Spanish New Year’s

All official fireworks and new year celebrations have been cancelled but we feel if there is anything going on we will see it from the Palacio Nacional de Montjuïc. Thousands of other people have the same idea and we join them on the steps over-looking the city. The magic fountain below us is switched off but the atmosphere around us is magical. It’s obvious nothing much is going to happen but people are in great spirits and as we wait for midnight singing breaks out in different corners. At midnight amateur fireworks are set off and the crowd cheers and whoops as if we are watching the most spectacular show.
We join in the Spanish tradition of eating grapes for good luck. One grape must be eaten for each stroke of midnight- we are simultaneously watching and cheering for the fireworks - it is an impossible but its very funny.
This is the first time Ruby and Colm stay up to ring in the new year. I think we might have inadvertently set them up for disappointment in the coming years. Barcelona has set the bar very high.Read more