A small village 15 km from Matalascañas beach, which can be reached by
a road passing between Doñana National Park and the Pre-Park area,
taking in some incomparable landscape on the way.
On the edge of the "marismas" (saltmarshes) and surrounded by simple houses,
stands, majestic white-walled ermita de la Virgen del Rocío (Hermitage
of the Virgin of tje Dew).
Throughout the year many visitors come to se the Blanca Paloma (White
Dove), as the Virgin is popularly known. However, the main reason for
the hermitage and village is the Whitsun celebration of the Romeria del
Rocío (The Rocío Pilgrimage). A million pilgrims from all
over Spain gather here, many on horseback wearing traditional costume
associated with the pilgrimage, accompaying the ox-drawn carts of their
parochial brotherhoods (hermandades). The Pilgrimage makes for an unforgottable
occasion full of high spirits and religious devotion.
