Castellers Road Trip To Montpellier France

A mere three days after our whirlwind two-week-plus tour of Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands, I was on a corner in Poble Sec waiting to get on a tour bus. The castellers were going on a road trip - to Montpellier, France!

The two buses left Barcelona on Friday afternoon and made the four-hour drive north to Montpellier to participate as representatives of Barcelona at the Uni Cities Festival, which is a sister-city event held there each year. Look at all those blue-shirted castellers!

Montpellier is located in the south of France about 120 miles or so north of the Spanish-French, which is about 100 miles from Barcelona. The sister-city event had representatives from many of the cities but our group was by far the largest. The Louisville (Kentucky, United States) booth:

We did two demonstrations on Saturday with the first at noon in the town's main plaza followed by another at 5pm in the middle of the sister-city event. In between, the sponsors fed us a very nice catered lunch that included all-you-can-drink wine and beer, which, when thinking about it now, may not be the best plan when you're going to be building human towers later in the day, but whatever...Vive la France!!!

After lunch I had about an hour-and-a-half to walk around and check out the center of Montpellier. The historic core is full of medieval-style winding streets but, with a French flavor, of course. There were a bunch of events taking place at the same time as the sister-city one. This one was some sort of 1920's-themed fashion show or something:

I didn't have a map or really any idea where I was headed while wandering around but I ended up coming across this exceptionally cool and beautiful Roman aqueduct. Those Romans were crafty and seemed to have been everywhere!

The group performing just before our 5pm demonstration was a western-style line-dancing group from Montpellier. Even as I write this I have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of French people doing the two-step dressed as and imitating cowboys. The castellers were very good sports and probably about 40-or-so joined in during group-participation. Of course, I got pushed in because, as far as I know, I was the sole representative of the U.S. I'll save you the awkward photos of me trying to dance and put this very nice one of a bunch of castellers being adventurous...

The event organizers also had dinner planned for us but we had about two hours to kill before we could eat. The group went out to explore the town and get some adult beverages to celebrate. The group I was with walked around for about an hour until we arrived at this corner where a bunch of castellers were hanging out. What's funny about this photo is the group seated at one of the tables. They could be straight out of 500 years ago!

Getting the chance to visit Montepellier FOR FREE was awesome. The city was fun especially for a quick trip. Every trip that I've taken to France has been great and this one to the south of France was no exception. Montpellier's main plaza at about 10pm on a Saturday night:

The group (approximately 120 people) was able to stay together at what seemed to me to be part of a school located across the street from the beach about 15 minutes outside of Montpellier. We slept five to a room, which was an interesting experience for me as I've never, if you can believe it, stayed at a youth hostel or other communal-style lodging place. It and the small town we stayed in were surprisingly nice. Getting to walk across the street to sit on the beach after breakfast was a great bonus. Palavas les Flots beach scene for my dad. Sorta' looks like Wildwood, doesn't it? Or is it that all beach towns look the same???

But our work wasn't done. We left France about noon on Sunday and headed straight to the small village of Sant Climent de Llobregat, which is not far from the Barcelona airport, for a demonstration at the town's annual cherry festival. There were two other groups of castellers and it lasted about two hours after which the organizers served a light dinner of more sandwiches just like the ones we made in the rest-stop's parking lot earlier in the day. Still, definitely not bad for FREE! The Sant Climent de Llobregat cherry festival:

I was talking to one of the other castellers about the weekend and he, being a fellow engineer, commented that it was cheaper for him to go away for the weekend than it was to stay in Barcelona. I have to agree as I splurged for 6 euros ($8 U.S.) on some fresh-100%-pure-French croissants and a coffee from a bakery near where we stayed. That was it for the entire weekend. Eight dollars. What a great three-day adventure for $8! Who says travel and adventure have to cost a lot???

Castellers At The Sagrada Familia

Now that we're back in Spain, I've started going to castellers again. If you don't remember, castellers are teams that build human towers. I've often said that being a casteller is when you're both the monkey and the monkey bars. It's a lot of fun to be part of a group that's so tight knit even if I do have a pretty severe language barrier (I don't speak Catalan). But, regardless, I go to practice every Tuesday and Friday night and often on Sundays we have exhibitions somewhere in the city.

This past Sunday we had an exhibition in front of the Sagrada Familia church. It was part of the neighborhood around the church's neighborhood celebration. These neighborhood festivals (or, "diadas" in Catalan) are common in Spain and they often involve music, food, booths set up to sell stuff, and, in the case of Catalunya, castellers exhibits.

