As Debbie and I wandered around just prior to the start of the “Parade of Fire!” during the Barcelona MERCE Festival, we started to notice people in hooded sweatshirts, wearing sunglasses (at night), and bandana’s covering their faces. Humm, interesting. It’s 80+ degrees out, these are funny outfits.
We’d read about this parade, but ultimately you need to see it to understand it. Clearly, this event would be illegal in any other place that I’ve ever visited. It’s more than a bit convenient that Barcelona was basically built of stone!!
Just minutes before the start of the parade, and only a block from the kick-off float, a nice guy came up to us. Looked at our shorts, short sleeved shirts, and asked “Do you guys understand what is about to happen here??” We assured him that we did, and that we planned to keep a safe distance from the fireworks. Ha!! What’s few sparklers between friends???
Then the devil’s drums kicked into gear, and another equally friendly guy came up to us and was a bit more direct. “You guys are going to burn!!!”, he said. You need to move much farther away….
It turns out they were both right, and we had no idea what we were about to see.
The parade started. We ran for cover!!
Morpheus Sailing 