Strange Catalan Traditions at Christmas - Part 2

Now, after my recent post on weird Christmas traditions in Catalunya for the Festive Period, and then reading this one, you would be forgiven for thinking that the Catalans have a bit of an obsession with poo. Yes, you read right.

Another perfectly normal tradition in the Catalan household is to have below the Christmas tree, a decorated log. Not a chocolate log, but a proper, wooden log with his little wooden face, and red cape. I give you the "cagatio" - (crapping uncle?!).


The idea of the cagatio is that young children "feed" the cagatio in the run up to Christmas, and then on Christmas Eve night, children line up with their sticks, and beat the cagatio, and he...well, he poos out sweets, of course! There's a traditional song to be sung at the same time:

"Caga tió, caga torró d’avellana i de pinyó, no caguis arengades que són massa salades, caga torrons, que són més bons. Caga tió sinó et darem un cop de bastó."


The translation is more or less that the cagatio has to give them sweet "turrons" of almonds and pine nuts, nothing salty, otherwise they'll hit him with the stick. Turrons are like sweet bars kind of like marzipan, and are very traditional at Christmas time.

Whatever you want to think about these Catalan Traditions, I find them really funny and a light-hearted look at the Christmas period, and a great way to celebrate and have the kids involved, too!

For more information on the Catalan Capital, see this Barcelona Guide. Also, as an alternative to a hotel for your next visit, try Apartments for rent Barcelona for more freedom and space.

Las Ramblas of Barcelona

Ask anyone who has never been to Barcelona before anything about the city, and you usually have a maximum of 3 replies - FC Barcelona, something about Gaudi or Las Ramblas. Indeed many tourists always want to be close to the city's most famous street, despite knowing about the noise levels and petty crime that can often give the Ramblas such a bad name (more often than not blown out of proportion by certain travel forums).

Les Rambles in Catalan, is actually a collection of boulevards/promenades all seamlessley joined to form the plural "ramblas". The old Roman walls of Barcino like many a Roman town, were flanked on one side by a river. This dry river bed is what is now today Las Ramblas. Any trip to Barcelona is incomplete without strolling up and down Las Ramblas, and I would say a Sunday is the best day.

Rambla de Canaletes is the first stretch, named after the fountains at Plaça Catalunya - if you drink from the fountains, legend has it that you will one day return to Barcelona (and more than likley have a funny tummy for a few days, too). Here pensioners huddle to put the world to rights and celebrations for any Barça games overflow here from the Plaça.

Subject of much discussion for the tardis-style animal seller stands is the next Rambla de los estudios - more than likely making refernece to the nearby library on Carrer Hostpital. The lizards, rabbits and birds provide a bit of entertainment for the kids and at night get folded up like an origami duck into the smallest possible space that passers by don't even notice that this was the same place they passed earlier. I'm not animal rights activist, and it might be warm and cosy as far as I know but it must be a bit squashed, right?!

Rambla de Sant Josep is so called after La Boqueria market, which not everyone knows is called Saint Joseph's market. This also has the great Mirò floor plaque just at the entrance of Carrer Hospital/Sant Pau. This is where the main stretch of cafes appear and the Liceu Opera house, giving it's name to "rambla de los capuxinos" which speaks for itself.

Finally we have Rambla Santa Monica, which is where all the artisits collect. There are the usual charicature artisits, Chinese artists who write your name in script or colourful representations of letters, etc. but there are also some amazing portrait artists (the guy who works only with brushes in black and white is AMAZING!) and some great ethnic art, too. They store their work in the communal store room down on Arc del Teatre (readers of shadow of the wind, that's where the bookshop is!) and I remember once out on a night out, and seeing some of the guys setting up at around 4am! They told me that if they didn't start at that time, they didn't have enough space.

If you're thinking of coming to sample the sights that las ramblas has to offer, then try a self catering apartment for rent in Barcelona , instead of a hotel option. Also, see this Barcelona Guide.

Strange Catalan Traditions at Christmas - Part 1

Christmas in Catalunya, and Barcelona in Particular, is not all that different to other Western cultures, with the festive period being a celebration and reflection of the ending of the year, anticipation of the coming year and a reason for families to get together and eat, drink and be merry. Spain is traditionally a predominantly Catholic Nation (although you wouldn't know it nowadays!), so Catalunya enjoys the typical traditions of Christmas - Christmas trees and decorations, winter scenes in shop windows, and of course the traditional Nativity scene. However, if you look closely at the Catalan Nativity scene, you might be more than a little surprised to find an extra character in there - and I'm not talking about another donkey or sheep. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you with....the Caganer.

Dating as far back as the 18th Century, The Caganer (Literally the "Shitter" in Catalan) is not a joke and is a very serious traditional part of a Nativity scene - I think the idea behind the presence of the traditional country labourer crouched over, reflects the need to re-fertilise the earth for the coming crops and harvest. Fine idea if you ask me, odd way of presenting this, right?!

