Excursions

I’ve gone on a few excurstions to towns around Barcelona, including Vic, Espinelves and Premia de Mar. I went to a Medieval Faire in Vic, which is somewhat like the Renaissance Faires in the states. One key difference is that this faire was actually set in a city that dates back to medieval times. It was cool to walk around the narrow streets and see booths with crafts, dried spices, freshly baked bread, cured meats, cheeses and pastries. There were people dressed from medieval times, dance performances and even animals such as hawks, horses and camels. Like many cities in Spain, the original city was focused around a central cathedral. This central part has narrow streets and cobbled roads, with buildings becoming more modern moving outwards.

Espinelves is an even smaller town and due to its hilly, cobbled streets, it is impossible to drive in the central part of the city, making it a permanent pedestrian zone. Espinelves had a Christmas tree festival, with food, crafts and even trees for sale. However, in Catalunya rather than Christmas trees, families more traditionally had nativity scenes set up in their houses. Another unique tradition here is the Caga Tio. This is a log that can be decorated with a face and hat that sits in the living room during Christmas time. The children feed it and then on Christmas morning hit the log with sticks until it “poos” gifts. I’m not kidding. More recently families have begun setting up Christmas trees either in addition to or instead of the Caga Tio. Some families give presents on January 6th instead of December 25th. The 6th is the day of the three kings.

I also visited friends who live in Premia de Mar, a town along the coast, about 20 minutes from Barcelona by train. There are many towns along the coast, between the mountains and the beach, connected to Barcelona by train. These towns are surprisingly dense and it’s possible for practically anyone living in the town to walk to either the beach or the train station within 20 minutes. This provides an extremely walkable city with easy access to Barcelona without needing a car. While I did take the train to Premia we then took a car in order to drive into the mountains to go rock climbing! Although I’ve gone climbing in a gym, I’ve never gone on an actually mountain so it was really exciting to try it for the first time!

Mis Padres!

My parents came to visit last week! My mom hadn’t been to Barcelona for over 30 years! She said a lot had changed, especially the Sagrada Familia Catedral which is constantly under construction. Also, within that time the waterfront had been renovated and many neighborhoods in the central part of the city have been revived, largly as a result of the Olympic games in Barcelona in 1992. It was nice to show them a glimpse of my life here in Barcelona. I even cooked a Thanksgiving dinner while they were here and invited some of my friends. It was the first time I had ever prepared a dinner that large by myself. I bought the turkey down the street at a local butcher shop. It was fresh the day I bought it and even had some feathers on it still that the butcher had to trim! It had never been frozen or thawed. I was a little nervous about under or over cooking it, but it turned out well! I also made the regular fixings like stuffing, yams, mashed potatoes and gravy. My dad brought cranberries from the states because I haven’t been able to find them here. Also, they don’t sell canned pumpkin here, so I made pumpkin pie from scratch! Needless to say I spent the entire day in the kitchen but in the end it was all worth it. My friends were excited to try some traditional American holiday food, and my parents were happy to learn that I can cook.