La Merçe Festival with Kids

Having two kids during the Merçe festivities has been great this year. I'm sure it's actually great every year, but mine have been maybe too small to appreciate. There are plenty of activities each year geared specifically for children, and in particular the area around Montjüic castle was full of puppet shows, trapeze artists and projections, face painting and circus acts. Whilst the ones we co-incided with were is Catalan, there were also some international acts (a couple of puppet shows from France we saw were funny, too).



One of the highlights was the giants parade on the Friday evening. Las Ramblas was closed off for traffic and the parade started from Carrer Pelai, all the way down Las Ramblas, preceeded by bands from the Guardia Urbana on horses.



Each neighbourhood has their "gegants" and it was great fun to watch the different neighbourhoods go past with their costumes, bands and giants.



All of the children lining the streets would touch the giants and try and shake hands or call their attention.



One of the lesser known animals called the beast sprayed water on the crowds as it went past, too.



And there was one who for me was the spitting image of Andy Garcia (admittedly with a fair bit of make-up) or is that just me?!



His and hers dragons, traditional animals and many many more that I didn't snap with my camera phone as the kids took over a bit!



Did you attend the parade? any impressions or comments? Let me know. BCN Rentals has a great selection of apartments for rent, too, if you're thinking of visiting the city this autumn.