Palm Sunday

In all the years we've been coming to Almuñecar we've only been here for the Semana Santa once before ... in 2020, when everything was cancelled because people couldn't even leave their homes. So we were determined to catch the action this time.

There were two processions today, one in the morning and one in the evening. They ramp up during the week to as many as four a day. Having studied the itinerary, we decided it wasn't worth leaving the house before 9 pm. Much to our surprise, we found a parking space easily. It involved a bit of a walk, but I'm happy to trade walking for easy parking.

Equally surprising given our lack of experience -- our estimate of where the procession would have got to was spot on. We had though it would be most interesting to follow it in the old town, and we caught up with the stationary back of it, along with massive crowds. Happily we know the labyrinthine old town well enough to quickly nip along a deserted parallel street in order to get round to the front.

The narrow streets were packed with people. By sheer chance we had ended up at an excellent location: a hairpin bend, with a flight of steps leading off it that created a perfectly raked viewing area so everyone could see. In fact I ended up on the front row of this which meant I was almost too close to the action.

The massive floats (sorry, can't think of a more appropriate name for them) with the saints on them are carried by a dozen men who can't see where they are going except through a few gaps in the wooden frieze. Getting round our hairpin bend was extremely delicate -- it was only about a foot wider than the length of the float. Three besuited men surrounded it, yelling instructions over the racket of the brass band. "One step forward ... one step back .. sideways ... one step back!" There were inches to spare. Meanwhile the packed audience had to squeeze out of the way as best we could.

I hope the bearers get to do it in shifts -- the procession leaves the church at 6 pm and doesn't get back till half past midnight. It's a large procession (hundreds of people) and  moves very slowly! It took around an hour and a half for the whole thing to move past our spot. It must be exhausting. 

There's a very small album -- I took a lot of photos but they are very noisy. I did the best I could!