This weekend I headed to my favourite place, where I call home - Cardiff. Although I was originally planning to go to a friends engagement party, I got my days mixed up and ended up missing it, but I made the most of being able to catch up with great friends who I simply don’t see enough of, and gossip, gossip, gossip.
On Monday, after a horrible day at work I called my Grandma for a moan, and she gave me a good bit of advice (she usually does). She said: “Go brush your hair, put something nice on and go out for dinner.”
So I did. Mr B and I took a stroll into Moseley Village to the well known and much raved about Italian, Ponti di Legno.
It’s a BYO, so we stopped off for a bottle of red at the off licence on the way, then followed the delicious garlicky smells to the front door. For a Monday night, the place was full to the brim, but we got a little table by the window and stuck our noses in the menu.
Enticed by the garlic smells, we went for this to start us off.
For our last day in Barcelona, we wanted to take it easy, enjoy the sun and soak up some of the Barcelona sights before we headed back to rainy UK.
We started off with a bit of breakfast in El Born, and then went for a peek inside the The Santa María del Mar Church which we had walked passed many times during our visit. If we thought the outside was intriguing, we had a treat in store.
As you walk in you are hit by the light streaming in from up high, bouncing off the columns.
My highlight of the La Mercè festival is the Correfoc. It’s the craziest, nosiest, most insane thing I have ever been part of. Correfocs - meaning fire runs - are a Catalan tradition and they make sure that the festival goes with a bang. Large crowds line the streets as groups of devils come their way, dancing and waving large sparklers and fireworks into the crowds which spray anyone and everyone. The bangs are loud, the fire real, and the fear and adrenalin is addictive.
Anyone with a shred of sense will wear headscarves, cover every inch of their body, being careful not to expose even a hint of skin and keep their eyes safely behind some big sunglasses. Because, let me tell you something, this would NEVER be allowed to happen in the UK!
A blast of fireworks signal the Correfoc, and the devils start to dance their way down the street.
One of the highlights of the La Mercè Festival is the Casteller - the human towers. It is a tradition that started hundreds of years ago in Tarragona where, basically, people make themselves into amazing towering towers.
We had a lie in after our Mojito night, and then made our way over to Plaça de Sant Jaume. On the way we passed a shop, which looked so delicious we just had to pop in.
