Tarragona
We left Girona in our rental car and drove south through Catalyuna, stopping in Vilafranca del Penedes. We had a walk around this charming village, in the heart of the Penedes wine growing region. We visited a wine museum that is still under major renovation, but got to see a bit of it.
Walking around we discovered a lot of great street art. Murals commissioned in mostly 2020, it seemed.
Vilafranca del Penedes
A City Full of Roman Ruins
I came down with a cold the first day of this 4 day stay, but it was mild enough that we were able to see all the Roman ruins in the city. Not a lot of captions needed here.
Our Apartment
Out the Apartment Window
Around Town
Caught this group practicing for some kind of procession. Whatever they’re carrying must not get revealed until the actual event!
Valls Calçotada Festival
We first learned about the Catalan spring onion called calçot two years ago. Robert and Nina took us to a “calçotada”— a big meal of lots of grilled food, of which the calçot is the star. We learned that the village that grows the majority of the calçots has a once-a-year festival to celebrate the revered onion, and oh boy, it is held when we were visiting this time! The last Sunday in January, and Valls is only about a half hour from Tarragona, so we put it into our itinerary.
We watch a YouTube channel called Patrick Guide Barcelona, where American expat Patrick tells us about all the goings-on, month by month in his videos. He went to this festival last year, and it looked fun, which helped us decide to go. Then, he mentioned in another video that he’d be participating in the calçot eating competion! We anticipated seeing him, and so we did. He actually participated in the competition.
Spaniards (more specifically, Catalans in this case) sure know how to do festivals! Fun, fun, fun at every opportunity!
Videos shot from the crowd
Of the Calçot Gigant, the Castellers, and the eating competition
