Catalunya experience

In Poland the children get presents on Decembre 6 which brings, depending on the region, Santa Claus or the Star. In Catalunya the children have to wait one month more. On January 6, the Catalan children get up early to look for the gifts that the Kings of the East have left them during the night. The tradition of the Reis de l’Orient begins many days before January 6. Children write letters addressed to Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar asking for what they want.   Before going to sleep, the children leave prepared water for the camels, as well as turrones (the traditional catalan sweets made from almondes and sugar) for the Kings. In the morning, they receive the gifts, or charcoal if they have behaved badly. For the dessert in every Catalan home is served the traditional tortell de Reis – a sponge cake with cream and crystallized fruits.

Every year on December 28 in Catalunya is celebrated the day of jokes. You have to be careful! At every step you can meet a joker who's ready to make fun of you. Unless, you do it first ;) Tremp is a small town in the province of Lleida in Catalunya where the tradition is cultivated in a special way. This day, the inhabitants of Tremp hang the llufa - the giant paper doll on the belfry. After the parade they sing him to come down and later they burn it. It is also typical to stick the paper dolls on the back of the persons you want to make fun of.  On December 28 you can read many humorous articles and see many fake news on TV. Most of the information is jokes. Many jokes are made between family and friends. No one gets angry because everyone has the right to joke this day!

In Europe there are many different Christmas traditions. In Poland we are waiting for the first star in the sky to start the Christmas Eve. After the dinner we look for the gifts under the Christmas tree which the Star brings us. What about the Catalan Christmas tradition?  In Catalonia the gifts brings the Christmas log - cat. el Tió de Nadal. It is made from the wood and always wears the traditional Catalan hat. The children take care of him, give him food and put the blanket so he's not cold. Later, they sing the song and bit him with sticks and they ask him to shit the gifts: "Caga tió, caga torró, avellanes i mató, si no cagues bé  et daré un cop de bastó. caga tió!" Shit, log, shit nougats ( turrón ), hazelnuts and mató cheese, if you don't shit well, I'll hit you with a stick, shit, log! I have no doubt that the Catalan Christmas tradition is the most orginal and funny in Europe :D

Catalunya is one of the most important destinations for every wine tourist 🍸Firstly, there are a lot of wineries which you can visit for a very reasonable price. You can not only try a very good wine there but also see how it has been produced. Secondly, Catalunya is famous for the best sparkling wine ever  - Cava. Priorat is one the most important wine regions in Catalunya and Spain. Every bottle of wine produced there is of the best quality. I was in Priorat and I had the opportunity to visit one of the wineries. The owner showed me his vines and explained how he took care of them. Later I tried three types of wine and the taste of them was rich of many different flavors and aromas. It was a wonderful experience.  Cava - in Catalan "cava" means cave which were used for the preservation of aging of wine years ago. There are two types of cava: white and rose and is produced in varying levels of sweetness: dryest, brut, seco, semiseco and dulce. Almost every bottle...

Do people who don't like sweets exist? I'm sure not! The sweets always improve my state of humor. All problems disappear after eating a piece of cheescake or apple pie. In Catalunya there are a lot of traditional and very tasty sweets. When I'm there I always have to eat one of those desserts: 1. Crema catalana - it's one of my favourite one, very simple and unforgettable. The main ingredients are: whole milk, sugar, fine corn flaur, egg yolks, the skin of lemon or orange, cinnamon stick and...more sugar to caramelize! <3 2. Panellets - are small cakes in many diferent shapes, made of marzipan, sweet potatoes, chestnuts, sugar and covered with pine nuts, coco, chocolate or peanuts. Panellets are the traditional dessert of the All Saints's Day. The perfect accompaniment for those sweets is the sweet wine Moscatell.  3. Ensaïmada - is made of:  flour, water, sugar, eggs, sourdough and lard. The famous one comes from Mallorca and is without any type of ...

One of the places which are less known in Barcelona is La capella  de Santa Llúcia. It's  a very beautiful place and there are a lot of things which I love. Firstly, the tiles with many floristic patterns. Secondly, the romantic fountain. Thirdly, the palm trees.  If you want to visit Barcelona you can read many useful information about the city in tourist guides. You will find there a large number of places which are worth to see. The problem is that the most famous attractions in Barcelona are full of tourists. You can't visit those places quietly, without noises and in your own rhythm. It's really hard to even buy a ticket! This is why I' ve searched other interesting places which are less known. La Capella de Santa  Llúcia is one of them. It's a very relaxed place which is located close to the Barcelona Cathedral. If you want to rest in a beautiful and silent place La Capella de Santa  Llúcia will be perfect for...

