Sept 23-27: La Mercè

La Mercè is the festival in honor of Barcelona’s patron saint, the Virgin of la Mercè. My experience was centered on the traditions (gegants, castellers, correfoc, and Piromusical), but the entire weekend is jam packed with art and photo exhibitions, concerts by emerging and established artists (including the BAM, a concert series with a life of its own), and dance and musical groups from around the world, like a series of events about Istanbul & Turkey.

The English language guide to events gives a better idea of both the history and the key events. You can pick this up from Palau de la Virreina (Rambla Sant Josep, 99) on Las Ramblas; while you’re there, I’d suggest to get the Catalan version as well, to have a complete listing of events (you’ll at least be able to figure out the locations and timings of specific events with it). To see the agenda online (effectively Catalan only), check out http://www.bcn.cat/merce/, the official website of the festival, and click the “Dia a Dia” link. For a listing of the BAM concerts, see http://bcn.cat/bam/2009/ .

Also, especially if you plan to partake in multiple events during the day, it will be very handy to have a metro pass to get around. If you don’t have the T-Jove (the best bet for students), you’re probably best off buying T-10 (10 ride) tickets.

The holiday Día de la Mercè is officially on a Thursday (Sept 24 this year), but the celebrations this year began the weekend before (the 19th). The main events kicked off on Wednesday with the Toc d’Inici (Opening Procession). The English guide says to go to Plaza Sant Jaume, where you’re likely to get the best view, but if you want to see the procession through the streets, this one starts at Palau de la Virreina, goes down Las Ramblas, turns left onto Carrer de Ferran, and follows this to Plaza Sant Jaume.



After the procession arrives at Plaza Sant Jaume, there is a speech (I think by city government officials) telecasted in the plaza, and then the procession reenters the plaza and each beast and pair of giants does its own dance. Throughout the festival you’ll see some of the giants and beasts a few times, but the ones in this procession are the main ones of the festival; the rest are all associated to various neighborhoods within Barcelona.

The next day, at around 12.30 they had a competition of castellers, teams of people that literally stand on top of one another to make human towers. The objective is to assemble and disassemble the tower a) without any mistakes (falling people), and b) as fast as possible. The photos below are only of the initial presentation of each of the teams, where the visible tower (not the multi-man base, which was obscured by the crowd) consisted of one kid atop one woman atop one man. My camera battery died before the main event began, but the towers constructed in the competition were impressive – configurations included the cinc de set (5 by 7) and quatre de vuit (4 by 8), and at least one point a team built a tower with a pillar in the middle, which is distinguished by an amb l’agulla at the end of the name. The website of the Castellers de Barcelona provides a much more detailed explanation of the tradition, as well as photos of some of the structures. The Wikipedia page about Castellers also has good explanations, and a Google image search of “castellers” brings up plenty of cool pictures. For me, the best part about the towers was watching the kid that would scamper all the way to the top to form the folre (cover), and pump a fist. It is a little dangerous, especially for the kids at the top, but at least while I was watching, when a kid fell he was well cushioned by the tower and the base.



That evening, in the Plaza Sant Jaume, there was the parade of all the gegants (giants) of the various neighborhoods of Barcelona – which one is your favorite?



On Friday, I went to the 29th Mostra de Vins I Caves de Catalunya (Show of Catalonian Wines and Cavas). 7 euros get you a tasting glass to keep and 10 tasting tickets – each wine and cava costs 2, 3, or 4 tickets to taste, and there are booths for wineries and cava-makers from all over Catalunya. Be sure to try at least one cava while there; it’s the Catalonian cousin of champagne. They also offer food tickets for tasting fine cheeses and gourmet foods. The event takes place on the Moll de la Fusta, right by the Columbus statue and by the harbor, and makes for a peaceful, refined way to spend an afternoon.

That evening, there was a parade near Las Ramblas of all the beasts of the neighborhoods of Barcelona, so that they could be appreciated by those who didn’t want to brave the correfoc.



The last few photos in the above album are from the correfoc, which took place Saturday night. What’s the correfoc, you ask? The English translation would roughly be “fire run”, but that doesn’t do it justice. After a fiend-like ceremony near the start point, the beasts parade through the streets once more, but this time with sparklers that soak the entire street like sprinklers. They are accompanied by various waves of drummers, and by “devils”, men and women in fireproof suits that wield similar sparklers by means of tridents. Your objective, if you accept it, is to dance with the “devils” beneath the sparks. Besides keeping your head down as you enter, you’ll need to observe a bit of a dress code – loose cotton clothes (no synthetics), a hoodie or a cap & neckerchief, pants and closed shoes. Also, the sparklers go out with the loud pop, and the event on the whole is fairly raucous, so earplugs may be desirable.



On Sunday night, Plaza Espanya and Av. de la Reina Maria Cristina fill completely for the closing spectacle known as the Piromusical. It combines excellent fireworks with a solid musical selection and a synchronized water and light show with the fountain of Montjuic. The video below gives you an idea.



I’ve had and will have many fun times in Barcelona, but I’ll always remember the traditions, modernity, and the spirit of Barcelona that manifested themselves in this festival.

Sept 19-20: Als Pirineus! - To the Pyreenes!

CEA had organized a few trips for us so we could experience Catalunya and Spain. The first of these was to the Pyreenes. Riding by bus en route to the town of Taüll, we stopped at the town of Pont del Suert (Catalan for “Lucky Point”) for lunch. My friends and I found a place called Bar Pepito that served tacos (see album), and feeling deprived of Mexican food, we decided to give it a whirl. The chicken tacos seemed a bit caro (castellano for “pricey”), but well worth it – the combination of spices and other ingredients created a really unique taste, and I almost ordered a second one. They were also reasonably filling, which was refreshing to see in the context of Europe’s infatuation with natural-serving-size meals (read: snacks).



We arrived in Taüll later in the afternoon, and the view into the Boí Valley was absolutely gorgeous. Besides the location, the town is famous for its two churches, the Church of Santa Maria and the Church of Sant Climent, the latter of which is a World Heritage site.



We still had plenty of time before dinner, so a few friends and I hiked up a trail leading up the hillside. We had no idea where it ended, until it abruptly opened into a large field. I enjoyed the hike for the mountain stream and the surprise we saw on the way down: a herd of sheep!



That evening, CEA bused us down to the neighboring town of Boí for dinner. The fun part here was dessert – one of the options was “melón.” A few of the others ordered it, and received a huge slice of cantaloupe cut the long way; yum! At night, there was an FC Barça game, and we watched it at Bar Sedona, a place run by a man from Arizona. The TV was nice, the ambience cozy, and the owner is more than happy to see fellow Americans.

The next day, after breakfast at the hotel, we went to the Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park. “Aigüestortes” means “winding waters” in Catalan, and “estany” is “lake” in this context. To get there, we took our bus to the entrance and rode up to the trailhead in jeeps, which are worth it considering the distance and altitude of the route. Both of our guides were very experienced, but what struck me most was their Spanish. Natives of Barcelona switch fluidly between castellano and Catalan, although they prefer Catalan; residents of the Pyreenes (and other rural parts of Catalunya), however, make castellano’s “second language” status more noticeable, as they have less occasion and need for speaking it. One of the guides was more comfortable with French than castellano, which makes sense given the geographic and linguistic closeness of the Catalan Pyrenees to France. The trail through the valley was enchanting, a seemingly endless sequence of beautiful landscapes, wildlife, and flora.

un munt de fotos - lots of photos

While I compose my next blog posts, I've decided to post albums from all the places I've visited since my last update. Enjoy!

Day trip to Dalí Museum/Figueres and Girona

Dalí Museum and Figueres



Girona



Berlin Trip

East Side Gallery



Berlin



La Sagrada Familia, revisited



Outing to Collserola Park and Tibidabo



Day trip to Torres winery and Tarragona

Torres winery "Mas La Plana", in the famous Catalonian wine-making region of Penedès



Tarragona



Outing to Colònia Güell