Here be Dragons
This weekend has been La Mercé the fiesta mayor of Barcelona City. Loads of free entertainment throughout the city for 3/4 days. It kicked of in front of the City Hall (the Ayuntamiento) on Friday night with a procession of “devils” dancing very much like something out of “Where the Wild Things Are” carrying fireworks and falling down dead when each of their fireworks finally exploded. This was followed by fireworks launched from the roof of the Ayuntamiento. Saturday we headed down to the Raval to see the Basque market - it was OK, but not as big as we had expected - just a few stalls. Saturday evening we parked ourselves in front of the Mercado de Santa Caterina to see the “main event” a procession of lots of devils dancing wildly with carrefocs (like giant sparklers) over their heads and with fire-breathing dragons and enthusiastic drumming to back them up. It was a bit of a squeeze in the crowd, but all very friendly. We then headed over to the cathedral square to see the wonderfully husky-voiced Italian Pietra Montercorvino belting out her stuff and then soul-funk maestro Amp Fiddler. Sunday morning we went back to Plaza San Jaume to see the Castellers (human castles) competition. It was hot and crowded in the square, but they all put on a great show. Some of the kids who climb to the top had a lot more bottle than me, and cried in disappointment when they fell down. Sunday night we walked down to the beach at Barceloneta to see one of the nightly firework displays. The beach really is a great place for this. We walked back via Arc de Triunfo to see the Domincan night, but when we got there we realised it wasn’t for us and headed back home. It was a good weekend, but we’ll probably be a bit more organised next year and take in the final night fireworks in Montjuic which must have been spectacular as we could see some of it from our flat. Photos from the weekend are in the gallery section.
