The second definition for El Romero is pilgrim. And that is what nearly a million people from across Andalucia and the whole of Spain do every year, being a pilgrim. El Rocio is the most important and most colourful pilgrimage which follows on Semana Santa. It all takes place halfway between the provinces of Huelva, Seville and Cádiz, in the Natural Park Doñana. A labyrinth of land and water that shapes the marshes, spectacular lakes and channels, reserves and pine forests, streams and banks, dunes, beaches and cliffs. On horseback, carriages pulled by oxes, on foot all kinds of ways to get to the tiny village of El Rocio where every year the Virgin will be carried out of the church into the crowds. I have experienced this pilgrimage all by chance, being on holiday not knowing anything about it but told by the kind lady of the hostal to go and see it. She said, just put your thumb up and somebody will stop and take you along. And so it went and it was one of the most unforgettable holidays of my life. To give you an impression have a look at the below photos, but you really have to see it live to believe it.
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