Day 5 – La Catedral y La Feria

We journeyed back to La Cathedral and paid admission to go in.  La Catedral is the most famous and notable place in Sevilla.  It's a huge cathedral that was built beginning in the 1600s.  I took many pictures and posted the best ones.  We could smell the age of everything in the air, it made me sneeze!  There was much treasure and many oil paintings.  We saw some Flamenco dancers making their way to the fair grounds and snapped some shots.  We also found a "Texas Lonestar Saloon Sports Bar" with tacos and guacamole; we didn't stop to eat there but were surprised to see a 100% American-aimed restaurant.

 
Later on, we walked about two miles to the fair grounds - La Feria.  La Feria began in the middle ages as a way to sell crops and goods to other towns.  Farmers and merchants would travel through many cities hoping to pay their bills.  Many cities throughout Spain have a Feria of their own, but Sevilla's Feria is widely known.  To us, it was simply a huge party.  There are many tents (casetas) next to one another, each with a different family or organization as the sponsor.  Inside each tent, families sat around and ate, drank, and most importantly: danced the Sevillanes - a local dance with Flamenco elements.  There seemed to be more women dressed up than men, but it is possible that they were just more remarkable with their brightly colored Flamenco dresses, each one tailored to fit perfectly and accentuate their curvy dimensions.  We wandered over to the Municipal Caseta (open to the public), only to find it was a hang-out for all of the teenagers who wanted to escape their watchful parents at their individual casetas.  My favorite irony was the 17 (or so) year old girl who had an elaborate Flamenco dress on (the utmost example of tradition and culture) with a cell phone stuffed in her cleavage for safe keeping.  There was a fair grounds attached with only the most dangerous looking thrill rides, even more scary due to the fact that they areportable.  After wandering around wide-eyed, we returned to the hotel and slept peacefully.