The Castellers del Poble Sec in front of the Sagrada Familia during the Diada de la Sagrada Familia:

I really can't think of anything that's more "Catalan" than the castellers and probably no other structure that represents Barcelona more than the Sagrada Familia. I got goose bumps watching the other groups of castellers building towers in such an amazing location.

Super-good artsy photo taken by Diana (all the photos except the last one were taken by her - Thanks Diana!) of the Castellers del Poble Sec in front of the Sagrada Familia's Nativity Facade:

In this photo, you can see a Chinese couple that must have gotten married earlier in the day out taking photos. They had some damn good luck (just like Diana and I did) to have wedding photos like these:

And, yes, a final photo of the girl from Chiquinquira and the casteller from Philadelphia in front of Barcelona's Sagrada Familia:

If you haven't been to Barcelona and you ever get a chance to come, try to find a castellers' exhibition to check out. It's pretty amazing to watch and a definite cultural must-see/do. Many of the groups have at least a couple of practices during the week that you can go to (all welcome visitors) and on many Sundays at noon, there are exhibitions in plazas all over the area. And the best thing, it's all free!

Flat Savannah

When I was back in Philadelphia in mid-January, my niece asked me to help her with a project that she was doing for her Girl Scout troop. This time it didn't involve cookies but it still was something fun. She gave me a piece of paper with a picture of a Girl Scout, called Flat Savannah, that she had colored in with markers. I was going to write about Flat Savannah but I thought that my niece could do a better job so I sent her an email with a few questions and this is what she wrote back [my notes in brackets]:

"We have Flat Savannah to earn a badge. The tradition of Flat Savanna probably came from Flat Stanley, a book about a boy named Flat Stanley and his adventures. The average [number of photos each girl got/had with Flat Savannah] would probably be about one or two. I was one out of two or three people that sent theirs off and no one really got photos. I had the most photos and I had 14. I am almost positive my Flat Savannah was the only one who went out of the country, so I know that mine went the farthest. Flat Savannah is supposed to be back on the date on the instuctions sheet [thanks for the reminder]. And if u need more info just email me again with more Qs and I will give u the As."

She's so cute, isn't she? Based on my best guess, Flat Savannah's: traveled (at least) 15,370 miles via airplane (60% on her way to Silver level on StarAlliance!), crossed the Atlantic Ocean three times, and has been to three countries. So, where has she been? Let's look...

Flat Savannah at Castellers' practice with the Castellers del Poble Sec in Barcelona, Spain:

Flat Savannah waiting for the Metro in Barcelona, Spain:

Flat Savannah back in the United States at a gift shop near New York City:

Flat Savannah visiting distant cousins, the Flat Irons, in Boulder, Colorado (United States):

Flat Savannah back in Europe getting burgers with Pau at Kiosko Burger in Barcelona, Spain:

Flat Savannah picking out some Barça items at the airport gift shop in Barcelona, Spain:

Flat Savannah at the Stuttgart airport arrivals area, Stuttgart, Germany:

Flat Savannah picking out a new car at Meilenwerk, Stuttgart, Germany:

Flat Savannah at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany:

Flat Savannah visiting the medieval town of Tübingen, Germany:

My niece may not need any other Flat Savannah photos for her badge but I've got her in my backpack that I take everywhere. My goal is to get her to at least one more country and maybe two more before she goes back home. Who knows where she might pop up next!

By the way, if you'd like to print out, color, and take photos with your own Flat Savannah, you can get one here.

Calçotada Popular

Joining the castellers group has been a kick. Not only have I made a whole buncha' new friends, I've been able to get out of the house a lot and really get to know the neighborhood and its frequent events. The most recent neighborhood party was the Calçotada Popular that was hosted by our very own Castellers del Poble Sec.

But first, the castellers had a quick appearance at a local school that was celebrating Carnival (again). About 25 members of the group, including a couple of the musicians, did a quick five-level castle for the very appreciative kids and their parents. (By the way, this one looked even more like a Halloween party than the other Carnival events that I went to recently.)

After leaving the school, we walked the about four blocks or so to the Plaza del Sortidor where lots of activity was already under way. A calçotada is a type of barbecue that's a popular tradition in Cataluyna area of Spain and a calçot (kal-soat) is a type of green onion that looks sort of like a huge chive. So, a "calçotada popular" is a for-the-public-green-onion barbecue.

Here's one of the castellers arranging calçots in a metal frame...

