WhereIsSteve

Festa Major del Gracia Every village, town and city in Spain has their own adopted Saint and usually has a festival to celebrate their Saint's Day. In Spain every day of the year is a Saint's Day so I guess there must be a festival going on somewhere in Spain every day. In Barcelona every area of the city, or barrio, holds a festival - most of these are during the summer months. The biggest of these is the Festa Major del Gracia, held in the barrio of Gracia {surprisingly!} at the end of August. The festival dates back nearly 200 years, long before Gracia was absorbed into Barcelona. The festival is organised along the streets in the barrio. The residents of each street organise the decoration of the street and the activities which will take ... read more

Correfoc This is another Catalan “tradition” that will really have the health and safety people worried. I first saw this as part of the La Mercè festival but I think it happens during several other festivals. Correfoc literally means “fire run”. People dress up in “devil” costumes, dance to the bands of drummers and run through the crowds of spectators letting off fireworks. Other groups of people make large “monsters” which are also armed with fireworks which are fired into the watching crowds. I came across Correfoc at first when exploring the La Mercè festival. I came across a children's version of the parade. This is the “safe”, watered down version of the event that is considered to be safe for children to take part in. A lot of the kids had been clearly carefully dressed ... read more

Back To Beaune I'm returning to Beaune after a couple of years. My friends Nick and Anne have been living here for the last three years. Sadly they are having to return to the UK soon so this is one last visit before they leave. I am again visiting at the time of the Vendange, the annual wine harvest. The grapes in the area around Beaune are all picked by hand so at this time of year there is a lot of casual work available and a lot of people come into the area looking for work. This year we are fairly optimistic that one of Nick and Anne's friends has been able to arrange some work for the three of us. Le Shuttle Because I'm likely to be earning some money when I get to ... read more

Venice Ministry of Misinformation The journey from Ljubljana to Venice ought to be an easy one; it’s a relatively short distance and I expect there to be a number of train and bus connections. However the information desks at the bus station and the train station do their best to make it difficult. On my first trip to the bus and train stations I am told that the only train is at 2a.m. and that the only bus is at 5a.m. Just as I’d resigned myself to an evening on the station platform I learn from a chance conversation with a couple of people staying at the hostel that they are taking a bus to Venice at about 8a.m. I return to the bus station and am told that there is indeed a bus at 8:15! ... read more

Postojna Monday 25th April The caves at Postojna are one of the largest cave systems in Europe. It’s a limestone cave system with more than 20km. of spectacular caverns of stalactites and stalagmites. They are well worth a visit. A couple of people from the hostel where I’m staying in Ljubljana have done all the work in finding out how to get there and back so I cheekily invite myself along. Getting there is actually quite easy from Ljubljana. {Getting to most places in Slovenia is quite easy – it’s a small country with good transport links}. There are regular buses from Ljubljana to Postojna. The journey takes about an hour and then it’s a 20 minute walk to the caves. On the day that we visit the caves there are a lot of visitors. It’s ... read more