Getting ready for PIlgrim Commuters

It was overcast, colder and rain threatened but didn't fall all day. When I walked down to the quay this afternoon, a large cruise ship was moored alongside the Bahamas registered 'Braemar' run by Fred Olsen Cruise Line catering largely for the British market. It has nearly a thousand passengers and a three to one passenger to staff ratio. It's currently cruising around the Andalusian coast on an 'Orange Blossom Cruise'. There's certainly plenty to sniff in the Malaguenian air at the moment.

The Spring Fair trading stalls are open for business now, and the white wooden huts offer a striking backdrop for a colourful range of products on display. Over on the Alameda several more seating stands had arrived and been positioned ready to be moved into place when roads close for Semana Santa. Calle Marquesa de Larios was busy with visitors and shoppers. In the midst of it all was another Living Sculpture, I've not seen before, Jesus carrying his Cross to Calvary. Not an advert for the coming week, however, as there was a bowl out for donations in front.

I made an effort to count all the stacks of wooden chairs in this street, and reached a figure of more than seven thousand chairs, which will have to be laid out in time for Sunday. The huge raked seating stand in the Plaza de la Constitución, holds about another fifteen hundred seats, and then there's the seating in the Alameda which I haven't counted, but could add up to another couple of thousand at least. 

None of these places are free, but there's still room to spare for the many tens of thousands who will come and stand to watch the processions, like me. And not surprisingly, for there are 41 processional cofradias scheduled to take part during the eight days of devotion. Heaven knows how much it costs to turn a couple of main thoroughfares into a public arena, safe for people of all ages to gather. There are reckoned to be five million people visiting the city during the week. 

What I found striking when I was last here for Semana Santa in 2014, during my locum stay in Fuengirola, was how many of them came in from the coastal towns and inland areas on public transport, day after day. So many people taking time out to steep themselves in this re-telling of Christ's Passion story through images paraded through the city streets.