On our
entry to Sevilla we had seen signs for the "Feria" without
knowing what it was. A little work with Google Translate
told us that it was "a fair". My frame of reference is
uniquely American so I immediately thought "county fair" with
animal, junk food and rides. Oh how wrong I was. We
were told that taxis would be in short supply and told further
that it was something that we should do without fail since we
were in town. So when fair day came, we laced our shoes
and headed out. None of us were prepared for what we would
encounter: the hotel staff did not brief us, nor did we
inquire, we just went.
The photos below are what we saw.
Right
outside our hotel we spotted this rig which caused us
pause. We had seen horse-drawn carriages, but nothing this
fancy. Particularly since the attendants were in dress.
Next we
started encountering waves of gals dressed to the nines.
The
theme is Flamenco and the tight, ruffled dresses were the order
of the day.
We
crossed the river and then headed west toward the fair
grounds. The closer we got, the more carriages we encountered,
each seemingly more ornate.
We
turned the corner and ..... whoa! A literal river of
people on foot headed for the fair grounds.
I stood
on a bus bench and shot a photo looking the other
direction. Note the attire -- this is a formal fair.
The
entry portal. Access was free.
Once
inside, we saw riders, carriages, folks in period costumes and
all formal.
There
were seemingly hundreds of carriages, each loaded with nicely
dressed passengers, many holding glasses of sherry in their
hands. All the carriage drivers were in formal attire.
I chose
some random women and asked if they would allow a photo.
Suits,
ties and formal attire. This was a nice carriage.
These
horses were perhaps Percheron, but too small for Clydesdales.
The
precession of carriages just kept coming and coming.
This
team is fighting, pushing against one another and nearly falling
in the process. Note them leaning into one another and the
driver on the cell phone.
This is
a team of 5 with 3 in front and 2 in the back. The numbers
on the carriages seemed to suggest perhaps there was a judging
competition, but not all carriages had numbers.
While
there were common themes in the costumes, each was different.
A lot of
the teams had bells on them as a way of saying "look at
me". Not unlike a loud Harley today.
This
fellow was a one-off for a bunch of reasons. First, it was
a two wheel carriage. Second a one man driver and third he
was in military garb.
This
team had knitted ear shields that prevented the bugs from
getting in the horse's ears so they did not spook.
White
and dappled grey horses.
Period
garb, although the girls did not look too happy.
Another
shiny coach and mounted riders. This was not a formal
procession, but rather in appeared to be a "see and be seen"
event.
Period
garb and a side-saddle rider. Ladies do not spread their
legs on the horse's back.
Along
the route were little casitas that had food and drink.
This one was a public casita, most of the others were sponsored
or private.
The hardware just
kept coming and coming. I am guessing that there were
hundreds of carriages and teams.
Some of the riders
dismounted to get some sherry.
The inside of the
public casita was a mad house. The local news was there
covering the events.
Many of the mothers
dressed their daughters in costume. It had to have cost
a ton. There were so many folks, we postulated that most
of Sevilla was there. A whole-town costume ball.
This was a serious
event. The city had a fleet of trucks that were driving
around spraying the streets to keep the dust down. The
dirt walkways had been moistened earlier in the day to prevent
dust. Behind the sprayer was a sweeper to remove the
horse droppings.
This was one of the
few female drivers I saw. She was pretty, but not too
pleased about me taking her photo.
The whole clan got
into costume for the event.
The topper was this
team of miniature horses and children drivers. The
carriage was scaled to the horses.
On our exit we
encountered waves of gals dressed in costume coming into the
plaza.
As we crossed over
the Rio Guadalquivir we spotted this garbage scow docked on the
river front.
As we got close to
the hotel, we spotted the conveyance for the horses.
There were a number
of these rigs parked on the main street. These trucks
are expensive and I can only guess that the carriages are as
well.
Mere words do not do this event justice. The chaos of folks on foot and horses and carriages is hard to describe. There seemed to be no pattern to the motion, but it was continual in nature. It was totally different that an American county fair. There were rides, but we avoided that area as we had see those rides in America.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2017, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.