A guide to survival and cultural immersion in Barcelona
TAKE AN UMBRELLA
Popular wisdom says that **during the Mercè festivities it always rains **, because the true patron saint of Barcelona, Santa Eulàlia cries with sorrow for feeling displaced . Moments of jealousy between saints aside, the prophecy is usually fulfilled every year and it even seems that in 2015, when the holidays have been brought forward a week so as not to coincide with the elections, this will also happen. But if something is clear on these dates, it is that, for once, the rain is not an impediment for people to leave the house.
GET ORGANIZED
A week of activities of all kinds (and when we say all kinds, we mean types that you would not have imagined ) go a long way, so it is necessary to cram the party program (note: it is very possible that you will stop reading when you are halfway through) to select what you do not want to miss in any way , and tearfully give up what you can't do.
In addition, the number of spaces in which the festivities are celebrated multiplies every year. , and beyond the parades for the promenade and the concerts in front of the CCCB, the Forum It has become an essential stage in the last decade, and places like the Ciutadella -also at night-, the Palauet Albéniz or the Montjuic castle will be full of plans (among them, circus activities and a new edition of the Van Van Market) .
**The metro extends its hours (opens all night on Friday, Saturday and Wednesday 23rd) ** to make it easier to get around, but no one can take an overwhelming crowd bathing episode away from you.
Here the food and everything that surrounds it is taken care of
GET NUGGED THE BAM POSTER
Barcelona Musical Action It was for many years the representative of Barcelona's festival scene, long before Primavera Sound was born and even before the appearance of Sónar (was there ever a before-than-Sónar?). Today it is still a more than worthy representative of free musical variety which, together with the parallel concerts of the Mercè itself, range from the audience of Radio 3 to that of Cadena Dial, passing through those generations of children and young people who will tune in to a radio in their lives.
Get a good grip on the poster, it's from TRACA
DISPLAY THE TRADITIONS
The perfect plan if you have friends visiting or recently settled in Barcelona It is a shot of popular traditions . The Plaza de Sant Jaume, La Rambla and the streets of Ciutat Vella guarantee ojoplatismos of different intensity with their Gegants parades, the Sunday correfoc and the castellera festival that raises human towers between the Palau de la Generalitat and the town hall for the solace of children, the elderly and anyone with a little sensitivity and a sense of vertigo.
Castellers in the Mercè
ARM YOURSELF WITH PATIENCE
We like nothing more than the free , musical word. So as soon as you set foot on the street you have to be aware to face a reality: The tails. In Barcelona there are queues and crowds for practically any type of popular activity, be it the Gràcia festival, Sant Jordi or a cool second-hand market. La Mercè multiplies all this by a thousand, so get used to the idea that it is possible to take half an hour to cross a stretch of street that you cross in five minutes on a normal day and to meet your friends in front of the Zurich in the middle of a concert by Macaco and surrounded by stalls from the association shows may not be a very good idea.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE OPEN DAYS
That not everything is sleeping it off until well into the next day. The Thursday 24 open almost every day for free city museums and, although to the usual tourists you have to add a good number of early risers queuing from early in the morning, it is a good time to approach those museums that you have not visited or known for fifteen years, for example, the brand new Museu del Design.
Take advantage of the open house on Thursday
FIND OUT ABOUT FIREWORKS EVEN IF YOU DON'T WANT TO
The end of the party is marked by the pyromusical show in Plaza de Espanya, the one that you are aware of even if you are at a point far away from the city for that curious reverberation and game of perspectives which makes the MNAC visible from unusual places. Although we do not want to realize it, every party comes to an end.
Correfocs of the Mercè
*** You may also be interested in...**
- You know you're from Barcelona when...
- Being a foreigner in Barcelona
- 100 things that are on the Rambla in Barcelona
- When you live in Barcelona, you live in a continuous gif
- 24 rainy hours in Barcelona
- Customs map of the gastronomy of Barcelona
- The best bravas in Spain
- Six Japanese plans in Barcelona... without sushi
- Places to sip ramen in Madrid and Barcelona
- Urban cyclist survival guide in Barcelona
- The best beaches in the province of Barcelona
- All the articles of Raquel Piñeiro