Exactly two weeks after Easter Sunday, and the craziness of Semana Santa, Seville descends into another week-long festival. The annual Feria de Abril is held on the outskirts of town. Though every town in Andalusia has a similar festival, Seville's is the largest, most traditional, and by long-established pecking order always happens first. Half of the fair grounds are covered with
casetas, temporary structures built by private groups (hermandades, businesses, bands of friends, etc) and a few public orgs (political parties, the university, city hall, etc.), of which there are more than a thousand. The other half of the complex houses a traveling attractions park common to town fairs in the United States. During the day, carriages parade about the grounds until it is time to head for the daily bullfight held promptly at 6:30pm. At night, the grounds fill with even more people taking to the casetas to dance
sevillanas in Flamenco garb and drink
rebujitos (Manzanilla mixed with Sprite) well into the night.
Can you make out NO8DO?
I did try my hand at dancing to a sevillano, thanks to my friend's mother who was determined to teach me. Everyone assured me it was one of the more entertaining sights all evening, and not because I was a fast learner.
Exactly two weeks after Easter Sunday, and the craziness of Semana Santa, Seville descends into another week-long festival. The annual Feria de Abril is held on the outskirts of town. Though every town in Andalusia has a similar festival, Seville's is the largest, most traditional, and by long-established pecking order always happens first. Half of the fair grounds are covered with casetas, temporary structures built by private groups (hermandades, businesses, bands of friends, etc) and a few public orgs (political parties, the university, city hall, etc.), of which there are more than a thousand. The other half of the complex houses a traveling attractions park common to town fairs in the United States. During the day, carriages parade about the grounds until it is time to head for the daily bullfight held promptly at 6:30pm. At night, the grounds fill with even more people taking to the casetas to dance sevillanas in Flamenco garb and drink rebujitos (Manzanilla mixed with Sprite) well into the night. 
Can you make out NO8DO?
I did try my hand at dancing to a sevillano, thanks to my friend's mother who was determined to teach me. Everyone assured me it was one of the more entertaining sights all evening, and not because I was a fast learner.
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