Catalan Charm

For the UK bank holiday weekend Syd and I decided (pre-planned of course) to go to sunny Catalonia Spain to escape the rainy UK summer. I found a place called Sitges (pronounced 'seaches') that is only 45 minutes outside of Barcelona, and it ended up being the perfect holiday! We had beautiful sand, sun and sea at Sitges, coupled with city visits to Barcelona to create a perfect balance of city and surf. With this great location we went into Barcelona twice and still had plenty of time to sit by the pool and hang on the beach. And, to top it off, it provided the cheapest airport transfer ever - at €2.50 each!

Barcelona (as expected) was really cool, with funky buildings, and amazing shopping until 10 at night. It is popularised by many sights, especially the covent garden-like promenade called Las Ramblas, where there were tourist shops, cafes and buskers everywhere.
Still to this day, my favourite church is the Sagrada Familia designed by Gaudi until his death in 1926. It is anticipated to be completed in 2026 on the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death, but the chance of this actually occurring on time is slim. I remembered this church vividly in my mind from seeing it back in 2002, and now 6 years later, it was even better because we got to go inside and see the developments (still under construction after 120 years) and the nature-based elements that went into Gaudi's creations. I love how each side of the facade looks completely different from the next and I could have stood there for the whole day to explore each unique sculpture and window with my eyes. The one below was my fave!

Sitges was actually not what we expected at all. We expected a sleepy beach town and instead got a town of festivals! It wants to be known as such, and boy, it was! We just so happened ot be there during the 'major festival' in honour of Saint Bartholomew. Below is the main church in town where all of the festival parades started/ended. Made a nice backdrop for fireworks too!
We got back from a long day at Barcelona at midnight on Saturday to see the town in full swing with a fireworks parade. They even had a Churro place that we enjoyed for a night snack.
The parade started with a giant king and queen (poorly displayed below).
There were also dancers with sticks (like the sword dancing in York), and even a REAL maypole dance. We then saw some flaming creatures walk through the crowd, and Syd and I were right near the front not realising we were in the line of sparks! Its really hard to describe, but picture a large wooden dragon with a couple people inside with fireworks attached to its head and tail, and while the fireworks went off the dragon spun in a circle sending sparks in all directions! Its the first time I have been at a parade where the audience runs from the spectacle! We were so busy running away from the thing that I didn't get a pic, but here's a parade of people walking down a narrow street in the town.
This dragon was then followed by men wearing yellow flame retardant suits who basically lit fireworks off of tall stakes above their own heads! What was even freakier is that people from the crowd were dancing in the sparks. It was complete madness...and something we have never seen elsewhere in any of our travels. It will not be soon forgotten let me tell you.

Check out the guy in the left of the picture below - that's what a lot of us looked like trying to avoid the sparks!

There were also concerts back-to-back all night and another parade a 6am to end the fun. We only made it to 3am but were able to catch it all again the next two nights (with different concerts of course).

Syd and I enjoyed a moonlight walk along the sand back to our hotel and decided to rent bikes for the next two days to get around easier. During the weekend we also saw a car/truck that is UK sized for Brother:

We loved Barcelona but were so impressed with Sitges that we highly recommend it to anyone!
Overall, it was a fab beach and city break that makes it hard to go back to work tomorrow!