The Festival of Nations in Seville is almost 25 years old! The tourist season is in full gear! What a difference from the summer when Seville is a ghost town, thanks to the intense heat. The locals leave town for their holiday homes, but now that work and school has started, they are back in town.
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Festival of Nations Seville:
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Festivale de las Naciones:
The Festival of Nations is a collaboration between Human Rights activists, humanitarians, educators and with the cooperation of the local government. The purpose is to combat racism and xenophobia. The objective is to help immigrants integrate into Spanish society. This of course has the added benefit of showing the locals that there is nothing to fear from foreigners.
I think this is such an innovative and awesome thing to do. It’s being going strong for over 20years and becomes a bigger celebration on a yearly basis. The atmosphere is lively and joyful and is attended by loads of people over the month that it happens. Each year, more and more people discover this event and it is fun to check out.
Shopping at the festival:
Where does the Festival of Nations take place in Seville:
The Festival of Nations takes place at the Prado de San Sebastian park which is very close to the Seville center, right outside of the metro stop, so it make it very convenient. The entrance has huge bouncy rides for kids, a small petting zoo and a little train depot for their entertainment.
Continuing on, there are vendors selling handmade crafts from different places. Clothes from Mexico, Jade from India, lots of beaded jewelry and shoes and even a booth with products made from “oro vegetal”- gold from vegetable oil? I’ve never heard of that before. The pieces looked so beautiful. I would however, be afraid that the gold would tarnish quickly, or that l would have a reaction to it. My skin is unfortunately very sensitive.
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Seville Festival: Food
As much as l like the knickknacks, our main objective was to eat, and eat some more food! 🙂 . We were not disappointed with the offerings. Towards the rear of the park were the booths representing different countries… hallelujah!
We went in the early evening while there was still daylight. It wasn’t as packed then either,and there were still plenty of seats at the different restaurants. Make sure to walk around the whole place first and see what sort of food are on offer. Resist the urge to eat at the first booth because you might find something you like better. It’s hard to resist though :-).
It was quite clear that we would have to return to the festival at least five more times to really experience all the variety of food. A good thing if you live in Seville, not so good if you’re on a vacation!. Unless you are a glutton, there was no way to eat everything in one go 🙂 !.
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Venezuela, Mexico, U.S.A, Russia, Dominican Republic, Brazil, and quite a few more countries had booths and incredible food being cooked by the natives of said countries, so very authentic food. The smell is intoxicating to say the least and you feel as if you want it all.
Looking at all the countries participating in the Festival of Nations though, some were missing. Japan, Thailand, Senegal and Jamaica for instance were not there. I can only assume that they take turns, or as time goes by, more countries will join in.
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Program for the Festival of Nations:
Music is very much a part of the Festival of Nations. A big stage is set up yearly for the performances. You can find the program for 2019 here. Sevillanos love staying up late, so a lot of the shows are on starting from 10PM for the good ones. They do have kiddie shows too, so if you bring kids, you can come earlier and enjoy the activities they have for them.
There is plenty of space to dance! Shows include flamenco, hip-hop and world music. You’re bound to find something to love. The festival takes place over a month, so there is no excuse not to attend. This year, the festival runs through November 3, 2019.
If visiting Seville, you should definitely stop by. Most shows end at 11.30pm on weekdays and 1am on weekends. The lively night atmosphere is something l have come to love about living in Spain. I love being among huge groups and not feeling apprehensive about some idiot having a gun or someone starting a fight.
There was not a single police man in sight! Families are out, people with dogs were out, parents pushing strollers and everyone having fun. The sense of safety is priceless. I think you will find that is something every expat feels good about. Of course there will always be opportunistic crime, but that’s true everywhere.
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Admission is FREE tot he Festival!!!! I love that. Of course you still have to pay for your food and drinks, but the prices are pretty reasonable. My beef empanadas from Brazil was only €2.50 and it was stuffed..with actual beef..not that weird combination beef/pork, awful tasting concoction that l always complain about.. 🙂 .
The booths are divided into sections and feature food from the areas. For instance, there is a Mexico section where you can get tacos and Modelo beer and other typical Mexican food. There is a Brazilian area, Morocco, Cuba and so on. It’s nice being able to try food from different places.
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Looking for a hotel for your Seville vacation? Start here:
What do you think of the Festival of Nations? Are you adventurous and enjoy trying different foods? or would you just look for your country’s booth and call it a day? 🙂
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Very colorful, looks like a lot of fun! The paella looks great, I haven’t had decent paella in a long time.
They have festivals like this in Montreal, usually centered on different wines, beer or food from around the world. Always lots of fun.
Frank (bbqboy)
It was!In the Puerto Rico section, there was this guy with a guitar singing that Juan Tanamera song in the most soulful voice. It was so cool. I have been to a couple of festivals with wine too, and l when we were in Berlin, we saw their version, but theirs was more like a carnival with parades. That was fun too.
I’d love to be there – especially for the food, I must admit it, as I love to try new types of food, but also for the entire experience. I am sure that it’s really nice to be surrounded by so many different things, hear Russian music here, Brazilian music there and eat some traditional Dominican Republic dishes while exploring. I also liked the colorful shoes (for my lady, of course, I wouldn’t look that good wearing them) and I am intrigued about the vegetable gold – definitely something to read a bit about!
My eyes were bulging out. The smells were intoxicating, and we had a hard time deciding which food to eat. That’s when we said we would have to return for more food 🙂 . I was hoping someone would have plantains, fried the way l like it, but the closest was the tostones from the D.R. I don’t much care for those, they are salty, not sweet. It is my hope that Jamaica will have some. Yeah.. I really want to find out about the gold thing. It looked better than the gold plated jewelry that you see, but l still wonder if it will tarnish.
