Barcelona 2: Rambling and Running with Fire

Saturday we got up early and Rick Steves (our guidebook guide) led John, Lindsay and I down Las Ramblas. This street is a bustling thoroughfare for shopping and people-watching. The name literally means the ramblings ... so we stayed true to name and enjoyed a morning ramble down the road. There's a fountain in the Ramblas, legend claims, that promises those who drink from it will return to Barcelona - so drink we did. We continued down the street past living statues, booth selling birds, flowers (even pet chipmunks). There was a food market off to the side and we wandered (I mean rambled) into it next. There were towers of beautiful fruits and candies. There were also piles of fish on ice. I got a bit of a scare when a lobster moved - the live crustaceans thenmade me a little sad ... especially the poor crab squirming on its back. We left that section quickly and headed into the meats. Here we found something else interesting - a meat package bearing the label "Huevos." According to my guide book this is quite a delicacy in Spain. What is itdo you ask? Are you sure you want to know? Very well... this package contained "huevos de toro," which I am sorry to define, means bull testicles. Ughh. Needless to say, this is a purchase I did not make. Lindsay did buy a pack of coconut to share for a light, lovely morning snack. As we continued out Ramble, we saw another Gaudi house - one of his earlier,less dramatic modernist exploits. We also walked through a long line of tents filled with jewelry and artisan crafts for sale. Lindsay and I thoroughly enjoyed this ... and John was a good sport. At the end of Las Ramblas we arrived at the Colombus monument where weate our coconut by a lion and rested our feet. Interesting fun fact: the Colombus on the statue is pointing in the wrong direction. He is supposed to point to the New World ... but instead is pointing toward the sea (here the Mediterranean Sea not the Atlantic). We then made our way back north to see the Cathedral of Barcelona. On our way we encountered our first Merce festival event - a parade of people doing a traditional dance with wooden sticks. This was a neat surprise and was fun to watch. They would dance around to different partners (all moving in a manner that was both well coordinated and synchronized) while hitting their sticks together and spinning them around. There were groups dancing that ranged in age from 6-year-olds to adults. It was a fun cultural surprise. After this we saw the cathedral - which was an beautiful example of Catalonian Gothic architecture. The cathedral touches several major plazas in this part of town and is very nearthe town hall; so we passed town hall on our way back to the port. There appeared to me something going on in the town hall so we entered it curiously to find a display of dragons! No not real dragons. These were artfully crafted dragons ranging in size from my height to about 8 feet tall about about as wide. They were very well made and beautifully painted. Also, each had several metal spikes and clamps around its mouth(s) and tail. We realize that these were the dragons from the "Correfoc." This Merce event loosely translates to "Fire Run" and is one of the events that I really wanted to see in Barcelona. We surmised that fireworks must be attached to the metal spikes so that the dragons appear to breath fire. This exhibit got us excited and we made sure we had the time and place for the parade correct so that we would be back to the route in time.

We then made our way back to the port in the direction of a Cable Car that Lindsay wanted to ride. We enjoyed walking past all the

docks and had a lovely lunch at a tapas restaurant by the water. However, when we finally reached the Cable Car lift they were no longer selling return tickets (just one way). Not wanting to get stuck on the mountain, we opted out and instead decided to walk along the beach. I can now say I've dipped my toes in the chilly Mediterranean Sea. It was beautiful and blue. The sand was rougher than back home (a little rockier) but by then end of our walk my feel felt pedicure-smooth so that was nice. We proceeded from the beach to another church that Isabel had recommended we see: Santa Maria del Mar. It was pretty - more open feeling with its wide gothic arches. We were surprised to find someone getting married in the church though - WHILE tourists entered and wandered about. We think they just rented the front part for the wedding and it was a little weird to be inside while a ceremony was going on. But at the same time - they were still so far away that we could barely hear the priest. And I suppose the tourists were a small price to pay to be married somewhere so grand. After this church, we continued on to the Museo Xocolata (Chocolate Museum) for the sole purpose of visiting the gift shop. We had more of that delicious hot chocolate - I cannot reiterate how good this is! From here it was a quick walk to the parade route ... and the CorreFoc was about to start!

One word captures the spirit of this parade: Intense! We arrived at the route at about 7:30 and we already saw sparklers in the street. (We later learned that this was the Kids Correfoc and that the adult one would start later - around 8:30). We rushed up the parade line and crowded in to see the street - at first, I was taken aback. Skipping down the street were children with fountain sparklers attached to long sticks. They would light the firework, hold it into the air and spin it, whirling the sparks out in all directions. This seemed dangerous at first glance, but in reality the kids were well protected in their fireproof dragon suits and masks. They also had little sparkler shooting dragons that they would push down the street. We noticed too that spectators were all well covered for protection from the sparks and smoke - with long sleeves, pants, scarves and goggles. However, occasionally, when a sparker-bearing child got too close to the crowd, we had to duck our heads to avoid the flying sparks. In general, by the end of the parade I had gotten the impression that we were in for an intense real "Correfoc" if this was the version for kids.

So, at the end of the kids parade, the crowd flooded the street and followed the parade, so John, Lindsay and I joined in the march. We wend down the street a few blocks and ended at the plaza by the Cathedral (which turned out to be the starting point for the Correfoc!) It

was about 7:50 and we asked a friendly policeman when the parade would start. Upon learning that the parade wouldn't start for another 40 minutes, Lindsay and I ran to a nearby street vendor a few blocks away to buy cheap scarves - for protection and then hurried back to the starting place. Darkness fell as 8:30 approached. Then, when the parade was about to begin, the streetlights were turned off and down the street we could see the shadow of a big arch with a dragon head on the top. Suddenly a fireworks display goes off around the arch, illuminating it. (Bear in mind that this arch is situated between two buildings!) And then, with

that the parade commenced! The structure of the parade consisted of three main elements: sparklers, drums and dragons! The sparker twirlers were similar to the ones from the children's parade except much more intense. These twirlers would brazenly approach the crowd and shower us in sparks or shoot sparks at our feet making us jump. The crowd in turn would rush under the whirling sparks to dance under the falling umbrella of fire. I took a short video of the sparkler twirlers. The next element of the parade were the drum corps. These bands of drummers would pound out heavy beats that only helped enhance the intensity of the parade. They drummed with a fury that would drive away dragons and devils .... and speaking of dragons! The dragons were of course the coolest element of the parade. They were indeed the dragons we had seen on display earlier in the day ... but at night they were lit into life. Each dragon had a team of

people who would light it, push it until the fountains ran out, reload it and then light it again, all the way down the parade route. Again, a video of the Dragons. The energy propelling this parade was absolutely incredible. It was a stream fire accompanied by heavy drums and the sporadic bangs at the end of each fountain. This continued for (I kid you not) an hour and 45 minutes. My feet ached but I couldn't bring myself to retreat into the crowd to sit on the benches. The energy of the parade was compelling and I even found myself dancing under a sparkler before the night was through. It was an intense ride and I feel so lucky to have been a part of this special Barcelonian celebration. Viva La Merce!

We slept very well that night.