...that gets placed directly onto the fiery coals to cook:

Some interesting things that I learned about calçots while writing this story is that they are originally from this area of Spain and, as they grow, dirt is added around the plant so that the white part grows extra long and with less greenery. This is what calçots look like once they're done cooking (a group of approximately six calçots is served in a piece of newspaper):

You eat them by peeling off the blackened outer layers of the calçot until you have the nice white and green part showing. Dip the white end of the calçot in sauce and start munching. You stop once you've finished pretty much all the white part and toss what ever is left of the green part.

I'm not that big on onions of any kind and generally avoid them if possible. If they're in the food I'm eating, I won't die but I'd prefer my meals to be onion-free. The idea of eating a giant barbecued onion for lunch/dinner didn't really sound that great to me until I had the chance to try some that Vladimir had made a few weeks ago. His were super so I was actually looking forward to eating them again during the calçotada popular. It is, after all, calçots season!

But first, there was work to be done. The event started with La Band Sambant, a local Brasil-style percussion band, performing for about 30 minutes or so. They were very entertaining and are good musicians and performers. The group was also interesting for the fact that it seemed to be made up of an assortment of people from all over the world.

Up next was the Castellers del Poble Sec. We did, if I remember correctly, four castles. It could have been one or two more. I can't remember...must be getting old. This is a five-level one that's still under construction:

Aside: The colle (koy-yay), or "gang", of castellers has several technicians that are responsible for the construction and safety of the different parts of the tower with one overall "head" that's in charge of the whole thing. When you're in the castle, you need to listen for the instructions of the people around you and the technician for your part of the castle. This is a photo of who's where (each little square has a name in it) in one of the castles that we built during the calçotada:

Once the "work" of building castles was done, an unknown-to-me tradition took place where various members were "baptised" in the plaza's fountain:

I even got to go up to the second level that day with Dan doing the honors. He's super strong and actually walked around for a couple of minutes with me up on his shoulders. It's fun and kinda' scary being up there but it makes you feel a bit like a kid again... (Thanks to Silvia, a fellow casteller, for this photo and the one up above of the castle layout.)

It was then time to start feeding all the folks who had gathered. Here I am with Diana, Gema, Vladimir, Bea, and Silvia (different from the Silvia of the photos above) ready to eat their calçot meal. Each person was served a bunch of calçots, a sausage, a baked potato, some bread, and a salvitxada sauce that the calçots are dipped in. For me, the magic's in the sauce. Calçots solo? Not too exciting. Calçots with the sauce? Winner! Oh yeah, and being that this is Spain, they served all the red wine you can drink as well. Bon profit!

Calçots were served for a couple of hours and then the plaza was cleaned up. It was time for the castellers to eat their lunch. Tables and chairs were set up inside the courtyard of a community center that's located on one side of the plaza. It was fun getting to eat with everyone involved with the event including the Sambant band, the folks who cooked the food, and the rest of the casteller clan.

I have to say that I've been sold on calçots. Thinking about them right now's making my mouth water. Argh...another food addiction!

Feast Of Santa Eulalia

As I always say, "another day, another festival here in Spain! This time it was the feast of Santa Eulalia, one of the co-patron saints of Barcelona (the other is Sant Jordi). Eulalia was martyred as a young girl so she's also become the patron saint of Barcelona's children (her body is interred in Barcelona's cathedral). The official city website for the event says that this year's Barcelona festival of Santa Eulalia celebrates a child's fantasy view of life in the city to include visits by the famous gigants (giants) and light shows on some of the city's landmarks. On Saturday night in Plaza Sant Jaume there were both:

Santa Eulalia is well represented in Catalunya as her image and name appears many places throughout the area. The main Barcelona-city-government building held an open house over the weekend, which was a bonus, probably (in part) because of the amount of her imagery that is present in the building. The Adjuntament building is really deserving of its own story but I'll show just a couple of pictures including this one of one of the meeting rooms where you can see a statue of Santa Eulalia on the far left side:

The building had a definite castle-feel to it. It was full of amazing artwork and decorations including some especially cool original artwork in the mayor's office, which was included in the tour. The photo below shows another meeting room with a giant Catalan flag and a statue of Sant Jordi slaying the dragon:

Like I said, it's a pretty impressive building and I was lucky to get to visit because it's rarely open to the public. I can't imagine what it costs to maintain the place because it's chock-full of rooms that look like this one:

On Sunday, as part of the weekend's festivities, there was a sculpture dedication just outside of the Adjuntament building (above). The sculpture, which looks like giant chicken wire twisted into a large tower, is supposedly representative of, and dedicated to, the castellers of Catalunya. Having recently gotten involved with a group of castellers, I'm not really sure how I feel about it:

