How To Celebrate The Spanish Festival - El Rocio
The restaurants spray down their tables and chairs after the
sun goes down, then they spray water on the street( I use the term loosely)
outside. All cars are covered in dust,
all people are covered in dust and I have the urge to whistle the theme of The
Good, The Bad and the Ugly and expect to see Clint Eastwood coming down the
street on horseback, except there would be no sarape over his shoulders as it
is too freaking hot!
(This is a short YouTube Video About the Pilgrimage to El Rocio) [The hyperlink should open a new window with the video. Turn your sound ON.]
BLOG: Glad we had talked with Christina at the Tourist Office as we had changed our minds to travel along the coast road and then up or inland to El Rocio the alternative would have been interstate highways with little to see but concrete highway. We loaded our cases and wheeled them the 1.5 blocks down the pedestrian walkway to the hotel’s garage. Loaded up and hit the road as we went around the block to find diesel for the car, Paul saw a button the dash next to the screen “map” yep we have a built in navigation program by Toyota that puts our Garmin to shame, easy to program she knows all of the complicated one way streets to boot!! Seriously? we had GPS on the car and the driver did not know! It was a lovely drive through the Donana Preserve, actually we were not in the preserve as there was a fence keeping us out, but it was a lovely nonetheless.
BLOG: Glad we had talked with Christina at the Tourist Office as we had changed our minds to travel along the coast road and then up or inland to El Rocio the alternative would have been interstate highways with little to see but concrete highway. We loaded our cases and wheeled them the 1.5 blocks down the pedestrian walkway to the hotel’s garage. Loaded up and hit the road as we went around the block to find diesel for the car, Paul saw a button the dash next to the screen “map” yep we have a built in navigation program by Toyota that puts our Garmin to shame, easy to program she knows all of the complicated one way streets to boot!! Seriously? we had GPS on the car and the driver did not know! It was a lovely drive through the Donana Preserve, actually we were not in the preserve as there was a fence keeping us out, but it was a lovely nonetheless.
 |
| El Rocio Alter |
Along the coast road we stopped at the Parador Mazagon on
the coast with beautiful grounds and pool, we had a bitter Kas and hit the road
again. We entered El Rocio and
immediately found our hotel. WIFI works in the common/reception area and bar
outside. Our pool is not open for the season yet we still need to finish
maintenance. The building is quite dramatic and beautiful inside with beautiful
ceilings and paintings most impressive. OK, we have Room 22, with 900 sq ft of
Double bedroom/shower upstairs with balcony and terraza on the roof , but those
were not something Paul was going to tackle, very steep and winding. Twin beds
and shower on the first floor with TV lounge area, no WiFi.
El Rocio is unique. Population usually 3,000 but during the
Romeria nearly a million, yes you read that right, 1 million people descend on
this town with sand and dirt roads after the pilgrimage of Nuestra Senora de
Rocio. They come from all over the south of Spain, on horseback or riding in
covered wagons (which are probably the forerunners to the conestoga wagons of
the old west)(because cars are forbidden in Donana) for the Festival. It takes
a couple of weeks and I have heard that the partying, drinking and dancing are
legion! Where do they stay you might ask? Well, Most of these people belong to
Hermanidades, or religious brotherhoods and they have their own custom built
centers in the town. Huge buildings with sleeping arrangements and stables for
the horses. I believe that often families will use them from time to time
throughout the year. One bar had 97 medallions one for each of the
Brotherhoods. I am not sure there were 97 separate buildings but as you drive
in circles it seems that there might be that many.
They come to carry Nuestra Senora del Rocio around the town
on their shoulders and take her back to her shrine/church. They battle each
other for the privilege. Then they party again. Amazing, sounds like controlled
chaos. These brotherhoods date back hundreds of years and at one time were unofficial
peacekeepers. It is worth googling to find out about this little known festival
(at least outside of Spain). The church is quite simple but stunning especially
inside with the gold alter and throne of
Nuestra Senora. The outside shows you exactly why churches in Mexico look the
way they do. Think Spain and Conquistadores next time you see one.
We stayed on this side of the ocean and did not end up out
west in Arizona but yet here we are in the south of Spain suffering from very
high heat, blistering sunshine, sand and dirt roads throughout town, each
building with a hitching post at all of
the bars throughout town there are horse rails where the drinks for the riders
are placed some 6ft up off the ground on special rider rails for their drinks.
As we sat there the first evening, sitting under ceiling fans which kept the
flies off, a couple of groups of riders stopped by for refreshment! It was so
cool! Our very own cowboys and cowgirls drinking beer on horseback and leaving
the glasses on the high bar! Previously we had seen a couple of kids riding
down the street on their horses.
The restaurants spray down their tables and chairs after the
sun goes down, then they spray water on the street( I use the term loosely)
outside. All cars are covered in dust,
all people are covered in dust and I have the urge to whistle the theme of The
Good, The Bad and the Ugly and expect to see Clint Eastwood coming down the
street on horseback, except there would be no sarape over his shoulders as it
is too freaking hot!
We ate but I draw the line at always describing food.
Suffice it to say that it was good.
 |
| El Rocio Chapel |
So ends another day of travel and excitement with the Beskows.
Later!
No comments:
Post a Comment