Christmas is upon us and children are looking
forward to two whole weeks of no school. They will spend time with their
families, open presents and eat lots and lots of sweets. However in Catalonia,
December starts with a holiday weekend, with not one but two extra days off!
Whenever there is a holiday weekend the family
always like to make the most of things and go to different places. My host
brother Alex plays water polo and his team was having a match in a nearby town
called Olot. Marta, my host mother and Ines, my host grandmother drove there
and cheered Alex on as he played against the local team. Raffle tickets were
sold during the event and this was for the annual charity called La Marató (The
Marathon), which raises money to advance medical research for diseases. Every
year it’s a different disease and this year it’s for diabetes and obesity.
After the match, Marta, Ines and I drove
around the area, where I was treated to spectacular mountain views. Mountains
here are a lot higher than in Scotland and a number of towns have been built
upon extinct volcanoes. We stopped at a small town called Besalú, which has
been around since the 12th century. It has a gate similar to those
you see in fairytale castles, on top of which is the
nativity scene with Mary and Joseph looking over their newborn son Jesus. There
were a few odd moments with a huge chair stuck in an alleyway and two chairs
attached vertically to a stone wall (as you do), but it gave this little town
much charm. The centre of the town was of course decorated with wonderful
Christmas lights – I took some photos, but unfortunately they didn’t turn out
so well (you see them in the last blog post). We then returned home, satisfied
that we took the scenic route.
On Sunday, the family and I headed to
Barcelona. We visited the Christmas markets and it was so hard to move around
as there were a lot of people! I was in fear of being squished. Not to fear
though as we moved to a less busy part of the city and headed to the Museu Blau
(Blue Museum). This is a museum of natural sciences and it had some really cool
exhibits about the earth, some stuffed animals (which I find really creepy) and
there were exhibits about nutrition and what we should do to keep healthy. It
was an interesting way to spend a Sunday afternoon and it was free too (some
museums are free on Sundays after 3pm). We made our way across the street from
the museum, enjoying some cold drinks before heading back to the centre of the
town. A few hours later, we were on our way back home.
On Monday afternoon I was out with Marta and
Ines again as went went to a charming, picturesque town called Espinelves. It
was filled with Christmas stalls and I bought a lovely little ornament called a
Caga Tió. This is a special tradition in the Catalan region of Spain where the
Tió is fed sweets or fruit and on Christmas Eve, the children hit it with a
stick and then the gifts come out of the other end. My one is just
an ornament, but it is sitting proudly on the table in my home. On
Tuesday it was just a relaxing day, before returning to the madness of school!
Now I am back in Scotland for Christmas and
enjoying some well deserved time off! Here are some photos below of the long weekend a few weeks ago:
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