Domingo de Pascua (Easter Sunday)

We signed up for the Arcos dela Frontrera tour by MWR to observe the 'Running of the Bull' locally termed 'Toros de Aleluya'. At twelve o'clock on Easter Sunday, a bull is released in La Plazuela and another one at three o'clock. The crowd and locals from the balconies and terraces cheer on the brave??? people "running with the bull". Here's a poster of this year's event.

Arcos dela Frontrera is considered the capital of the 'white villages' and is located on a hilltop. There's only one main street on either side of the town and the alleys are narrow and steep. There's a lot of history here but we mainly came to observe the Easter celebration.

We arrived about 9:00 and the parking lots were almost full. Made our way up the steep road and walked around the main plaza checking out what the vendors have to offer. Had some fresh-cooked churros and also observed how the dough was dispensed (looked like intestines coming out) on the vat of hot oil.








There was already a big crowd when we got to the running route with most of the choice spots taken. People were sitting on the rails as well as the protective barriers along the wall. There was a very festive atmosphere with people talking, singing, drinking, eating - basically just having a good time.









The release of the first bull was announced by setting off fireworks at 12:00. We didn't get to see it right away because we were upstreet from where it was released and the crowd kept it occupied there for a while. The only sign we can see are the people running away and then coming back.










The bull was really tired by the time it got to our area because it wasn't really moving much even if someone was tugging its horns. They even had matador's capes to get its attention but it only made some swipes and just stood there. Mom was able to take some good pictures because she got closer to the wall while I had to extend my arm over my head and observe the LCD screen to keep track of the action below.

We made our way up the hill after the bull was roped and taken away to do some sightseeing and shopping. The panoramic view from Cabildo Square is great but not as grand as Ronda which is a lot higher.

This is the entrance to the Church of Santa Maria which is the main church for the village. For a bit of history, it is the oldest and most distinguished according to the decree of The Holy Tribunal of 1764 in Rome and was built from a solid stone mass.

The bell tower for the Church of Santa Maria and is the best known sight for visitors to Arcos and is a mixture of many different architectural styles. It was a replacement for the original that was destroyed in the earthquake of 1755 (famous for destroying Lisbon) and was intended to be the tallest in Andalucia after Seville's, but the money ran out so it was never completed.

Here's a picture of the buttresses that were installed in 1699 to hold back pressure of the church wall, following an earthquake in 1696 which had cracked the church's foundation. It is quite likely that these additions saved the church from destruction during the later 1755 earthquake.

Whole blocks are pretty much built as one structure so if you walk too fast, you'll miss some of the more historical locations. An example is the Convent of the Incarnation which was founded in the 16th century. With the exception of the ornately designed entrance door, it doesn't look much like a convent. It was formerly a chapel and then a hospital in the 15th century.

This is the facade of the Chapel of Mercy. It was founded around 1490 as a children's home, women's refuge and hospital. It was closed for siesta time so we didn't get to see the carved images of the first Dukes of Arcos de la Frontera.

Here are some more pictures of the crowds, scenic views and narrow alleys:

Sabado Santo (Holy Saturday)

There were no processions today so we just attended the services on base. It was held at 5:30 and the sun was still very high so lighting the candles wasn't really as solemn. It was still a long ceremony because of the baptism and one adult was also confirmed. We went home after the mass and just watched the church services and replays of the processions on TV.

Good Friday (Viernes Santo)

The first procession was supposed to start at 2:00 am at the Nuestra Senora dela O Church and finish at 12:00 noon. I did my morning workout as usual after dropping off mom and then proceeded to the church at 10:30. I thought I was early but the plaza infront of the church was packed including the streets leading into it. I was able to squeeze through after so many 'Perdons' but only got to the entrance. Here's the Castillo dela Luna and the front of the church.








The float was of Jesus carrying the cross and the 'costaleros' were probably very tired but they still went through the ritual of swaying to the band's music and then then turn the float around to meet the Virgen Dolorosa's float. I never got close enough to take good pictures so I just raised the camera and aimed towards the floats hoping for a good shot.

The Nazareno float has been turned around and was backed up to create room for the other float.








The Virgen Dolorosa float arrives and is being maneuvered to meet with the Nazareno float. The floats were not moved close enough to each other so I wasn't able to include both in the picture.








The Nazareno is finally being moved back towards the church with the other float following behind a bit later. The ritual lasted almost 2 hours.








We returned later on to watch the evening processions and went to the San Roque church first since theirs as scheduled to start at 7:00. We waited patiently and watched the locals pass their time away chatting/eating bird seed and just dumping the shells on the ground. Our wait was in vain because it started sprinkling so the procession was cancelled and the services held inside the church.








Here's one of the barefooted Nazarenos after the procession.

We walked over to the other church hoping that the weather will clear up so that the procession can proceed. We staked our spots on the bleachers along the way and just enjoyed watching the local folks greet their friends and chat after doing their 'beso-beso' on both cheeks. It's just too bad that this was also cancelled after the rain started pouring hard about 9:00. There's always next year anyway so we just went home and watched the processions at the other areas on TV.

Holy Thursday (Jueves Santo)

We signed up for the MWR Tour to Sevilla since this is the biggest and most famous celebration in Spain. Driving there is out of the question because the downtown area is pretty much shut down and the parking areas are outside the city. The bus left at noon and arrived about 2:30 with one rest stop. After getting city maps from the Tourist Information Center by the Cathedral, the tour guide took us the central viewing area where all the processions will be passing through.

There were bleachers with barricades set up in front along the route for the floats to pass through. Walking down the streets was a bit dangerous because the candle wax droppings were thick due to the week-long processions and the heat of the sun had made it slippery.








We had ice cream at McDonalds since it was very hot and then walked around because the first procession was not due to pass by until 5:00 pm. The locals were dressed up for the occassion with women wearing their black 'mantillas' for the mourning. I first took snapshots as they walked by but they came out blurry so I decided to just ask them. They were very accommodating and I even had three couples pose for a group picture.

This solo shot reminded me one of Inay's picture where she was wearing a white dress. Very elegant and distinguished. One of the men asked me if I was Japanese - probably because I had 2 cameras hanging on my neck. They also gave us 3 religious postcards of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary.


We decided to go to one of the churches and observe the float as it left the church. We saw a Nazareno walking by and just followed him. We walked through alleys and pretty soon we were following more of them until we finally got to the church. They were just forming up at the back of the church and there were also young boys and girls. They didn't have their caps on yet because it was too hot.

We walked around to the front of the church which was small and not very prominent. It was part of the whole block and wedged between business establishments. There was a lot of people there already so we picked a spot directly infront which had a small tree for a bit of shade.

The float didn't come out until about 5:30 and people were packed tight. There was a couple infront of me sitting on plastic chairs and a big family behind me with an old woman on a wheelchair who was just plain loud. When I moved to my left for a better view, she scolded me right away because I was blocking her but settled down a bit when she saw that I was taking pictures. Mom was able to move closer but there were tall people infront of her so she had to extend her hand up to take pictures. This float depicted the Agony in the Garden.

It was taking a long time for the procession to move because of the congestion so we decided not to wait for the Virgen Dolorosa float to come out and started heading back around 6:15. Our bus was supposed to leave at 7:15 and we we're worried about getting stuck behind the crowd and the other processions. We had to detour a few times to avoid the congestion and made it to the meeting point at the Torre de Oro (below) at 7:00.

The bus left on time and arrived on base around 9:30. The trip was a bit longer this time because the driver used a different road to avoid the traffic.