Andalusia is for spring
Life in Andalusia is the best life and everyone who has had the opportunity to enjoy it knows that. This statement is true any time of the year, even to the summer months when the sweltering heat can cloud the mind. At such times one should cool off as much as possible, drink plenty of water and seek shelter in the shade, but one never stops loving this land. Of course, when you love it most is perhaps in spring, when the temperatures are more pleasant, less invasive, and the community blooms and fills with colors and parties and joy and people. Andalusia is there to be experienced and, if possible, in spring.
Grazalema in bloom. | ShutterstockSpring arrives and with it the thaw, which is the phenomenon that can be enjoyed in the Altiplano of Granada. The peaks are emptied of snow and this ends up in the reservoirs of Negratín, El Portillo and San Clemente, something that is always worth contemplating. For the more nostalgic, Sierra Nevada, also in Granada, will retain its taste for winter for a while.
But, in general, spring arrives in Andalusia. In the Axarquia region of Malaga, the white and pink of the almond and cherry trees compete with the greenery of the countryside to see who gets the attention of the traveler. They are a perfect duo to welcome this season that lands covering everything with colors in its path. The same happens in Sierra Magina, in Jaen, a region that also knows a lot about how the landscape is transformed during the flowering season.
Between Málaga and Cádiz, the Sierra de Grazalema offers a rural experience starring more than forty species of orchids. Holm oaks, olive groves and chestnut trees flood the Sierra de Aracena, in Huelva. Meanwhile, Seville is invaded by orange trees, white flowers and the characteristic scent of orange blossom. Andalusia blooms these months in an amazing spectacle.
Courtyard in Córdoba. | Asociación de Patios of Córdoba
Just as the patios of Córdoba bloom, which are filled with flowers and pots of all colors to celebrate the arrival of good weather. The festival of courtyards, as this official contest is known, which lasts a few days, allows neighbours and also travelers to visit these historic corners, who understand how important the flower season is for this land.
It is also the time when the great pilgrimage of the south is celebrated: the pilgrimage of El Rocío, with which trails with hundreds of years of antiquity that run through the vicinity of Guadalquivir are traveled. And it is time, of course, for the Holy Week processions, which, depending on which Andalusian province you look at, have different expressions, but always the same feeling.
The village of El Rocío | Shutterstock
The April Fair in Seville is perhaps the most popular, but it is not the only one. It is also the time of the Horse Fair in Jerez, where this animal, flamenco and wine seduce the visitor. With the Cruces de Mayo (May Crosses), Andalusia explotes with color by dressing with flowers this religious symbol.
The Andalusian streets are filled to celebrate these traditions and many others, to enjoy the arrival of good weather and to welcome with its cheerful and friendly character to all those who want to join in coming from other places. To conclude this journey, we must not forget the following: the so-called Romantic Viewpoint of the Alhambra in Granada opens to the public also with the arrival of spring, until the autumn stalks. Sometimes you wish it would never come, especially if you have the opportunity to enjoy the above in this community.
