Tres Tombs de San Antoni

Street Scene, San Antoni

Our first full day in BCN and I wake up at 6:30 ready to roll. At 7:30, I figure the best way to get Kitty up is to charge her with the AM errand of buying the breakfast croissants. It works. I’m anxious to get going with the parade.

I’ve wanted to go to San Antoni market for about three years, but it’s been closed due to renovations, and all this time hidden tantalizingly behind a tall construction wall. What fun to discover that the Saint Anthony’s “Tres Tombs” or “Three Turns” parade and blessing of the animals would be today!

Apparently, there is about a week of celebration for Anthony, and this is surely one of the highlights. I’d read that it involved horses as well as dogs and some antique wagons, but I had no idea what a show the morning would hold.

Lorena was in picture taking frenzy heaven this morning. She discovered a parade celebrating a blessing of the animals. Horses, ponies, dogs and tons of children. The sun was bright and warm. Incredible people watching.

Lots of old men in top hats on skinny grey horses. Wagons of dignitaries pelting the crowds with hard candy and small children plunging (perilously to our minds) for the goods scattered amongst the hooves and horse shit. I struggle to balance as a small child goes for the sweets between my feet so I don’t step on those tiny hands.

Meanwhile, I’m grinning uncontrollably and trying desperately to get photos as the horses and wagons progress. My favorite are the historical wagons of cotton, hay, vegetables, vermouth etc. And the hearse, of course. I thought it should have been at the end, but that was reserved for the equine vets and police.

Memento Mori

The animals were amazingly well behaved, with a few prancing and neighing exceptions. The mood was wonderfully festive. After a couple of hours, it was over (the blessing itself took about ½ hour), and we followed the crowd into the market.

Kitty enjoys a local brew

As though that wasn’t enough, there was a beer festival a couple of blocks away. You pay 2EUR for a glass, and then get to sample beer for about 2-4EUR.

Winner for Best Amber Ale in BCN!!

I stuck with the amber ale, and found a really good local that has a brewpub in BCN we will have to try out. After sharing a few of those, we made our way home on foot, and then onto Tapas 24 (just about 2 blocks from our apartment).

We were walking and we went to cross a huge boulevard, the “Grand Via.” There were taxis four abreast stretching down and up as far as you could see. The road was totally blocked, with the taxies perfectly lined up. I said, “Oh, this must be where they all are waiting.” Lorena said “It’s a strike”. No one was around or seemed concerned. You could see flashing blue lights up the road. I said, “let’s go see.” Lorena did not agree and we went on our way. Later tonight on the news we found out it was a strike with bloody noses and fisticuffs. There were no taxies in Barcelona today. We laughed because Lorena is always worse-case scenario (this time correct) and Kitty is drawn to the action.

Taxi Strike, Gran Vía

They say BCN has more restaurants than any other city per square foot. It’s just mind-boggling to me the quality of food we can get just around the corner. We had my (much anticipated) chicken wings, Russian salad (tuna, eggs, potatoes and peppers covered generously with fresh aioli), fried calamari sandwich, and their signature bikini with truffles. And vermouth (goes great with their Russian salad). Our waitress was quite the flirt. We enjoyed her pour.

Chicken Wings, Tapas 24

We had a proper siesta after some basic shopping (pull cart and knife). I took time to work on winnowing photos and Kitty got a good sleep in.

Street Scene

Then it was time to go get Kitty’s jigsaw from “Puzzlemania.” What a great store! I thought Kitty is probably the only American tourist in BCN who works a puzzle during a visit. It still seems mildly obscene as it’s such a homey endeavor when the city in all its glory beckons, but then it’s also wonderful to be so relaxed, so interior. We hear there will be a jigsaw puzzle contest with paired contestants next week. We mark the date.

Our itinerary is already shot, but that is half the joy — finding delights along the way. For example, we went to one of my favorite stores, “Puzzlemania,” which sells extraordinary jigsaw puzzles. On the wall was a poster advertising a puzzle contest. I had only heard about such a thing from a colleague at work. Teams all get the same puzzle and the team who can get the puzzle done first wins. I can’t wait to see the contest next week. Meanwhile I have my 1000 piece puzzle with a picture of Casa Batló. We are going to tour it next week. What fun!