Carnival Parade Day
Taking a leisurely stroll towards the town on the Paseo Maritimo (Passeig Maritim)
Since today is our last day in Sitges we took a leisurely time to rise and ablute this morning. Having done so we decided to walk into town for a look around (this is actually something we do every day as you will have gathered by now, but today will be our last for a while). What became immediately apparent was the sheer number of people take ‘en paseo maritimo’ (taking a walk on the promenade by the sea). We noted that there were lots of families all dressed up in their costumes with aunties, uncles, grandpas or grandmas taking photos of them as a group. As we approached the town and the numbers grew and grew, we also noticed that there were people beginning to line the barriers. The penny eventually dropped – I knew this already, that the children’s parade started at 12:00! We sort of decided we weren’t too bothered about it, but we then thought we ought to go and see it as we’re here.
Cameras from Penedes TV prepare for the children’s parade
We took a position at the ‘Cap Vila’ (top of the town in Catalan) where the parade starts from. We thought if we saw it at the start we would then be able to make a quick exit and go back to the hotel and have lunch on the balcony as we did yesterday. It transpires we weren’t the only ones who had this idea. Half of Spain seemed to be congregated at the Cap Vila! The main carnival processions are big events. The children’s parade is covered by regional TV channel Penedes TV based in Vilafranca de Penedès and is broadcast just an hour and a half after the parade starts. To give some idea of its importance, there were 4 cameras, a presenter and numerous support staff for the event – the carnival in Sitges is big news! The parade started just a few minutes late and lasted for about an hour.
The woman, pony tail and the Samsung Galaxy
Now, by now you will have realised that I am not one to complain but … if you look at the gallery below for the children’s parade you will see one thing again and again – the woman with the huge pony tail and the Samsung Galaxy phone. In one way it is a very good advert for a Samsung Galaxy – she videoed the entire parade from beginning to end. The problem was that she did it in such a way that she blocked everyone’s view. Absolutely no consideration for anyone around her. She was at the very front and could have obtained exactly the same result without holding her phone, along with the open case, at head height so that nobody behind could see. The photos that I took were taken at arms length above her head because I couldn’t actually see anything for her stupid phone! It will come as no surprise to you by now that the procession is not fully underway until the King arrives. I seriously do not know how this guy does it, he is full on there at every event from first thing in the morning to the early hours of the next for a full week long festival. I genuinely admire him for the amount of energy he puts in!
The King leads the procession of every parade of the carnival
The floats for the parade are so well put together and great fun. The thing one always has to remember though is the noise. In a carnival in the UK there would be a ‘wheel marshal’ at the front of every vehicle to ensure the safety of those nearby. In Spain they strap a couple of 800 watt speakers on the front, turn the volume up and it is every man for himself! After a while the music that is blaring from the vehicle that has just passed you blends with the music that is blaring from the vehicle passing you and with the music from the vehicle that is approaching you in some form of blissful noise extravaganza. Ask anyone what the song playing is called and they won’t have a clue, but for some unexplainable reason it works and everyone enjoys it!
No wheel marshal – just strap a couple of 800w speakers on and every man for himself!
What is wonderful about Spain is that there is no ‘elf and sayftee’ police everywhere doing their best to ensure that nobody has a good time. Quite the opposite, everyone is doing their best to make sure that everyone does have a good time. Yes, there are ambulances on standby (more than you would ever see in the UK) and yes, there are lots of police, but the main focus is having a good time. The ambulances are rarely needed (if they are it is usually because someone has imbibed too much) and the police have very little to do. All of the effort, all of the focus is on having a good time. On the children’s floats there weren’t lots of barriers to stop the little darlings from falling off and the onlookers to obscure their view, there were uprights in strategic places and the children were told to hold onto them. There were plenty of adults around but the children know instinctively that if they fall off there will be very little sympathy for them – they should have held on as they were told. Of course safety is important, but they seem to have the balance about right. Make things safe but don’t go overboard and spoil the fun. We could learn a lesson here!
Lunch on the balcony at the Subur Maritim
The parade having passed, we made our way to the shop where we had bought our bocadillos yesterday and bought more for today’s lunch. We already had some cheese left from yesterday and almost a full jar of guinillas, so we popped into the supermarket to buy some wine. The one thing we don’t have with us (amazingly it didn’t appear out of Captain Clarke’s bag) is a cork screw. “No matter,” said I, “they have some third of a bottles that have screw top”. Perfect, we both thought – picked up three to make a bottle and made our way out of the shop (via the till – we didn’t steal it!). It took us some time to negotiate our way out of town because the parade was a long way from finished elsewhere and all of the roads and crossing points remained closed. We eventually escaped though and made our way back to the hotel for some lunch. There are just two points to make here – the lunch was good but we no longer have any guinillas left as we ate almost a whole jar and, far more importantly, the wine was Californian! It was that disgusting white zinfandel grape which is sweet and thick like syrup and utterly revolting! There is a learning point here – never assume that the wine in the screw top bottles is the same local wine as the rest on the shelf! We won’t make that mistake again. I managed 1 bottle and Captain Clarke was the martyr and drank the other two.
Rows of ambulances and police cars are prepared but thankfully not used.
And so, for one final time, we departed our hotel in the direction of the main town. As we walked towards the town we discovered that all of Spain had decided to come out and see the parade too. It was, as you would expect, crowded beyond belief. We walked past rows of ambulances and police cars (all of which were still there when we left at the end of the evening) and past hoards of people all vying for that space with a good view. Interestingly, this was 30 minutes before it was due to commence and, generally, the Spanish don’t do early. As things turned out, it was not 30 minutes before the start of the event – it was an hour. They don’t appear to do on time here either! Captain Clarke and I found an OK position (which turned out to be much better than we hoped when there was some confusion over an order of chocolate con churros – a very typical Spanish snack – and who had ordered what which enable us to nip into the space that had been created!). The parade eventually started and, this probably comes as no surprise, but who should lead the parade? The King! If I take nothing from this trip it is that the King of the Carnival (His Majesty King Carnestoltes) works incredibly hard, gets virtually no sleep and, in my mind, has earned his crown!
Even the Brits have a float – everyone joins in!
Now, as you know, I am not one to complain, but boy oh boy, it is a slow affair! It seems to me that they spend a huge amount of time and effort on crowd control, on preparation, street closures, barriers etc., etc., but they forget about ensuring that the parade keeps moving. Sometimes a group of dancers are in front of their float doing their thing and the gap between them and the floats in front just gets bigger and bigger, but there is nobody telling them to keep moving. Gaps can be 5 minutes, 10 minutes or even longer. It is a test of stamina and endurance to stay to the end. Unfortunately, after almost 3 hours Captain Clarke and I ran out of both! Both of our backs were aching, our legs, it was quite cold and, frankly, we just couldn’t stand there anymore. That said, it was fantastic! The atmosphere of carnival, the colours, the sounds (loud and blended), the sights were all wonderful. We are both already discussing our next trip for carnival week.
The Eurovision float passes by
As our trip to Sitges drew to a close, we decided to go for one last drink before leaving the town. The carnival parade was still going on, but we knew that if we walked around the back of the parade we would be able to get up into town where it would be quieter away from the carnival. It worked. We walked along to the church and up the steps so that we could walk into the part of town where it would be quieter away from the carnival mayhem. We returned to La Granja de Sitges (look back for a summary of this wonderfully bohemian bar) and order a small libation. The first price we were given was €12 for two whiskeys, the second was €9 and then eventually €6 – I preferred the final price! This wasn’t the bar ripping us off, it was simply that they weren’t quite sure what to charge because their till wasn’t geared up to sell just a whiskey as a drink – whiskey and coke, whiskey and other mixer, whiskey and a tapa but not whiskey on its own!
Dancers often precede a float and the costumes are spectacular
We left La Granja de Sitges and walked through the town back towards our hotel. As we passed bar Pic-Nique we were tempted by one last drink before leaving. Another whiskey was procured at a similar price to that which we eventually paid in La Granja de Sitges and we reflected on another great week in our favourite town. Time was getting on (nearly midnight) and we had to be up at 06:30 to be ready for an 07:30 departure by taxi to Barcelona Sants. We had never planned on getting a taxi to Barcelona but when we spoke to reception about getting a taxi to Sitges station in the morning they were genuinely staggered that we should even contemplate such a thing – apparently (confirmed by our taxi this morning) Sitges station has to deal with about 100,000 passengers on the morning after carnival and it just can’t cope. The police have to marshal travellers and it can take over an hour to board a train – since we have a fixed time to get our TGV to Paris, we just couldn’t take the risk.
Dancers on a float giving it their all!
The taxi price was estimated as being about €100. We decided that, on balance, a €100 taxi would be preferable to the cost and disruption of missing our train so we decided to take it. Interestingly, the taxi driver this morning (I am completing this missive on the train that has just left Barcelona) was helpful enough, if a little quiet, but drove us to Barcelona Sants with no issues. We were early, but that was fine – it gave us an opportunity to have a walk around the station and to pick something up to eat on the train. When we arrived at Barcelona Sants the driver told me the fair was €86. I gave him €100 in two €50 notes which he took and thanked me – no offer of any change, but in all fairness I was going to give him €100 anyway! Just one final thought about our trip during carnival week … where else in the world would you see a bearded lady standing beside a chicken beside a Mario figure beside a convict beside a woman dressed as a man beside a man dressed as a banana beside a family with children and a baby in a pram, all having a drink together and nobody blinks an eyelid – it is all perfectly normal! It is RudyMenTerry!
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