If You Like

If You Like

Bullfighting

In Seville is one of Spain's most celebrated bullrings: the Maestranza. Few toreros (bullfighters) gain nationwide recognition until they have fought in this "cathedral of bullfighting." The season runs from Easter until late October, but it peaks early on, when Seville's April Fair draws Spain's leading toreros for a string of daily fights.

Fiestas

The weeklong Carnival in Cádiz, celebrated in February, is one of the best in the land. Seville's dramatic Semana Santa (Holy Week) processions and April Fair draw visitors worldwide. Many Seville attractions are closed during this time, especially on Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Jerez and Cádiz also have Semana Santa processions. The Feria de Abril (two weeks from the day after Holy Week) Seville's annual city fair, is celebrated with top bullfights, horse parades, flamenco costumes, and singing, dancing, and fireworks nightly in the fairground across the river. In May, Jerez de la Frontera shows off its Andalusian horses in the Feria del Caballo (Horse Fair). Corpus Christi (the second Thursday after Pentecost; June 7 in 2007) is celebrated with processions in Cádiz, Jerez, and Seville. In early June, worshippers make a Whitsuntide pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgen del Rocío (Virgin of the Dew) in the village of El Rocío (Huelva). The Asunción (Assumption) is celebrated throughout Spain on August 15, but especially in Seville, where it's the day of the city's patron, Nuestra Señora de los Reyes (Our Lady of the Kings). In September, all wine-producing towns in the province of Cádiz celebrate the Fiesta de la Vendimia (Grape Harvest Festival). Jerez's Fiesta de Otoño (Autumn Festival) is spectacular. Cádiz commemorates its patron, the Virgen del Rosario (Virgin of the Rosary), in October.

Flamenco

Seville and Jerez de la Frontera are headquarters for this quintessentially Andalusian art form combining dance, song, guitar, and percussion. Seville offers flamenco opportunities ranging from professional clubs to the grassroots amateur cante jondo (literally, "deep song") heard in little taverns, tablaos (clubs), and peñas (societies) all over town. What the commercial clubs lack in spontaneity they make up for in skill and polish, but authentic flamenco, with its true emotion, its duende (power or magnetism), is best found in performances that break out off the beaten tourist track. Head to the tascas (bars) of popular barrios, such as Triana and La Macarena, or in the great flamenco factory of Las Tres Mil Viviendas, Seville's outlying, largely Gypsy, community. Ask around -- at the tourism office, your hotel, or just about any bar -- for the peñas (societies), semiprivate clubs. In such places, improvised flamenco, the real thing, may materialize.