Festa de Gràcia – Festival of Sight and Sound

 

Wow!  I’m exhausted, and a bit hung over today.  And it was totally worth it!  I went out last night to check out the Festa de Gràcia.  This is a giant festival that happens every August in the village of Gràcia in Barcelona.  Each neighborhood in Gràcia decorates the area, and over the course of a week or so, puts on a giant festival.  There are performers, crafts, concerts, music, food, just general festivities.  The neighborhoods even compete amongst themselves to see which one can put up the best decorations, with the best theme etc.  This happens in other towns and neighborhoods during the summer, but this one is the most famous.  I believe the reason it’s so famous is that it’s been going on for the longest and even continued each year during the Franco regime, even though the other suburbs had all stopped.

I found out about this a while ago, but didn’t expect to be here in time for that.  However, upon returning to BCN after my road trip, I realized that it was only a few days away.  I decided to stay long enough to attend the festival (and I hadn’t made any other plans yet anyhow…).

I’d walked around in the Gràcia area two nights before, hoping that things would have gotten started already, but there wasn’t really anything going on.  I saw one neighborhood putting up decorations, but that’s it.  So last night, I took the Metro into the Gràcia area.  There were a lot of people in the area, and already I could tell things were hopping.  I walked around, following the crowds and one of the first neighborhoods I came upon was decorated with a Willy Wonka theme.  There were golden tickets, fake candies, and a giant Violet Bouregarde.

I came to an intersection where several neighborhoods clearly came together.  There were many booths up and still open from the day, selling arts and crafts, cheeses, pastries etc.  There was a man in a devil’s costume on stilts running around scaring people.  It was great fun, like a giant carnival.

I began wandering around from neighborhood to neighborhood, checking them out.  I found Asterix and Obelix, whom I love!  There were beach themes, Asian themes, you name it!  Usually they were only four blocks or so away from one another.  Often, a stage would be set up in addition to the decorations and you could tell there was going to be or had been a concert.  There were many stands too, where people were selling cheap drinks.

I hadn’t really eaten much that day, so I decided to get a real meal, rather than just street food.  I found a table being vacated on the sidewalk at a restaurant just as I approached and hastened over to take the seat.  It was already after 11, but Spain doesn’t usually have dinner until at least 10 or later.  I ordered cod, thinking it would be like fish and chips.  It was a delicious grilled filet, however.  I enjoyed it immensely, and ate watching the crowds go by.

The restaurant had set up a little booth in the front where they had a bartender selling cheap drinks.  She was mixing something, boogying and dancing as she did and I asked the waiter what it was.  They were caphiriñas, a Brazilian drink.  Apparently, it’s just lime juice, sugar, and liquor.  Turns out, they’re delicious.  I had one instead of desert and then took another one to go.  I continued walking through the neighborhoods, having a blast, people-watching and listening to the music, as most of the concerts had started by the time I finished my dinner.  Over the course of maybe ten blocks, I heard rock, country, salsa, and came upon a mosh pit.  Absolute insanity!  I was loving it.

I had been making my way back towards a Metro station.  It was after 1 and I thought I should try to catch a subway before it closed for the night.  Just as I was getting close to the Metro station, I saw a neighborhood entrance to the side that had a Bollywood theme – clearly, something I simply HAD to check out.  As I came upon the square, I realized this place was possibly the biggest party I’d come upon so far – and I’d come upon full-on mosh pits!

Once in, I saw a stage set up and could see that there were some men dancing on the stage.  They had gold pants, and – could it be?  They had black-face!  Actually, to be accurate, it was blue-face.  Anyone from America might find this offensive, especially any Black American.  However, in Europe, that history is not part of their culture.  I guess that’s not really been an issue here.  So really no one here found it offensive.  So these guys were on the stage leading what had to be one of the biggest mostly-gay dance parties ever.  It was like I was at a PRIDE event.   It was fabulous.

There were so many people in this square that it took forever to get into the square, much less reach the stage.  Once there, I realized it’d be faster to keep going and circle the block, rather than attempt to turn around.   It took me more than a half-an-hour to cross the square.  Just as I was reaching the far side, I was standing by someone who, upon seeing me, exclaimed that I looked just like one of her friends and could she take a photo with me so she could show her?  We began talking and it turned out that Martine was here from England with a few of her friends for their friend Adele’s Hen Party.  I joined up with the girls and we continued dancing in the square until the dance party music had to end after 230. Then we moseyed on to another square.

There, we stopped and began talking to another large group of people.  I met a tall, blonde guy named Phil, who had a fabulous English accent and was full of life.  We hung out in the square and I met a bunch of his friends, from such places as Germany, Chile, Argentina, and London.  One girl’s name was Abby Fantastic and she had the greatest top hat on.  She even let me wear it for a minute!  After a while, a group of us went back to Phil’s house to hang out.  He actually lives in the heart of Gràcia.

There, I talked to a couple of guys who had met and ended up coming out together.  One was Chilean, and the other Spanish. We all ended up leaving together and I was going to ask them to direct me to a taxi stand, but when we left, I found out that the metro had started up again, since it was after 6am!  Convenient, but absolutely crazy!  When I got back to my hotel, after 7am, I was bit tired, but so glad I had stayed in BCN for the Festa de Gràcia!  I exchanged info with Martine and Phil and I hope to see one or both of them again.

I had originally planned to get up and go to the beach today, but that really did not happen.  I slept late instead (shocker, I know!) and then went out to try and meet up with Martine and her friends.  Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out, and we missed each other.  In the meantime, I got to see some more of the city, as it really parties on the weekends, regardless of what part of town you’re in.  One of the streets near my hotel generally seems pretty dead.  I thought all the storefronts were closed up and that nothing much happened there.  Walking past around 130 am, I found out that this street is the place to be after midnight on a weekend!  It’s interesting in Spain, with the funny hours.  Things open in the morning and close for siesta and then reopen.  Some places only open at night.  It’s tough to tell what places are actively operational and what is actually closed or out of business!  It helps if you know what’s happening and where you’re going, I guess.  That rarely happens in my life, it seems!  Luckily for me, however, I stumble upon awesome parties with relative frequency, like I did last night!