The Mule Teams of El Rocio

by Donna Taylor, France

I was only back from my wonderful America trip two weeks when I packed my bags again and flew down to the south of Spain with Colin. We were going to hire a car and travel around the Andalusian region for ten days.

I knew that I was going to see many Andalusian horses, but I was also in for a big surprise and a real treat…I got to meet many mules!

We firstly flew into the beautiful city of Seville. It’s the fourth largest city in Spain and extremely popular with tourists. Seville is well known for the Alcazar, a Moorish-Renaissance royal palace with beautiful gardens, and also the Cathedral and Bell Tower. There were no mules in the city but I did see many horses pulling carriages taking tourists for rides around the city. We spent two nights there seeing as much of Seville as we could. 

Leaving the city, we drove a few hours south to a town called El Rocio. There is so much to tell you about this place as it is certainly no ordinary town. As you come off the main road and approach El Rocio, the road surface turns from tarmac to sand and every single street is made up of sand with hitching posts outside every house. El Rocio is not a big town, but it looks just like a film set in the wild west of America. 

El Rocio is nestled on the edge of the wild lagoons and marshes of Donana National Park. It has a big history of wild horses, pilgrimages and brotherhoods. It is famous for it’s annual Romeria…the Rocio Pilgrimage at Pentecost when the town is overflowing with a mass of a million pilgrims, either on foot or with horses and decorated carts.

To think that a million pilgrims, plus many horses and carts, descend on this little town is so hard to believe. The pilgrims come from afar and, along all the route, they will be drumming or playing flutes. It is the most popular pilgrimage in the Andalusian region and is full of music, colour and joy. On that Sunday night, no one sleeps in anticipation of being able to enter the church and join in the procession of the Virgin of El Rocio. 

Unfortunately we were not there to witness this great event, but having El Rocio nearly to ourselves made it much more relaxing and enjoyable. 

We arrived on a Wednesday and driving to our hotel was like driving through a ghost town. All the houses were closed up, hardly any cars were parked and there was an eerie silence in the streets. It was one of the most bizarre towns I have ever visited. 

We were told that during the off-peak season and during the week, the town remains empty with only a handful of restaurants and a few hotels and shops open, but come the weekend or summer months, the town is packed and all the home owners come with their families, friends and of course their equines.

Many of the big houses are owned by rich people and within their domain are rooms for their families, guests and staff, plus there are stables and a big yard for their horses. 

We arrived at our hotel which was once a grand family residence. I realized straight away when I walked into the internal courtyard and saw three stables and a shower area for horses that I was going to be very happy staying at this quaint hotel. Unfortunately there were no horses staying at the hotel whilst we were there but, what I didn’t realize was that I was going to be seeing lots of horses whilst we were staying at El Rocio. 

Once we unpacked our suitcases, we decided to take a drive around this small town to get our bearings. We jumped into the car and within a minute I saw some equines pulling a wagon coming towards me. “Hang on Colin, stop the car,” I said abruptly. I jumped out with my camera and low and behold there were two beautiful mules pulling the wagon. What a lovely unexpected surprise.

Although El Rocio really feels like a ghost town, the church was always busy with tourists coming to pay their respects. And, whilst they were there, many took the advantage of taking a carriage ride around the village. I could not believe my luck…all the carriage rides were pulled by mules. During our stay at El Rocio, I got to see one, two, three, four and even five mules pulling wagons. It absolutely made my trip to see them all and they were all in very good condition which pleased me even more.

During the evenings in El Rocio, equine owners would parade around the town either on horseback or driving a wagon. Many were just exercising their equines, but some were dressed up in the Andalusian costumes and looked very elegant. 

On the edge of El Rocio are marshes that are part of the Donana National Park. There are many wild horses that roam all over the park, especially on the marshes in the summer months. During the winter, the marshes are covered in water. We would regularly see the wild horses in groups with their foals. It was such a beautiful sight.

However, every year on June 26, there is an event called the Saca de las Yeguas. Many riders get together on this day and round up all the wild horses in the Donana National Park. They are then taken to a small town called Almonte. There they are shod and put up for sale. The horses that don’t sell are released back into the wild. 

Whilst we were staying in El Rocio, we visited the Donana National Park. It is known for its wetlands, migratory birds, pine forests and shifting coastal dunes. There is also a beautiful twentieth-century palace called the Palacio del Acebron which is the national park’s visitor centre. 

Donana National Park has been designated a UNESCO biosphere reserve. It is heavily protected and visitor access is limited beyond the beaches, trails, bird hides and lagoons that are near to the numerous visitor centres. We took a morning trip into the park with an official guide in one of the four wheel drive vehicles. It was so much fun driving over all the dunes and into the forests. We got to see wild horses, flamingos, red deer and many different birds. We also were driven down a 24 mile beautiful beach. It is one of the few large stretches of undeveloped coastlines remaining in Spain.

Although El Rocio was the highlight of our trip, we still had two more places to visit, Jerez de la Frontera and Ronda, but that’s for next time!