What is Feria?
La Feria de Abril is basically a week-long party. A giant section of the town, which remains empty for the rest of the year, is converted into a massive fairground. There are two main halves of the fairground: one half of the area contains the casetas (tents where people eat, drink, and dance), the other half contains the rides. It started as a regular livestock fair in 1847 but within 50 years it transformed into the extravaganza that it is today. (Only in Spain would they turn a livestock fair into an excuse to party, I love it!)
The main entrance to the Feria. Each year a new one is built-- this one represents the centennial of the first flight to leave from Seville. In addition, it spells "NO8DO", Seville's city slogan. (It's a long story, but it means "Seville hasn't left me".)
We arrived at Feria and spent the first hour walking around the caseta half of the fairgrounds, marveling at the people's outfits, and sneaking photos of people dancing inside the tents.
Men wearing traditional Spanish clothes. I have no idea why they're on horseback, but I like it!
The outside of the casetas. Some are run by businesses, some are run by the local government, and some are family-owned and have gone back for decades.
The inside of a random caseta. Literally every single one is this well-decorated and adorable!
I wanted pictures of flamenco dresses but I didn't want the people wearing them to notice me. Result: there are a lot of shots of people's backs in my photo album.
A woman in a flamenco dress buying some cotton candy ("Algodon Dulce", or sweet cotton).
Next, we headed towards the half of the fairgrounds with the rides. It had more rides than I've ever seen in one area and was absolutely packed with people. We walked around until we found a place selling chocolate-filled churros and couldn't resist buying some. (Take a funnel cake and cover it in Nutella. That's what they taste like.)
The happiest moment of my life!
Next, we walked around trying to decide what rides we wanted to go on. Here are pictures of some of the rides at the fair:
That last one is called "La Carcel" (The Prison). You stand in a cage (with no restraints, no padding, and nothing to hang onto besides the metal bars) and are thrown around in a circle. Ramya and I wanted to ride at least one ride, and we chose that one thinking it wouldn't be too bad. MISTAKE. Combine my lack of upper body strength with the sunscreen that was all over my hands, and I was hanging on to those bars for dear life. By the time the ride was over, both my arms and my dignity were terribly bruised.
In a state of shock after the ride. I want a shirt that says "I (just barely) survived La Carcel".
Around nine we headed back to the house, ate a quick dinner, and then walked right back-- luckily, our apartment is about four blocks away from the fairground. Feria is different at night: the weather is cooler, there are fewer children, and there's definitely more singing, dancing, and drinking. (Though trust me, those things happen all day too.)
The main entrance is even better at night!
The rides section of the fairground at night. That Ferris Wheel was the fastest-moving Ferris Wheel I've ever seen, by the way. I'm pretty sure none of these rides would last in the U.S. due to lawsuits.
The ground is absolutely LITTERED with things at the end of the day: papers, bottles, cans, wrappers, you name it.
Boxes of bottles of wine that one (count it, one) caseta drank during the week of Feria. There are so many boxes that I couldn't get them all in the photo. Impressive.
At midnight that night, they turned off the lights and Feria was over. To end the party, there was a fireworks show. I wish I could have been there longer, but at least I got to see a full day of the madness.
Conclusion: Feria is amazing!!! It's noisy and crowded and hectic and hot and bright and colorful and 100% fun. In my opinion, it blows Semana Santa out of the water completely. It's really too bad that we don't have something similar the United States... anyone down for helping me start that up when I get back?
**Even though I didn't see her at all during Feria, this blog post is dedicated to Tamara Kerkenmeyer because she bought me ice cream on my birthday. Tamara, you're the best.**