That looks fun and yummy indeed. Love trying out new things, that’s what it’s all about. The paella spoke to me, as well as the shoes and the “vegetable” gold. I will look that up ! I’ve been to numerous state/county fairs and always love the foods they offer. Well, I do draw the line at fried butter and the likes but generally speaking, all around the world you’ll find amazing food.
I agree with yummy for sure! I love the way you say the paella spoke to you!!. I’m glad to know l’m not the only one that food speaks to! 🙂 . I am really curious about that gold too, it looked really nice. As soon as l finish my online Spanish lesson for today, l am looking it up. If it’s any good, l might just get some. His stand was definitely busy. Fried butter??? Oh say it isn’t so! That just sounds disgusting. I thought deep fried chocolate bars sounded awful, but this sounds like it beats it ..WHO would eat that?? 😉
This looks like a fun event with a good cause. The food looks delicious. I hear you about the comfort of being able to go somewhere without fearing some violent outbreak. I’m even a little paranoid when I go to the movies now. :-/
It was definitely a good cause. It was also nice to see so many couples like us, with kids of every shade 🙂 . Yeah.. I don’t blame you for being paranoid. It is unfortunately a realty of life..so sad, there are just so many nut jobs out there, and it will keep getting worse.. 🙁 .
It looks divine, particularly on this grey rainy London morning! Trying authentic empanadas is on my to do list.
On a serious note its heartwarming to see a concerted effort being made to welcome & support immigrants. I have heard some negative stuff about how they are discriminated against in some areas of Spain, especially black people/Africans. Did you see any booths from African countries?
Yeah, part of the reason we have to make return visits is that there were still some countries missing. I think because it takes place over 6 weeks, they probably rotate the booths. It is definitely a good thing that they are making a real effort to educate the people. I think people fear what they don’t understand, and this shows them that everyone is the same. I have heard negative stuff too, but luckily have not witnessed any like l did in Malta towards the black Africans. The booths missing from Africa include Camerún, Costa de Marfil, Egipto, Madagascar, Marruecos, Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania y Zaire. That day there was Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Cuba and l think Algeria. The empanadas? Terrific!!! 🙂 .
Yeah, fear and ignorance can create some unpleasant situations:-(
Sad to hear Malta has treated others poorly; I visited a few months ago and my experience was largely good.
On a lighter note, I like how you spelled the names of African countries in Spanish.:-D
You are so right Lili, unfortunately 🙁 . So glad you enjoyed Malta, it really is a beautiful place. I wish l could take credit for the Spanish names..haha! but l can not lie. I copied it directly from the Festival’s page.. 🙂 . Someday though..
As usual your pictures of food never fail to disappoint! I love the sandals. They look really comfortable!
I thought so too about the shoes. The colors are so bold. They would go well with Nigerian outfits as they run the color gamut.. haha!!! Thanks for the compliment 🙂 , and welcome back!
I just love these types of festivals. Fuengirola has a fabulous International festival that usually takes place end of April early May, although the United States casita can use a bit of updating it is still so much fun and by the beach too. 😉
Here was l thinking that Malaga didn’t have one! I should have known :-). I am definitely going to have to remember that for next year. Funny you mention that about the U.S casita, this one was just okay too, we wouldn’t have even noticed it but for the huge Budweiser sign and the ribs 🙂 . Perhaps we should start following these food festivals..haha..like following the Grateful Dead, but food! Mmmmmm.. 🙂
Now that sounds like a grand idea. lol!
🙂 ! and l am full of other useless ones too!!! haha!!!
I loved this post. We could spend days there! I noticed that the festival lasts quite a bit longer. I like that it is different than here. Here, festivals last a weekend, you know. Or maybe a week if you’re lucky.—All the food looked delicious. We love to eat new dishes. (But not the cockroach salad Jenny at And Three to Go posted. I don’t know about that.) Cultural cuisine helps broaden our diet here at home with inspiration. (We have several food intolerances so certain foods are limited which if you’re not careful, could lead to boring food.)–Anyhow, I’d love this festival and so would my family.—Adios, mi amiga nueva.
Hola amiga! Yeah..food definitely gets my juices flowing. I was stunned too when l heard this goes on for 6 weeks. It is great though, if you really want to go, then there is no excuse for missing it. I also like the fact that there are concerts. The pictures from last year look really nice and colorful, so l am definitely hoping we see some. That sucks about the food intolerance, but it’s nice that you are able to make food interesting 🙂 . Yeah.. I would totally skip the cockroach..haha..protein or not!!!
Oh my goodness, I want all the things!
Haha! That was me the whole evening. If only my belly matched my eyes, l would be all set!!! 🙂 .
Absolutely looks great. I would go there. Lead the way. ‘Love the photographs. Very, very nice indeed especially the flaming sausages and the crepes. 🙂 🙂
Okay then, let’s go! Thanks for the compliment, and yep..both were really good. I swear l wanted to do the grandmother kind of thing – take the bowl of salsa for the sausages and stick it in my purse..it was that good 🙂 .
Knowing me I would go for the food. There seems to be no shortage in variety. I love the idea of the festival especially now with the migrant crisis.
Good point about the crisis now. It’s definitely a good idea overall. Food is definitely a good thing..always 🙂 . I love tapas, but it is also nice to have something different sometimes. We are headed back tomorrow evening with some friends for more food 🙂 . Venezuela, and Jamaica, here l come, l just hope someone has plantains 🙂 🙂 🙂 .