I can say for certain that it wasn't well received by the locals, some of which live nearby, who object to its styling and its (supposed) 700,000 euro (almost a million U.S. dollars) price tag. There was a full-on protest during the dedication where folks made so much noise that it was almost impossible to hear the people speaking. The neighbors hung signs on their buildings stating their displeasure. I liked this one that said "we need bread not scrap metal":

Since the sculpture was dedicated to the castellers, four groups of castellers were invited to participate including my group, the Castellers del Poble Sec. It marked my first city-wide casteller activity and the first one where I was officially "uniformed". This is me practicing biting my collar like a true casteller:

Castellers bite their collars to keep it in place to help protect their necks while other folks are standing on their shoulders. Actually, it's surprising to me that there isn't some sort of special shoulder and neck protection marketed to casteller groups. Hmm...maybe a new business idea... This is a photo of our first castle of the day, a four-level pillar:

One of the highlights of the day for our group was this three-person-by-seven-level castle that's still under construction (you can just make out my head sticking up at the left-side of the base):

The casteller part of the festival of Santa Eulalia ended with the tradition of passing the enxañeta (en-sha-neta), the little girl that is the top of a completed castle, from her position up to the balcony overlooking the plaza. It's a pretty crazy idea and it's even crazier seeing it in person:

It was another interesting weekend and a fun casteller debut for me. Can I just say again how much I love learning about and experiencing all of this stuff?

Diada Sant Antoni

Living in Spain has been super interesting for me. Not only is there a bunch cool things to see, do, and eat, they've always got a festival or holiday or something going on to celebrate something or other. I think that it must be in the Spanish constitution that there will be a holiday every week of the year -- or at least it feels that way. (Don't get me started on "puentes!") On the off weeks (all two or three of them) when there's no national holiday, Barcelona does its festive part by holding individual neighborhood parties. I wrote about the Diada de Gracia (Gracia Day) festival, which is one of the last neighborhood festivals each year, back in November when I got to watch castellers (kass-tay-yair) for the first time.

Well, new year, new series of neighborhood festivals. One of the first "Diadas" each year is the Diada Sant Antoni, which takes place in mid-January in the next neighborhood over from where I live. The various neighborhood festivals are usually weekend-long events that involve various street fairs, music events, and parades that celebrate the local area. What was different this time was that I was a part of the parade AS A CASTELLER!

The parade groups took shape in a small park near the Sant Antoni market. Of course no self-respecting Spanish parade would be without the world-famous "gigantes" (giants):

In general, the "gigantes" (giant characters) confuse me. I have to be honest. I still don't understand what they're all about. I might need to check with my local-expert-in-all-things-Catalan Pau. Anyway, this giant has sausages hanging around its neck. I don't know what it means but I do like sausage so I like this one:

The following group was made up of young folks with flames on their pants and devil-like T-shirts. What I liked most is that they brought with them a huge pig that shot liquid out its nipples, which is pretty unusual, right? Well, for the first 15 minutes after they arrived, all I could think about is where they store that damn pig. I don't know anyone here with an apartment big enough to store a giant rolling pig with water-shooting nipples. My only guess is that one of these folks actually has a job and at that job they actually have space to store a giant wet-nippled rolling pig.

Just before the parade started, the casteller group "suited" up. The Castellers del Poble Sec wear blue shirts with the logo of the group, white pants, and a long fabric back support called a "faixa" (fie-sha). Getting the faixa fitted is a two-person operation. In this photo, I'm helping Dan who's one of the leaders of the group with his faixa (Yes, I know, I need to buy some white pants. Have you ever tried to find white pants in January?):

The parade was kicked off by the Trabucs de Sant Antoni, which is a local group of folks who have funny costumes, silly hats, and big guns with huge tips that produce a very loud bang when fired. I'm guessing that guns are used to "protect" against anyone who'd make fun of their outfits... The guy on the right was part of the Trabucs while the guy on the left looks like a Caganer with his pants pulled up:

The parade wound it's way around the neighborhood for an hour or so. We stopped about five times to build castles of varying configurations. In this photo, you can see me on the right under the girl who's on her way up to the top:

Did I mention how much of a kick I get out of the castellers? Now if I could just speak some Catalan so I can understand what the hell they're saying! :-)

Diana took this video of us building one of the structures:

And finally, this is a group shot at the end of the parade. What a happy bunch:

I've never been involved in a group that's done parades before. The closest I've ever been is during my super-model career a bunch of years ago when I'd walk the catwalk. Diana says (as she rolls her eyes) that being a part of the castellers ensures that "we'll never miss another neighborhood festival". Oh well, no me importa! I'm ready for every single event that Spain can throw at me! Bring it on!