and March. The Feria de Abril is also called the Feria de Primavera (spring) but we seem to have bypassed that season altogether. No matter, the sun is here.

Some of the smaller, private casetas. 

Originally a livestock fair, Seville's Feria is loud, busy, and colourful. It's when a large fairground is set up just outside the city centre (this year it was in the south-western area of Los Remedios) with rows and rows of casetas, the best way to describe them is as tents. Mostly small with some larger ones, the majority of these tents are privately owned, and you need an invite or a connection to get in. These are set up and paid for by families, companies or clubs.

The Communist Party tent

 Others were run by the city council or political parties and they were open to the plebs such as myself. Having visited both public and private casetas I have to say that there wasn't much difference in the amount of fun I had. I think the privately owned ones would be more enjoyable for the older crowd, so they can sit and have a chat with their friends without tourists wandering in and out. People come to drink, dance, and be seen.

There was also a funfair with a surprisingly large selection of attractions, a lot of which were for children. We only went on one, a relatively tame yet terrifyingly jerky and creaky rollercoaster. I would have liked to have gone on the ferris wheel but it honestly looked like it was going about 60 miles an hour and I really think a big wheel is no place for a thrill ride.

Lots of young women were happy to show off their new (expensive) dresses

Even the children were in on the act.

The real draw of the Feria are the fabulous flamenco dresses worn by a large amount of the Spanish women, and I believe quite a few foreigners as well. It really was amazing to see something so traditional, and ostensibly old fashioned, continue to be so popular with young people. I've felt really lucky this week to have experienced something so unique to my Erasmus city, and I know that in 30 years if I'm asked what it was like that time I lived in Seville, Feria is what I'm going to remember. In part 2 of this post I'll talk a bit more about the difference between going to the Feria during the day, and during the night. Hasta luego x