My Girona

This weekend, I headed up the coast to explore the town of Girona with Katie, her mom and her mom´s roommate from Brown, Kerri. (They coincidentally lived in my old room once upon a time - what up Caswell 205.)

Girona is celebrating the Festival de Sant Narcis for the next two weeks, honoring the city´s patron saint (who is apparently the Saint of Flies). In honor of the festival, the streets were lined with art vendors and outdoor entertainment. Because they seem to be compulsory in every Catalan festival, Girona had their very own castellers. We watched the 30-person tower be built from the cathedral´s tall steps - it was a bit alarming to be on eye level with the five-year-old shimmying up the human tower. The most intense part came when the 5-person tower they built afterwards literally ran up the 90 or so steps to the top of the cathedral. When I finally regain access to my computer, I have some pretty intense videos of the event.

I always joke that on family vacations, the Lisses do two things: find the Jewish quarter and find the best bakery. I think I did the fam proud in Girona. The city is home to one of the best preserved Jewish quarters in Spain, so we explored the area and its pretty museum. Not-so-surprisingly, every synagogue or cultural center closed in 1492. In honor of the festival, the city´s bakeries and cheese shops took to the streets, offering free samples from their stalls (yum). Sunday was also Dia de Todos los Santos in Spain, which is traditionally celebrated by eating panellets.

We also got to see the parade of the gigantes, which was something I was sad to have missed during Mercè. Troupes from throughout the region bring their 15-foot paper mache people (which real people fit inside) and parade through the streets, playing music and dancing. The giants are unbelievably detailed and the participants ranged from infants to 80-something year olds. Every Catalan town has their own group, and they take great pride in being the most spectacular.

It sounds absurdly cliche, but these kind of events make me so glad I came abroad to a place with such a unique culture, and a culture they´re so proud of. I fully plan to hang a Catalan flag in my dorm room this spring - even though the language may frustrate me, I love the traditions.