marksabout

Last week it was the time to wander around the streets of Gracia. Actually, it’s always a nice time to wander around the streets of Gracia – it’s got lots of cute bars, restaurants and shops and isn’t too commercial or touristic like much of Barcelona.

Gracia is a suburb of Barcelona that, previously being a town in its own right, continues to celebrate it’s own town party – most of Barcelona’s suburbs seem to do this at some point during the year, but the Fiesta’s de Gracia are, as one friend put it, an annual news piece along the lines of “Summer’s arrived, the Sun is shining and everyone is at the beach,” or “It’s only January and the stores are full of Easter eggs,” or… I can’t think of another one… “Housing is expensive in Sydney.” “It’s August, the Fiestas de Gracia have started and they’re really cool.” In short, they’re an annual fixture; without them Barcelona would be… I digress. Anyway, it wasn’t like this for me, being only my first experience.

Street scenes, Gracia

It reminded me of hot December nights parading past the Christmas light decorations of Bonnet Bay (for example…) though it’s a bit more fun with concerts in the squares, and whole streets decorated in themes, with little stages showing poetry or theatre or something… ha. Though these tended to be in Catalan, which proves somewhat difficult for an intermediate Spanish speaker.

Welcome to the festivals of Gracia!

It’s a bit like walking around a large art gallery: you can purchase beer, wine, mojitos, etc. and just walk around enjoying the scene. Yes please! Drinks are sold in bars decorated into the street scenes. Prices ranged wildly however, and I always managed to be thirsty in an expensive street.

More lights!

I actually went three times, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights. I flew solo on Wednesday, which enabled me to take some nice photos. A tripod would have been handy for the night shooting, but I managed to keep my hands pretty steady for the 1+ seconds exposures.