BARCELONA CHRISTMAS MARKET

You know it’s Christmas time in Barcelona when a chill and the intoxicating scent of roasted chestnuts begin to fill the air. There’s something unarguably special about a European Christmas. You can feel the festive spirit. The city is decorated with trees, displays and illuminated by a myriad of beautiful lights. There’s also cute Christmas markets scattered around in squares. The biggest and best Christmas market in Barcelona is ‘La Fira de Santa Llúcia’, which is on Avenida de la Catedral in the Gothic Quarter. It’s right in front of the beautiful Barcelona Cathedral. A perfect and picturesque location for the oldest running market in Barcelona. It has been running for over 200 years. Crazy, right! It starts each year at the end of November and goes through December from morning to night – 10:30 to 22:30. The rows of small stalls sell gifts, nativity figurines and decorations. It’s definitely worth checking out!

This cute smiling, hollowed-out Christmas log just seems like a normal Catalan Christmas decoration. So sweet and innocent. He’s almost the Catalan equivalent of Santa Clause. This is until you find out he’s beaten with sticks to give small presents on Christmas. It’s a whole new level of Christmas celebration! From the 8th of December until Christmas eve this little guy is kept warm with a blanket and ‘fed’ each night by the children. The theory is, the more you feed him, the more presents he ‘poops’ out. Yes, you read that correctly. Already quite an unusual tradition, the children then ´help´ his digestion by beating him with a stick. All while singing a special song. Poor little pooping log.