These three ladies obviously made their sun hats! Wonderful lace chapeaus.
We arrived just in time to get a front row standing position. Who cares if you block the view from the little kids. I needed to get pictures for the blog.
Just pictures of some wonderful gegants. To learn all about the giants look at Sharon's blog: wwwsharondaughtery2@blogspot.com.
The happy couple (?).
As the giants proceed along every once in a while the musicians that accompany them break out in a song and the gegants dance, I'll post a few video's on Facebook .
I have an outfit just like this but I save it for warm days. Haven't worn it in 15 years- I'm waiting for that warm day!
The parade ended with some of the dancers from yesterdays festivities.
After the parade everyone headed to St. Jaume Square. All the gegants were announced as they entered the square and surrounded the perimeter of it.
We headed over there and I had Sharon and Sandi pose in front of the Carrer del Bisbe bridge. Reminiscent of Venice's Bridge of Sighs, this connects the Catalan government building with what was the Catalan president's ceremonial residence. Though the bridge looks midieval, it was construted in the 1920's .
Here we are in the square with the gegants.
I was looking for tall, dark and handsome but couldn't find him.
Once all the giants were in the square the dancing began. Our first performer was Saint Eulailia.
And then the Eagle.
The royalty.
After the dances another Catalan tradition begins - the castell. A castell is a tower erected soley of people. They pop up on special occasions such as this festival. The base is formed by burly supports called baoxos; above them are the manilles ("handlers"), which help haul up the people to the top. The castell is capped with a human steeple- usually a child- who extends four fingers into the air; representing the four red stripes of the Catalan flag. A scrum of spotters ( called pinyas) cluster around the base in case anyone falls. Castelleres are judged both on how quickly they erect their human towers and how fast they can take them down. " The sardana and the castell have two things in common - Catalunya is known for community spirit, team building, and a socialistic bent, both evident in the dance and the pyramid building.
After leaving the square and looking for a place to eat as we wandered around the Gothic Quarter we came upon a "fabulous" store filled with the most interestig jewelry. The store itself had just wonderful displays. It was this "white leaf person" that caught our attention. they've been featured in Vogue. Anything good enough for Vogue is good enough for me!
We left that store with the address. We will be back.
Our next top was a find! A mexican restaurant right in the middle of the Gothic Quarter. We all love mexican food so it was a given. In we went. After days of tapas the change was nice.
A little sangria, and some tacos and enchiladas.
We roamed a little bit more and finally walked back to the Metro station but stopped to have a little cup of cappacino for the road in our new favoite coffee spot where all the locals go - the Zurich cafe.
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