Holy (Week) Moly Rocky!

Semana Santa (aka Holy Week) goes from Palm Sunday (el Domingo de Ramos) to Easter Sunday (but there aren't really processions on Easter, unless you are in Sevilla). I don't know a whole lot about it (read: don't blame me if something I post here is completely wrong), but what I do know is that Andalucía, and Sevilla in particular, is the master of the Semana Santa spectacular.

Chairs set up for the processions in Sevilla.

Each day during Holy Week there are processions through the city. However, if it is raining, like it was this year, they call them off. It rained every single day except for Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday (as I remember). It is a big deal to call them off because people practice all year for this one week.

As far as I can tell, when they do happen, the processions consist of:

Nazarenos (which used to be only men, but apparently now women are allowed, sometimes. Not sure on the rules and regulations):

Nazarenos on Palm Sunday in Alcalá.

The red capirote means it's a different brotherhood
than the other (black) one above.

Alcalá. The capirotes are not conducive to talking.
Which is good because the Nazarenos are not supposed to.

Costaleros:

Getting their heads ready to carry the 'float'.

Getting their backs ready to carry the float.
It apparently requires you to take off your pants.

Carrying the 'float' (Alcalá).

Penitentes:

Bands:

El paso del Cristo (which depict different scenes from the Bible):

And El paso de palio (Mary):

The processions start and end at church. They leave at maybe 4 PM, make their way through the city and return to the church around midnight. Some are longer, some are shorter. Some start earlier, some start later. There are no set rules.

I believe that there are different brotherhoods, different 'floats' and different bands every day. You get one day to strut your stuff on the streets of Andalucía (or wherever you might be).

These videos are not in slow-motion. The processions take forever. You need to put on your Patience Pants when you watch them. The crowds are also a factor. If you, like me, do not like crowds you may not enjoy watching the processions from the sidewalks. You can always watch them on TV or listen to them on the radio (I heard the bus driver listening to them one day. I was curious about what they talk about for hours, but I assumed it was much like what MLB announcers talk about for hours.)

Here's a video of the Paso del Cristo leaving the church in Sevilla on Saturday. Remember that it is moving by means of a group of men underneath it. I can't imagine how difficult it is to navigate this through the streets of the city, especially at the corners. And, the costaleros have a special way of walking so that it looks like the figure on the float is walking too.

And because every holiday needs it's own special food, here is Semana Santa's:

Torrijas are made with bread, milk, eggs, honey, sugar, cinnamon and olive oil.

Needless to say there was no school this week and the stores and banks were closed basically from Wednesday through Sunday. It would have been a great time to take a trip, but unfortunately for all of us, it rained on our parade.

The tale of (Anna's last) two cities...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. I suppose you have already read that tale of two cities. Or at least the Cliffnotes version of it.

The tale of Anna's last two cities takes place Alcalá and Sevilla. On Monday morning I opted to skip Spanish class because I hadn't done the homework and I didn't want to be harassed by the teacher for not doing it. Besides, Anna was in town and it was better not to leave her all alone in Alcalá all morning. That afternoon we started our first tour: Sevilla.

This tour consisted of visits to the Catedral/Giralda (again), the Plaza de España, Torre del Oro, Parque María Luisa and Plaza Alfalfa. In the plaza we drank sangría and people-watched:

Then we went to dinner, where Anna had goat cheese with fruit and I had cod with onions and oranges and we shared a pitcher white wine sangría. After dinner we booked it back to the bus stop and back to Alcalá where we made cookies (and ate a ton of them), drank wine (from Sevilla- Espartinas, in fact) and talked. We also discovered that the time it takes to climb the stairs up to our piso is equal to the time it takes to get there via the elevator.

My iPod takes terrible photos.

We saved the Tour de Alcalá for the last day (Tuesday). I took Anna to the dragon bridge, the castle, and the mall.

Los Alcores Mall in Alcalá.

As if that weren't enough, she even got to go to school with me again. On the way there we stopped and arranged for a taxi to swing by the piso at 5 AM the next morning to take her to the airport. At school, Anna observed/participated in two of my conversation classes (a fourth year and a first year). She did quite well. She just has to work on getting a British accent.

After class we had a drink/tapas and watched the Semana Santa practice procession. Ever since Thursday night on the way to the Mexican restaurant, when we saw some costaleros practicing for the big week, Anna had been hoping to see more Semana Santa action. This was her big chance. Clarisse and José joined us as well. Afterwards, (for the last supper) Anna, José and I went to another tapas restaurant and had wine, mayo with potatoes and veggies (its real name is ensalada rusa, I know), goat cheese with jam and bread with a sauce that I thought was solmorejo, but I'm not really sure.

