El Rocio

A small pilgrimage village (aldea) in the municipality of Almonte (Huelva), set on the edge of the Doñana marshes. Its core is the Santuario de Nuestra Señora del Rocío, a 20th‑century neo‑baroque hermitage that houses the revered statue of the Virgin of El Rocío, known as La Blanca Paloma. Each Pentecost, more than a million pilgrims arrive on foot, horseback and in ox‑drawn wagons for the Romería de El Rocío, one of Spain’s largest and most famous religious festivals, declared of International Tourist Interest and now a Bien de Interés Cultural. Outside the festival, El Rocío remains a quiet, low‑rise settlement of white houses, stables and brotherhood headquarters amid wetlands and pine woods.