I think that's true of real life - we don't ever know anyone completely. Secrets are very important to creating a narrative work that's believable. The characters come into that world with secrets, as happens to all of us. The secret is an essential part of the creation of the novel. - Jaume Cabré Jaume Cabré    is a philologist, teacher and one of the famous Catalan modern writers. He wrote ten novels, five collections of short stories and three essays.  He has also worked in television and cinematographic scriptwriting.  Jaume Cabré received among others: the  National Prize of Literature, the City of Barcelona prize and  Catalan writers prize to the literary trajectory.  Fra Junoy or the agony of sounds One of my favourite novel of  Jaume Cabré is "Fra Junoy or the agony of sounds".  The book tells story about the organist monk which was sent to La Rapita monastery as the nun's father confessor. He can't play the orga...

One of the oldest and the most interesting catalan traditions are the human towers. The first ones were built in Valls (near the town of Tarragona) in 1712 and 8 years ago were declared by UNESCO to be amongs the Masterpices of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.  'Els castells' are rising from the ground only with the human strength. Everybody has to work together and help each other to build the tower. I think that this tradition teaches very well how to work as a team.  If you visit Catalunia you can't miss this show! The human towers (cat. els castells) competition in Tarragona I recomend you to see the video "Behold the Human Towers of Catalunia" by Great Big Story which explains many interesting details about the human towers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQM4qbwyxCM I really would like to know your opinion about this catalan tradition! Please write a comment :)

The majority of the tourists who come to Catalunia visit only Barcelona. This city is really beautiful and I can't deny that is worth to visit it. However, there are a lot of other interesting towns in Catalunia. One of them is Tarragona. These are some of my favorite places which I recomend you to see there: 1. Les Ferreres Aqueduct "Pont del Diable" The monument is situated in the Sant Pere y Sant Pau district which is near the center of the town. The aqueduct was built probably in the first century during the reign of Augustus. The monument has 36 arches. It raices to 27 metres from the valley floor. If you want you can pass through the Aqueduct and admire the beautiful views. 2. Tarragona Cathedral  The Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church. It was constructed in the 12th century. It represents the gothic style. In the portal you can see a lot of interesting and beautiful decorations. Inside there are 19 chapels, among others: Chapel of the Virgin of ...

Tarragona is one of the oldest town in Spain and in my opinion, the most beautiful one :) Balcó del Mediterrani in Tarragona - It bring good luck if you touch it (cat. tocar ferro) The town is located on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. It is the capital of the Province of Tarragona. The town has a very long history. It was founded before the 5th century BC. Tarragona was one of the most important capitals in the Roman Republic. It was the favourite place of Augustus - the first   Emperor of the Roman Empire, who bestowed many marks of honour on the city. Augustus really loved the town, he said: "Tarragona is the town of the Eternal Spring". In Tarragona there are so many beautiful places. One of my favourite is the Tamarit Castle. It was built in the twelfth century. The views from the castle are breathtaking. I really recommend you to visit Tarragona. In the future I will write more about this amazing place :)

This year more than 10.000 Catalans have voted for their favourite word in their native language. The voting was organized as a part of the project  Terra de Llengües    (The earth of languages).   Those are the results: Xiuxiuejar  - to whisper Aixopluc  - shelter Caliu  - ash Tendresa  - tenderness Llibertat  - freedom Moixaina  - c aress that is made by passing a hand over a face Amanyagar  - to t reat with love or affectionate sympathy Enraonar  - to talk Ginesta  - plant: s partium junceum; "broom" Atzavara  - plant: agave I think that it was a very interesting initiative and I really would like to know what is your favourite word in your language. Please write a comment ;) http://llengua.gencat.cat/ca/anypompeufabra/agenda/10-paraules-mes-boniques-catala/

Catalan is one of the oldest european languages. The first text written almost completly in Catalan was the Gregues de Guitard Isarn and is from 11th century. After a thousand years we can read an uncountable number of books originally written in Catalan and a lot of translations. There are more than 10 millones of native speakers who live in Catalonia, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Italy and France. Every time, there are more and more people who want to learn Catalan. I'm one of them. I love the Catalan culture. I believe that only when we can understand the language we can truly understand other culture. This is why I have started learning Catalan :)