The beach burns bright, with the fires of the night..

It's a night of Fire, Fireworks, Coca cakes and Cava, but not of sleep. Happy Sant Joan! Bona revetlla a tots!

Foodie moment

As a guest of the St Christopher's hostel we got 10% off food in the bar downstairs making it incredibly good value, especially considering the size of the portions. I have to admit we also enjoyed having a meal that we knew what we were ordering and that tasted like something we would eat at home. All this amazing food around, but sometimes you just want something familiar and comfortable (and cheap!).

Cultural moment

We had fast forwarded a section of our trip so we could be in Barcelona for the 23rd of June - The Feast of Sant Joan. This is celebrated in association with the Summer Solstice and Sant Joan is associated with 3 symbols - water, fire and herbs. Basically this means that the Feast of Sant Joan is celebrated with thousands of people on the beach setting off firecrackers, fireworks, bonfires and swimming in the ocean after midnight (not sure where the herbs come into it -maybe i shouldn't ask!) - all of which is meant to be bring health and happiness for the next year. As you can guess it was a loud, crazy and hectic night.... and no, i will never get used to firecrackers going off right next to me!

Wow moment

La Rambla is a main street in Barcelona that runs from Placa de Catalunya down to the waterfront. Packed with stalls, some very inventive street performers, men selling annoying whistles that make duck noises and street artists - its always interesting, if not over touristy (and expensive!) but is still a must visit boulevard.

What we learnt today

At the end of La Rambla is a huge column with a statue of Christopher Columbus on it. He is standing pointing triumphantly at his land of discovery, America. Yet in fact, geographically America is the opposite direction, but rather than stick to facts the designers thought it would make more sense to have him pointing out to sea...hmmm.. I hope Spanish school children don't use it to learn their geography!