Bed time didn't come until about 1 AM, which made 5 AM all that much earlier. I helped Anna carry her suitcases down to the taxi that awaited her and we said our goodbyes. I stood and watched as the taxi drove away.

Saying goodbye to all my visitors has been hard, but I've managed to keep it together. I don't know if it was because Anna was the last visitor or because it was 5 AM or because I'd been drinking more than usual, but as I turned to go back up to the piso, I started to cry.

Highs 8-11€ (TF: Part III)

After an hour long train ride we arrived in Santiago de Compostela. We were without a map, but not without a plan (and vague directions from the Internet). We took the main road up the hill, past a busy plaza and into what we imagined was 'downtown' (judging by the ratio of people to cars). There, we stared at the directions, looked up at the street signs, looked back down at the directions, went around the 'block' and decided we didn't know where to go next. We thought we could try to follow the helpful signs for tourists. They are color-coordinated based on the type of attraction you are looking for. In the case of the tourist office you want to look for a yellow sign with an 'i' and an arrow pointing, presumably, towards the tourist office. The arrows are less than helpful though. They are really just saying 'the tourist office is over there somewhere- in that general direction- more or less'. 'You'll know it when you see it, if you don't see it you went the wrong way.' So it wasn't a surprise that we couldn't find it. You know what that means- time to play the Directions in Spanish comprehension game! I asked a waiter at a nearby restaurant how to get to the tourist office. I passed the that test with flying colors but failed the Spanish culture test. Of course the tourist office would be closed at 2:30 PM. What was I thinking? We were standing in front of the office contemplating our next move when up walks a woman who takes out some keys and starts to unlock the office. It seemed like she worked there and just coming back to pick up something she had forgotten. I didn't ask her why she was there, but I did ask her how to get to the hostel. She said, 'Just a second, I'll be right back.' She went inside the office for a few minutes and returned with a beautiful city map with our hostel and the tourist office highlighted and circled. She told us the office opened again at 4:30 if we needed any help finding other things to do in the city. We thanked her profusely. Before we got away she asked if we could tell her where we were from, for the office's statistics. We told her, wiped the fairy dust off of our shoes and went on our way.

We made it as far as the Plaza de Cervantes, but from there couldn't tell which of the eight adjacent roads was the one we needed to take. We examined the map, turned it upside down to match where we were facing and still couldn't find the road we were looking for. Then, a woman came up to us and asked us (in Spanish) if we needed help. I hesitantly said that we did. Why was I hesitant? What is weird about a person offering to help someone who is standing in the middle of a plaza with a map? Spaniards don't offer help, that's the problem. If you want help, you need to ask for it. They are more than willing to help you, but you have to initiate the conversation. I showed her the street we were looking for and she walked us there. I made sure to keep a few steps behind her because I thought it weird that she was physically taking us to the correct street. Once we got there she said the hostel was just down the road a bit. And she was right. I guess I was just being paranoid.

The hostel was also a bar/restaurant so we entered the restaurant with our suitcases and checked in at the bar. It was 3 PM so the restaurant was busy and they didn't have time to do the whole check-in process. They took us across the street to the hotel part of the business and escorted us upstairs to our room (hostel = no elevator). They left us with the keys and told us to stop by the bar again later to sign some things and officially check-in. We dropped our stuff off in the room and headed out to find lunch and do some site-seeing. First stop: lunch. We stopped at a restaurant in a quiet area near the market. Since it was later in the day, we were the only ones eating. We opted for the menú, consisting of three courses plus bread, dessert and a drink for 11€.

I ordered red wine and Anna ordered white wine. They brought us a bottle each and told us to serve ourselves.

The bread and 'drink'.

First courses: Sopa Gallega and Ensalada.

Merluza (Anna got the breaded chicken and fries- not shown, you've seen it before)

Dessert for me was the juiciest orange I've ever eaten. Anna opted for the chocolate pudding. The after-dinner drink was the rest of the wine.

I made Anna finish the last of my red wine bottle.

