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Yesterday was the Fiesta of San Cecilio ,the patron saint of Granada. It is celebrated yearly on the first sunday of February. I had never been to this fiesta before so I managed to struggle out of bed on Sunday morning and go to the plaza nueva in the centre of Granada to find out what was happening.
I know a lot of people are up to their necks in snow right now and Im not trying to make anyone too jealous here....but I have to say the day was Glorious. For February it was unseasonably warm and sunny.
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Now apparently San Cecilio was martyred by the Romans and his remains are buried in the monastery of the sacromonte. Every year there is a pilgrimage to his remains. This was to be my first ever pilgrimage. Im glad I had good shoes on, its along walk. After joining the crowd along the Rio Darro I followed everyone up to the cuesta Chapiz, I hill I am particularly not fond of climbing!
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More and more people arrived as I walked. It seemed as if the whole town were going to be at the fiesta. The narrow road of the Sacromonte became more packed full of pilgrims on their way to the monastery
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I thought that by now we must be nearly there...I had not walked the monastery before and it was starting to get hot...also I was severely regretting the party that i went to the night before but I felt the walk must be doing me some good. By the time I got the venta del gallo, the sacromonte had turned unto a throbbing sea of people.
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After our pilgrimage the fiesta started and like all good spanish fiestas there was lots of food, beer, dancing, horses, beautiful women .....and Flamenco.
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...and a huge paella. The day was almost perfect, the trees in blossom, happy people, sunny weather, flamenco on every corner. I would definately say this is a good day to visit Granada.
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