Yesterday afternoon, it was finally sunny after a rainy week so I went out and about. I’d originally intended to go down to the Gothic Quarter to practice taking photos, but I just so happened to pass by the Parc de la Ciutadella first…and found a street fair! At first, it looked like an ordinary a weekend street market. These are amazing anyway, but this one turned out to be extra special.

Barcelona-street-fair-Arc-de-Triomf

It caught my eye because of some interesting stilt performers warming up.  It  turned out to be a massive  environmentally-friendly fair (officially La Fira i el Tiovivo Ecológic units amb el Medi Ambient). The focus was on eco-friendly products and foods, so there was a ton of great stuff to look at, from handmade jewelry from natural materials to organic vegetable stands. You could even get fake dreadlocks put in to get that real eco-warrior look.

Barcelona-street-fair-market

The best part by far was the food. There were hundreds of mouth-watering food stalls. Sadly, I’d already eaten lunch so I didn’t have any space in my tummy to try anything. But it certainly looked incredible. There were lots of people using ingredients straight from the farm to make tasty bread, delicious spreads and jams, giant cheeses, and even ecologically friendly meats.

Barcelona-street-fair-market

Around the corner were the people who cooked with these ingredients (or didn’t – there was a raw-food stall there too). They got pretty fancy with this.   I’ve never seen a street fair with an Italian pizza oven set up, but there were two or three here! Out came golden pizzas that did a pretty good job of convincing everyone they wanted to be eco-friendly if it meant you got to eat stuff like this all the time.

Barcelona-street-fair-market

Next came the international section, filled with people from all over the world selling the best food their country had to offer. You could buy anything from Argentine asado to Taiwanese noodles to Turkish baklava. Some Turkish tea parlors were set up to go with the baklava. You could duck underneath beautiful cloth tents to find low-set tables and chairs, complete with lanterns strung from the ceiling.

I’m not even a foodie, but I would’ve loved to have spent an afternoon wandering between the food tents sampling and tasting delicious little treats from all over the world. But as I wasn’t hungry and had no money to spend, I kept going and came across some amazing performances. There was a jazz band, a hugely energetic drumming group, Brazilian capoeira dancers, and best of all – the stilt performers!

Barcelona-street-fair-stilt-walkers

They leapt all the way down the length of the fair to mystical music and rainbow flames. Between the three main guys, there were some incredible gymnastic tricks. One guy in particular could walk backwards by jumping on one foot. Somehow, he whipped the other foot into the air. It ended up in the vicinity of his ear…while he was leaping backwards on stilts in the middle of a crowd.

Barcelona-street-fair-stilt-walkers

I watched them finish their incredible performance, and then checked out the eco-friendly carousel and a few more stalls. But by then it was getting a little chilly and my knee started to make walking painful, so I had to leave. Of course, right as I was picking up my bike, I noticed that the fair filled up the whole park and surrounding streets!

Oh well, they assured me they’ll be back next year on Earth Day weekend. Anybody want to join me there?

Currently reading: Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

Currently listening to: “Is This It?” by the Strokes

Besos and happy Earth Day!

-Jess

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