It was around this time (after three courses, bread, and wine) that Anna looked at me and with a straight face asked, 'So, what are we going to do for dinner?' I couldn't stop laughing. It might have been the wine. When Anna finished her last glass (shown) we started walking. Soon, we found ourselves in the Plaza de Cervantes again. And who should we run into but the good samaritan giving directions to lost tourists. She helped those people and continued pacing around the plaza in search of her next victim, I mean the next person in need. We took some pictures to document the situation and then walked past her. I told her thanks again and that we found our hostel. She seemed confused, but I assume she just helps so many people every day that she doesn't remember everyone.

 By this time we had to use the restroom. In order to do so, we decided to stop and buy ice cream. A pack of teenagers came in as we were trying to order and use the bathroom so we had to wait to do both. Then we headed back out to the streets of Santiago de Compostela.

We weren't really in the site-seeing mood though. So we stopped and had another glass of wine.

Then we tried to go shopping, but didn't really find anything. We eventually walked to this park and sat for a little bit, along with these nice caballeros:

We took pictures, sat and ate peanuts, and watched the runners do laps around the park.

And then a bird pooped on Anna:

Anna pointed out the bird poop in her hair.
She used hand sanitizer to get it out.

When we tired of the excitement in the park, we walked back to the main tourist area (which was actually just on the other side of the street from the park).

It looked like a crowd of people in real life. The
picture doesn't do it justice.

Unsure of what to do next, we found another cute looking restaurant and had another glass of wine (that came with tapas) and dessert. (We also took the opportunity to use the bathroom, hence why Anna is not in this photo.)

After that we called it a night and went back to the hostel. We watched TV for a little bit and then Anna turned in about an hour before I did. With the noise from the street, the bar across the street and the toilet that ran all night, neither of us got much sleep. That, and the fact that for some reason there was a crib in our room and it was very much in my way. Each time I got up to go to the bathroom (and/ or tried to get the toilet to stop running) I tripped over the crib and caused ruckus.

At some point we both fell asleep though and when I woke up and looked at my iPod (it's not an iPhone) it was 11 AM. I woke Anna up with the following announcement: 'It's 11 AM, we have one hour to get ready before check out. Ready- GO' She jumped out of bed and into the shower.

We checked out in time, but left our bags at the front desk while we enjoyed our last few hours in Santiago de Compostela.  We hadn't yet officially visited the cathedral of the city and it was imperative that we did so. The cathedral is the biggest attraction in the city. It is supposedly where St. James is buried, and is the destination for the 'Way of St. James' pilgrimage route. You might recall seeing photos of seashells in the sidewalk in my other blog entries (if you read Bilbao and Santander). Well, those markers lead the way to this cathedral.

We even went inside the cathedral, but there was a church service (it being Sunday and all), so we didn't stay long.

We tried to find other interesting sites, but gave up after a half hour and just started walking.
We stopped for lunch:

Ensalada Rusa aka mayo with some potatoes and veggies.

Anna's entree- chicken with a red pepper on top.

Merluza again.

Dessert

For the record, I tried to order tea, but they didn't have the kind I wanted (the only kind I drink). I had to settle for red wine.

After lunch we started walking again. Eventually we made it back to the park we were at the day before. We sat on a bench in the sun and waited until a good time to go pick up our bags again.

Anna and I in the park with the cathedral in the background.

When the time was right, we picked up our bags at the hostel and made the journey back down to the train station. We made it with about 15 minutes to spare. Our train, however, was late. And to make matters worse, it stopped on the tracks for an extended period three separate times. We were a little nervous about making our flight. Had our luck run out?

The train finally arrived in La Coruña, but unfortunately we didn't know exactly where the airport bus stop was. I thought I knew, but I wasn't 100% sure. We tried to stop at the information desk in the train station and ask where it was, but there was another person in front of us and she wasn't going anywhere. Time was of the essence (the airport bus comes only once per hour on Sundays). We either got to the bus stop without error or we took a taxi. I told Anna I was pretty sure I knew where it was. I led the way. I do not think (although I didn't ask her) that I adequately convinced Anna that I knew where I was going, but she followed me anyway. That's what you call a faithful friend. Whether by luck or by travel savviness, we got there on the first try. And there were even a few other people waiting, which was a good sign. A minute or two after we arrived I looked at Anna and said, 'I wonder when it's coming.' 'It's here,' she said. And I turned around to see the bus pulling up to the stop. Now do you believe in the Transportation Fairy?

The rest of the trip you've heard before: plane to Sevilla, bus to the city, bus to Alcalá and your feet to your front door.

It was then Sunday night and Anna had just two full days left in Spain. What better places to spend them than Sevilla and Alcalá? (It's a rhetorical question, please don't email me your 'better places'.)