The Gignatic street party of of Barcelona, La Merce is a 5 day festival event celebrated in September each year. La Merce is celebrated to honor the city’s patron saint and to bid a goodbye to summer in that ‘roll-up your sleeves and party’-Spanish way.
The La Merce festival of Barcelona, Spain
Packed tourist along with locals flock together to celebrate this wonderful festival. Barcelona’s famous streets like La Rambla, Passeig de Gracia, Rambla de Catalonia are filled with amazing performances by the various street artist. Down below I have listed the must do things in Barcelona during La Merce Festival
Some of the Events to Attend🥁🎷
Correfoc (Fire Run)
The highlight of the festival is the spark-tacular Correfoc parade, also called “Fire Run”. The event is filled with wild fireworks sparkles that are mercilessly sprayed on the crowd. I must say that never before I had ever experienced such a thrill during the celebration of a festival.
Correfoc is segregated between two age groups, one for children and one for adults. The children event starts early evening and is followed by the one for the grown-ups.The best place to experience the event is at the street name Laietana.
The highlights of the events are the Devils who spray firework fountain on the crowd. Of course, if you are scared, you can always stay at a distance and observe the fun. It is still worth visiting the place for the run.
Advice: Cover yourself complete especially a hat or head scarf and glasses for your eyes
Gigantes (Giants)
The second highlight of the festival is Giants (Gigantes) parade, held in Placa St Jaume around noon time. Huge giants with effigies of kings, queens, and nobles march through the streets. The parade is often accompanied by a troupe of drummers and many other musical artists. These events are most popular with young children. Watch the huge figures spin and dance on the streets as they pass by you.
Human Pyramid
Human Pyramid is an another very popular event. It is organized at ‘Placa St Jaume’. The challenge is to create multi-level human pyramid. Scores of people gather together to form circcular layers of base and a young child then climbs up to the top of the tower to finish the human pyramid. To pull up such an act requires quite a practice as well as coordination. It is spectacular to the eyes to experience what teamwork can do! (Work Motivation :D)
Live Concerts
Spanish love their music and food and how can this festival remain untouched. Throughout the city, there are various event stage set up and you can always find your favorite music, whether jazz, rock or soul, playing some part of the city. If still undecided, you can always go to Plaça de Catalunya, which is in the city center. It usually has open concerts with well-known Spanish and international bands playing. The other places are Plaça dels Àngels, Plaça del Rei, Plaça de Sant Jaume, and Arc de Triomf.
Montjuic Magic Fountain
This is the place where the festival concludes. If you are in the city around the La Merce Festival, you have to be here to see the sensation fireworks that lit up the sky to conclude this spectacular fest. The dancing of colorful Montjuic Magic fountain in itself is a must visit place in Barcelona. But along with the fireworks and the amazing background is a treat to your visual senses.
When to visit: End of September in 2020
When in Barcelona, also visit the beautiful Costa Bravo.
Read the short tales about the beautiful Costa Brava – Spain to know more about it.
Much Love❤️❤️❤️
