Fiesta de San Medir, Gracia

This is a festival that happened a few weeks ago in my neighborhood of Grácia. We were shook awake by what we thought were gunshots at 8am -- these turned out to be firecrackers being shot from plaza Rius i Taulet, signaling the start of an all-day fiesta. Streaming through the streets are parades of colles, which are different groups of people in open trucks which represent various groups in this part of the city. In the end, they all have one thing in common -- throw as much hard boiled sweets as you can to the people in the street. I've read two versions of why this festival goes on, but the common answer is: the parade originated in the 16th century as a pilgrimage in honor of Sant Medir, the patron saint of broad beans. What?? Ok! Street party all day til midnight!

Plaça Rius i Taulet, with its regular patrons on the benches

Entering the plaza

The local government building

Very Catalan

Kind of like birds in a nest!

Definitely the momma bird

Street cleaners came by 3 times that day.

Shoulda stayed on the ground!

I told you this was an old festival right? Everyone takes advantage of the candy!

Every 20 minutes a new band would come by.

In between the bands, horses!

BCN lights call for long exposure shots

These are some photos from fiesta San Juan which was on July 24th of this year. Barcelona knows how to party all night, and this night had the beaches absolutely packed with partying crazy people.

About the holiday:

¨The fiesta originates from pagan tradition, though given Christian sanction, & is essentially a celebration of the midsummer solstice. Bonfires are erected throughout the cities districts & beaches, accompanied by much music, singing, & dancing. Drink flows & food is widely available. Events culminate with raucous fireworks, though in reality (as the 24th is a public holiday) the party goes on all night on Montijuc Hill & many city beaches.¨

These look best in their full size, but you can click on them to get them in an internet-friendly mid-size.

kids playing with sparklers

more sparklers on the beach

fire fountain, beach, 3am

A bit of architecture

Barcelona is a city filled with diverse architecture. Since it´s got thousands of years of history and multiple cultures contributing, there are some interesting things to see. Here´s just a bit of what you can see in a day.

Detail of a church in the Born district.

and again

Hm I think I was about to say something.. oh wait this isn´t about me!

Arc de Triomf in Barcelona. Better picture next time..

blech. new and very expensive apartment complex called the Windsor. It overlooks the med sea. At least it has a cool cafe in the bottom floor.

These apartments are NEW and so nice looking. This picture doesn´t do them justice.

As you can see, most of the pictures we have have been very overcast. It´s been raining almost every day we´ve been here and is supposed to continue for another half a week or so. :(

Hopefully we will get to use our Eurail train passes to go to northern Italy or southern France very soon. It´s raining in these places too for another week!

Barcelona is filled with firecracker explosions right now. I think what is happening is that a festival is coming up at the end of the month, so they´re already selling explosives for that day. Since there is no school today, all the kids are out blowing things up! The problem is that they aren´t the fancy 4th of July style ones with fun colors and movements, they´re just... explosives. Being in a big city where it´s all apartments, the sounds echo and amplify off of the cement and brick walls. punk kids. I should throw my leftover cooking oil out the window and onto them.

FYI: if you want to see more of Barcelona in photos, here´s a link: http://barcelona.photobloggers.org/2007/05/26/shoot-barcelona/