Either way, it doesn't matter what I or anyone else thinks about the Caganer, who has been around for years and is here to stay. In fact, so popular has the Caganer become that he now takes the form of a famous politician, football player, or anyone who's become particularly famous that year in Catalan culture, or who has grabbed the world's attention. So it's completely normal to have a traditional Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, accompanied by the shepherds, oxen and of course, Carles Puyol - Captain of FC Barcelona. Or perhaps Ivan de la Peña from rival locals RCD Espanyol. You get the picture.

No Christmas Market Stall is complete without the varying rows of Caganers on sale, and they always seems to be someone buying one. One of the great new additions for Christmas 2008 is of course, new US President, Barak Obama!!

Christmas in Barcelona is a great time to visit, with bustling shops and markets such as the Christmas Market in the Gothic Quarter, mild weather and fantastic food. Look into finding a self-catering apartment for rent in Barcelona, to really live like a local.

Barcelona in 4D

This is something I came across, and even though I've seen a fair few of them around, this one really has been done very well, and the resolution of the images is breathtaking.

The clever people at VRWAY Communication have created some amazing virtual tours in 4 dimensions for various cities, Barcelona being one of them. This serves various purposes in my opinion including planning a trip and what to see, to simply seeing the sights you already know if you live here/have been here before - but on a gloriously sunny day!

Imagine the situation, you've only got 3 days in Barcelona and have been scouring the web for information on what to see and what not to see - some people say you must visit one thing and you're not sure if to go for it or not. Problem soved! Go to the website here and have a good look around!

I've included a few screenshots here of what some of the images look like, but you really have to have a look at the site yourself, and have a little play around - it's great fun!! If you're looking for some accomodation for your stay in Barcelona, why not opt for an alternative to the usual hotel room, and go for a self-catering apartment for rent in Barcelona ? There are some great deals to be had, and it gives you much more freedom to explore the city and it's sights, too.

Property Crash

It's no surprise to anyone that the current property market all over the world has plunged into a nose dive, but Spain has been particularly badly hit. Property prices have fallen by an astonishing 35% in the last 12 months - 4 times that of UK, for example. Official statistics reveal that Spanish building companies built 750,000 new houses and apartments last year - that's more than France and Germany combined. The ministry of finance says that the demand for new properties is around 60% of that figure. The result has left many new groups of buildings in smaller "uranizaciones" like literal Ghost Towns, with no public transport, no shops, bars or anything convenient.

Barcelona itself won't suffer from this problem, but I am still amazed by new buildings that are constructed at varying rates of speed. Some seem to spring up in a matter of weeks and other times I happen to walk past a building site on a street I rarely wander down, and see that it looks exactly the same as 6 months ago.

Here are some links to some of the best buildings in Barcelona - some of which are also still under construction!!

La Pedrera Barcelona
Sagrada Familia

Casa Batlló
Palau Güell

7 Deadly Sins on the Same Night Out ?

Many of us living here in Barcelona are accustomed to wandering the streets of the old town late at night, trying to remember where that cool bar was that someone showed us a couple of weeks ago. The labyrinth of alleyways and dead ends, dimly lit by the street lamps, is confusing enough at any time and it's easy to forget just how much history you're soaking in, treading the paths of the old Roman town of Barcino.

Well if you fancy an alternative night out round the old town, I suggest you get in touch with Edu Garcia, and follow him on his 7 deadly sins tour of Barcelona. This is an ingenious idea, and combines the fantastic Historic knowledge of Edu (English and Spanish) with streets you've walked down a million times! There are several routes, including the upper and lower Raval (think Shadow of the Wind, guys!), Barceloneta, and of course 2 routes through the Gothic Quarter.



The tours take in some of the old town's famous sites, such King Michael's palace (now the Ajuntamiento/Town Hall). Here we have Sloth - King Michael was said to be so lazy he even had windows installed in the palace walls so he could watch the festivals and processions from the comfort of the palace. Garcia swiftly points out that it was in fact that he had a foot impediment meaning it was difficult for him to move about. There are many buildings in the Gothic Quarter built using gravestones from Montjüic cemetery that will be pointed out.
There are the holes bore into the marble steps at the old brothels on Las ramblas from the click of prostitutes' high heels, the sheild of the Spanish inquisition and it's tourture methods to extract confessions and of course the Plaça Padro in the Raval - where Poor Santa Eulalia was crucified (I'm going to do a seperate post on her soon). No trip around the old town at night would be complete without a stop in some of the famous bars, and Edu doesn't disappoint, with the Umbrella bar and Boadas cocktail bar on Calle Tallers being just a few.

The tours really do make for a fantastic evening - although Edu goes with no microphone, so be sure to stick close by him to hear the gems of wisdom. The best way to make a booking is through atrapalo.com Enjoy!