Again, I apologize for taking so long to put up a new blog post. I spend most of my time enjoying the city, and fewer hours on the computer. (But I do always make time for Facebook...) Anyway, last week was the festival for La Mercè, the patron saint of Barcelona. Because of that, I had an incredible five day weekend filled with Catalunyan fun! As we go along today I will give a bit of a history and culture lesson. Which is surprisingly fun! Ready set go!!
Mercè kicked off on Thursday night, and so did I. A good night out with friends is always a fun time. Especially when you can practice your Spanish. Or meet people from England. It's all fun. However, I really started to enjoy Mercè on Friday afternoon when my friend Ryan and I went to Ciutadella. There was karaoke, open mic style, that the kids were singing along to (the songs being old Johnny Cash tunes) and then older couples dancing to the music nearby. Very interesting experience, but hey, a party's a party. I also meandered accidentally into a wine festival. But don't worry, I did not have the funds to take part. But, here is a picture of me at the festival at the 3 Dragon Castle. Woohoo!
The first activity of my Friday night was to hit the town with my airplane buddy, Sarah. We went to one of my favorite places in Barcelona, called L'Ovella Negra (The Black Sheep) for the best sangria in the city. Plus, with this as the logo, how can I not love it here? After our favorite beverage, and making some new friends, we hit one of the many concerts in the area. I have no idea who the band were, but they were a bunch of old British rockers, so who am I to complain? And the concert was in the middle of the Plaça Real, which is gorgeous at anytime of the day or night.
Saturday was the biggest Mercè day for me, though. In the morning I ran down to Plaza de St. Jaume to watch the Castells (Human Towers) It's a Catalan tradition, and a big competition. I got to watch some of the teams put on their black sashes, which are actually used to support their backs, and to give a foothold for those climbing up. Here's one of my favorite pictures from the event.
Although the main focus isn't really the Castell, this is my favorite part. The kids that are too small to see will sit on their mom's or dad's shoulders, creating their own mini castell. I thought that was pretty darn cool. Oh, by the way, the people at the top of the castell are usually 5-7 years old. I would have been too petrified to even try that.
After my watching the towers, I headed back home for some wonderful homemade paella by Carmen. Just look at this beauty...
Being completely and totally stuffed, I took a bit of a siesta before doing more of the festivities of la Mercè. The next thing on the list was the beautiful and dangerous Correfoc. This translates to Fire Run. What happens, is people dress up like devils, or they just completely cover themselves so that they don't get burnt. There are dragons and other beasts that are carried around that shoot out sparks, and other devices that are carried to throw sparks all over the streets. While it looks very pretty from afar, it gets pretty intense close up. I did not run in the street, but I was watching from the sidewalk...which is dangerous in and of itself. I had climbed up on the ledge of a window, and held onto the bars to watch the parade come in. By the time it reached me, the crowd had managed to leave no space for me to hop back down as the sparks were flying right at me. If nothing else, it was an adrenaline rush trying to get down so that I didn't catch on fire... After a while, I just went into the bar, grabbed a beer, and watched safely from the window.
Scary, right? It was pretty darn cool. To finish off the night, we walked to the Barceloneta to watch some fireworks. After that we sat on the beach for an hour or so, just chatting on the sand and enjoying the beautiful weather. There also happened to be a carnival nearby, so some of our group rode a pretty frightening looking carnival ride, with the soundtrack of Ryan giggling like a little kid the whole time. And even after the carnival, the fun did not stop. We found a little street party with a live band. Soooo, we danced for another 45 minutes before the band started packing up for the night. The band was called Odisea, and they played Spanish stuff, and American "classics." They were amazing, and we had a great time.
Weekends in Barcelona are so dull.