As I don't read Catalan well I wasn't sure what it was all about but it soon became evident it was PARTY TIME! The first indicator was this band which came marching and playing through the plaza where we were having coffee.
They were quite good. We followed them to a different plaza where there was another band playing traditional Sardana music and everyone spontaneously joined in the dance.
Later that day I spotted this effigy heading down the sidewalk.
I tried to run around the corner to head them off at the pass but I ran into a huge crowd and another band that jumped and danced as they played. That was day one.
The next day we were in the Rambla and kept seeing little kids in space costumes going by.
We followed and got to see a parade, apparently of different schools, each with their own theme. The space theme had astronauts, space ships and green aliens.
There were fire fighters, bakers ( and ovens), electricians, gardeners
and we think these little folks were engineers.
Day three was May Day. I had been able to translate the schedule enough to know it was an antique fair. We were not prepared for all the other fairs and events happening simultaneously. Arts and crafts, collectibles, artisanal foods, glass blowers,
merchants, chess players....
The streets were blocked off for at least a two mile radius and there were thousands upon thousands of people out shopping, many obviously from the big city, Barcelona.
Artisanal foods included all manor of salami-type meats, goat and sheep cheeses, the most enormous vat of honey I have ever seen, chocolate, anchovies, bread, herbs and mushrooms, all local.
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| Mouthwatering wild mushrooms |
were separate from the collectibles, which included stamps, coins and...champagne caps (who knew?)
There were some really creative crafts, like this guy who did masks and effigy heads.
There was this uniquely Spanish incense burner:
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| Smoke comes out of cowl |
Even there, the volume from all the people around made us nearly shout to be heard.
This enormous street fair went on until after dark and all day long there was a line at the churros (a Spanish donut thing) booth where they were selling as fast as they could make them.
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| He turns the crank and the batter goes into the hot fat |
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| Frying |
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| Churros being cut and sugared |
Next morning you would have had no idea there had been a street fair the day before. The street cleaners ( 2 separate trucks, one with brushes and one with water) had already tidied up and people were going about normal life...except in the plaza where we were having coffee we heard distant drums and shawms and then saw this.
We never figured out the significance of all the purple shirt people but the crowd went wild when they came into the square and there were various dignitaries out to watch them. Shortly after the Sardana music started again and everyone was dancing.
The next day all seemed quiet but we saw these trains parked at the Rambla with queues of people waiting to get on at 9 am.
We noticed that all businesses were closed (except food) and when I inquired I learned that May 3rd is the May Day holiday for Figueres. The trains were taking people all day long to see "the flower crosses." I was planning to check this out in the afternoon but it got cold and started raining so I guess I'll never know.
Our last day in Figueres was relatively quiet with only one band (a new one) playing the Sardanas and the people dancing.
We had a really great time in this friendly town and were so lucky to have happened into their fiesta season. Now we are in Paris briefly on our way to Great Britian.
Audrey
