Sunday 13 April in Seville Spain

Only having arrived in Seville at lunchtime I started to explore the town a few hours later.  I was struck by seeing the streets & outside cafes full with families all dressed up, (the men in suits & the women in impossibly high heels pushing strollers over the cobblestone streets).  While the parents were eating & drinking, the children, in their Sunday best, were playing nearby in the local squares where the restaurants were located either being shaded by huge umbrellas or orange trees.  I joined them & ate delicious tapas consisting of melt in the mouth "baccalao" (fish) & a creamy spinach & chickpea dish with Moroccan flavours washed down of course, by a very potent & cold Sangria. Except for me, there was not a tourist in sight!  Now it was time to start wandering the streets of Seville!  Some of them were so narrow that when you stretched out your arms you could touch the walls!  Also many of the houses had their internal gardens open for show behind the wonderfully ornate wrought iron gates.  Before I knew it I found myself near the vast dominating Catholic church which was surrounded by a sea of people & as I managed to ease my way through the crowds I could see that hundreds of seats had been cordoned off for people who had purchased tickets for the commencement of the Semana Santa

week's celebrations.  Suddenly the smell of incense pervaded the air & the bands struck up with mournful trumpet playing & constant drumming.  Next minute hundreds of Klu Klux clan attired people appeared in the procession some of them carrying huge black crosses & they were followed with enormous floats of the Black Madonna, palm trees etc.  This procession started at 6.00pm.  Three hours later there was no let up in the crowds as the bands, floats etc kept appearing in different parts of the nearby streets & the crowds continued to follow them.  By this stage I thought I was going to faint & finally managed to break away to find my way home!