Alright, so I´m falling behind on my blogging, I know....It turns out the best time to blog is super late at night (by super late, i mean like 5:30am) when there are no distractions and people aren´t waiting to use the computer. Also, I think I might have screwed up the computer at the last hostel by downloading photos, so I´m not sure when I´ll be able to post more, plus now I´m in Granada and my photos are on a computer in Seville. Anyways, I should have some time to write so I´ll try to sum up the last few days.
My last day in Barcelona I was feeling pretty tired from all the sightseeing, ultimate and going out. So I had resolved to take it easy and enjoy the day in a park that I hadn´t visited yet. But it also happened to be Sant Jordi Day, which I didn´t think would be a big deal because it was described to me as like Valentine´s Day in the U.S. However, Barcelona takes it holidays seriously. Sant Jordi, is the patron saint of Catalonia, who became famous for slaying a dragon that was about to devour a princess. Once dead, a rosebush grew out of the dragon´s blood (or at least that´s one of the stories I found when I googled Sant Jordi). Anyways, it became tradition for guys to give girls roses as a symbol of love and girls to give guys books as a symbol of culture. (The book giving didn´t evolve until 1923, when Sant Jordi Day merged with International Book Day. Barcelona is also the book publishing capital of the world.) Nowadays, book giving goes both ways and vendors take the opportunity to set up tents and tables all along Las Ramblas where they sell books. Las Ramblas itself is packed with people and there is live Catalan music and dancing all day long in the Plaza de Catalunya. Even though it was technically a work day, the streets were so packed I would have sworn that the entire city was out.
After spending the day walking around, people watching and listening to the music (I did eventually make it to the park I wanted to go to and also the Arc de Triomph), I caught a flight to Seville, where there was of course another holiday to be celebrated...
1 comment:
Hi,
I'm from Catalonia (Spain). I'm glad you liked Sant Jordi's Day. For me it's the most beatiful day in catalonia as everywhere around the country (only in Catalonia) you can find a girl with her rose. It's a colourful holiday. As a curiosity, there is also a contradiction in this day, as even being the saint patron day it's not a formal holiday (we keep working), instead Catalonia celebrates its day on the setember 11th to remember our defeat agains borbonic forces (you see contradictions again) :P
Q. (sorru for my bad english)
PS: I'm glad you inform yourself so good on your trips about local culture.
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