Feria de Abril

The city of Sevilla throws a week-long party every spring called La Feria de Sevilla attended by over a million people. Originally started as a cattle trading fair in 1847, the festival has evolved to be considered the center of flamenco music and culture.

The fair festivities take place near the Rio Guadalquivir in a rectangular piece of land called Real de la Feria about a mile long and 700 yards wide. Individual tents or casetas made of brightly-colored canvas are decorated with thousands of paper lanterns, impromptu dance halls in which every night you can catch flamenco music and dancing starting around 9pm and lasting to 6 or 7 in the morning.

Each individual tent has its own atmosphere and tradition and is hosted by various groups of aristocratic Sevilla families, clubs, trade unions and political parties. Some are “invitation-only” affairs, while others are “free” with bars open to the public.

La Feria has a full program of daytime events including daily parades of horses and decorated carriages, and Las corridas or bullfights.

Semana Santa

Semana Santa is Holy Week before Easter and Seville’s celebration is likely the most famous in the world. More than 55 church brotherhoods, some dating as far back as the 13th century take part in Semana Santa, carrying over 115 different floats, or pasos, through the streets of Sevilla.

Nazarenos accompany the pasos in the march and sometimes number more than 2,000 for certain processions. Marching bands play music while some processions, such as El Silencio, march in silence and without music.

Almost every procession includes an image of Christ depending on what scene in the bible it depicts as well as an image of the Virgin Mary, always in mourning for the death of Christ.

Semana Santa marks the arrival of spring in Sevilla with a weeklong celebration that fills the streets, churches, bars and restaurants. A week filled with a mixture of smells: orange blossoms or Azhar, incense, candle wax and cheap cologne; torrijas, wine, beer and the bocadillo in some bar, Semana Santa is more than the processions in the streets.

Autoeurope, Europcar, Sixt, Hertz, and Hispacar are some of the car rental agencies in Seville.