It’s been exactly one year since Europe started to see and feel the unfortunate spillover effect of the covid-19 virus. If only we would have known what was awaiting us.
I had just arrived in the south of Spain, in Malaga, on Wednesday the 11th of March. People started to feel uneasy when people were coughing in public, but that was about it. Even in Spain, a country hit so hard during the first wave, people were unable to grasp what was about to come.
In fact, the lockdown came quite sudden over there. Rumored it was that measures were on their way for the upcoming week, but Saturday the 15th of March all still seemed relatively normal in Seville, the Andalusian city we were staying at the time. Restaurants, cafes and terraces were still open, and measures of keeping distance weren’t in effect, yet. Famous hotspots, such as the ‘Metropol Parasol’ (the giant wooden ‘mushroomed’ structure, see pictures below) were still open.
As we were eating some tapas during the evening at the famous Calle Argote de Molina, things suddenly began to change. The government had announced a lockdown coming into effect in only a couple of hours. The next morning, on our way out, the immediate effect was visible, as all was closed down. Walking a couple of blocks back to our car, we made some pictures of the emptiness.
Looking back at these pictures (note that some, like the ones on Metropol Parasol, were taken on Saturday the 15th, the day before the lockdown), I’m struck by the eerie images of the typically bustling streets and alleys, neighborhoods and touristy hotspots in Seville. For sure it was a trip to remember:
