More Summer Fun Continued...

Barcelona is a place full of surprises and art where you might least expect it, like mirrors and hanging seashells on the beach. But along with it's new modern art, you can find tradition, centuries old, at every turn of the corner and daily calendar, especially in the summer, where each town has its very own Festa Major along with its castles, giants and breathtaking fireworks. Like in Tarragona, where I got to see my very first human castle! Yes, you read correctly, they are known as Castells and they derived in Catalunya and each town has its team and it is nerve-wrecking and breathtaking as you watch them build a tower of humans sometimes up to nine levels high with a 7 year old to crown it off:



















With the castles, there is always a firework show, which I got to see personally from Idoia's parent's beach front balcony, fire runners known as Corre Focs, who run through the middle of giant crowds with exploding firecrackers, taunting and frightening the people to join them...
You also have the giants or Gigants, enormous puppet like characters that represent famous people from the town, giant horses that run up into the crowd...Yes, I know, none of this really makes any sense and not many could explain to me the why of my questions and it is dangerous, but hey that's what being in a new culture is all about now isn't it? Putting yourself in the hands of danger in order to bring you the Catalonian information at the tips of your fingers. Someday you'll thank me for all of this, but I guarantee you will not see me climbing one of those human castles...unlesss...After all of these cultural experiences, I always seem to find myself in some plaza or terrace, surrounded by amazing people, getting the latest gossip and reflecting on a day full of adventure and life lessons...and that is summer in Barcelona. Now I turn the page of the calendar, take out my grey wool tights which I've missed so, my boots and prepare to welcome Autumn, filling my time with trips to museums, indoor concerts, and warm coffee drinks. Waiting to see who will visit next.