Any time is a good time to pack a picnic and head for the majestic Monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes that overlooks Port de la Selva in Spain.
Fancy dress, street parades, fireworks, singing, dancing, and the symbolic burning of evil spirits. That’s Carnival in the P-O
Looking to boost your wellbeing this winter?
Did you know that the man who was apparently responsible for the unification of Catalonia was called Wilfred the Hairy (El Pelut), Count of Barcelona, but hailing originally from Ria near Prades?
Throughout winter, you’ll see ’Rifles’ advertised everywhere. No need to duck unless we’re talking ‘two little ones’!
These pooey Catalan traditions may shed some light on the popular Catalan saying
“menja bé, caga fort i no tinguis por a la mort!” (Eat well, poo strong and don’t be afraid of death!)
A popular and much loved Catalan Christmas figure, this small statue, originally of a pooping peasant wearing traditional floppy red Catalan cap (barretina), crouches with trousers half down, in a ‘toilet’ position, making his small contribution to the land.
The poppy is a powerful and iconic symbol of remembrance in England, but did you know that the French have an equivalent, ‘Le Bleuet de France’, their own poignant reminder of the First World War?
A silence, our heads are bowed, a prayer from the Mayor. In turn the boys read out the list of the fallen sons of the Great War, perhaps a dozen names from those awful days. This would have been a village of around a hundred people.
“Resusci Annie’ was based on an anonymous drowned French girl sadly pulled out of the River Seine in the late 1880s