robbieroy,
A mere thank you is not enough for all of your wonderful posts on beautiful Spain. I'm looking forward to reading more from you. Gracias!

Carlos11 - thanks for your very positive comments. Keep coming back as Arturo will be posting some of his images as well.
Arturo..... remember, only 8 images per post!!

Monday 10th April
Today was mi día Andaluz... but more of that later. Arturo telephoned and hi trip to Sevilla went well. I look forward to reading his post and seeing some of the photos.
This morning I went shopping to the new El Corte Inglés in Fuengirola - very impressive and HUGE. There were lots of assistants around to help. I went shopping for some CDs. I had great fun trying to explain to one of the assistants that I was looking for a CD by an artist I had seen on TV, I could only describe what he looked like and the chorus of the song. Eventually 3 other assistants got involved and eventually we found it!!
Later I did some tennis practice and then off back to Benalmádena for the start of my día Andaluz.
There were four of us, my hostess, a teaching colleague of her´s and her daughter, who had just arrived from Madrid.
We had lunch at 2.30pm:
starters - various canopies such as tartlets with a variety of fillings and smoked cod and caviar on toast
Main course was an enormous paella, which tasted great
pudding was profiteroles

Here is the paella:


At 4.00pm we had a siesta and at 5.15pm set off for Málaga by car. The daughter of my hostess was driving.
I have had my car here on the Costa for about 4 or 5 years and have never been involved in an accident or even a minor bump. The daughter (who has just recently passed her driving test) had parked just in front of me (on a hill). Now she manged to reverse her car into mine - TWICE!!
Fortunately no damage was done.

On our arrival in Málaga, we went to her son's flat in the University area. Here are some shots of the area:




On our way to the preocessions we passed a couple of the "templos" where the tronos are stored. The doors are HUGE as you can see from the image below:



We then went directly to one of the processions, moved around and saw another and yet another.
The first one we saw was the "Crucifición" ' the confraría was the "Fervorosa Hermandad del Santismo Cristo de la Crucifición y María Santísima del Mayor Dolor en su Soledad"
Here, the youngsters are spreading insence

... and here is their trono:


continued........

There were two main events, the Gitanos procession and one of the best tronos - the Cautivo.
The Gitano procession was well worth seeing! The confradía is called (ready!!): "Venerable y muy Ilustre Hermandad y Confradía de Nazarenos de Nuestre Padre Jesús de la Columna y María Santísima de la O"
The procession was led by Gipsy women dressed in black:

Then came their statue of Christ:


Following this came their María (Virgin Mary):



Finally, the Penitentes were Gitanos who were singing and clapping:



We then ment to Bar Pimpi for some refreshments. This is probably one of the most famours bars in Málaga, frequented by the famous over the years. It was used by intellectuals as a meeting place for discussions or tertulias. They still have a room set aside for this purpose.

We then had a walk around the cathedral area and some of the side streets in the centre:








We had a break for tapas and drinks. We had a good selection of:
Morcilla de Burgos (black pudding)
Huevos Rotos - fried eggs with ham and peppers all mixed up
Berenjenas con miel - sliced aubergine and honey and
Croquettas of ham and cheese.

It was then back to the processions. By 10.00pm, the crowds were huge and it was difficult to move from place to place.
Exhaused, we caught the train back to Benalmádena and eventually reached the house hat 12.30am.
My día Andaluz was over and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Cultural note:
See Semana Santa processions live via the Internet.
Here are dome web sites where you can see live footage of Semana Santa processions from about 1800 European time:
Diario Sur

Canal Sur TV

Recorded Video for Andalucía Directo: Andalucia Directo

Final comments
Overall, it has been a great and the best things were the classes at Colegio Maravillas, staying with a Spanish family (and thanks to them, my Día Andaluz) and speaking Spanish all the time. Of course my times on the tennis court were worth the journey, as was seeing old friends and making new friends.
I have been in Spain many times at Easter, but this time, I lived "La Pasión del Sur" during part of Semana Santa and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
For those who have read this blog and have never been to Spain, I would highly recommend it. If you are interested in learning Spanish then an intensive course here in Spain in one of the best ways to learn.

Adiós
Robbieroy

PS Similar posts about learning Spanish in Spain can be found at the following links:
Christmas 2005: Back in Benalmádena with my books

October 2005: Learning Spanish in Madrid - Again

Summer 2005: Learning Spanish in Benalmadena

August 2005: Learning Spanish in Valencia

Easter 2005: Madrid - My experience learning Spanish Part 1

Happy Easter to all....

I just got back home last night and the two week vacation was one of my best ever. I really enjoyed the last four days in Milan, Lake Bellagio and Lake Como.

Rob -- I really like your photos, especially the slide show set to music.

Here are six photos from Benalmadena and Colegio Maravillas. I will post more at the end of the week. I will be very busy at work trying to catch up after being away for two weeks.

The School....


The Church....




Casa de Cultura....


Rosa's Grammar Class -- I am at the top left next to Rosa....


Satomi and Robbieroy....


More to follow....

Great Photos Arturo!
I look forward to reading about Sevilla and seeng the images in context.
RR

Here are some photos of the photos Monday of Holy Week in Malaga. It looks like Robbieroy and I were near to each other taking lots of photos. I also posted some photos of Palm Sunday in Sevilla. See About Spain -- Semana Santa Seville. Now it is time to start planning my next trip to Spain.....

Great photos once again Arturo. I think that you are right - we must have been near each other - but with all the people that there were.....
RR