Spaniards certainly like to celebrate!

This weekend was La Mercé, a holiday to honor the patron saint of Barcelona. For three days there are special events all over the city. Even as I write this I can hear the final firework celebration booming from across the city. We took part in the festival by watching fireworks, attending parades, and visiting museums and city parks. A few highlights were the parade of giants, the "Correfoc," or fire run, and the "park of lights."

The fire run is supposed to represent the gates of hell opening. It's a parade where people dress up as devils and shoot sparks into the crowd. Spectators come dressed to jump INTO the shooting sparks. Sound crazy? It was! And we only attended the kiddy version!

While we were by the water to watch fireworks, we also went to the top up of the Christopher Columbus monument. Apparently it was in Barcelona where Columbus returned to report to the queen of his famous voyage west.




Also, apparently 30 years ago the port area was completely industrial and few visitors came to Barcelona. The port area was cleaned up for the 1992 Summer Olympics and now the city boasts over 7 million visitors a year. Here's what it looks like today. These views are from the top of Christopher's monument.