La Mercé, Barcelona 2009

It all began in the 17th century when the plague of locust’s attacked Barcelona and the city prayed to the Virgin of La Mercé to help. And so when she conquered the plague the people of Barcelona declared the Virgin as the patron saint of the city.

Since 1871 the people of Barcelona celebrate the end of the summer at the 4 day lasting festival called la Mercé. Every year during these days, there are more than 600 events planned combining theater, circus, dance, music, traditional and sport shows. The city is buzzing with bands playing a wide spectrum of music in most of the major squares around the downtown area.

This year would be my first time experiencing the festival and I was very curious. The festival started on Wednesday September 23rd and I was aware of la Mercé and the activities they have for this festival. As I was watching a movie at my place in Sagrada Familia I heard the unmistakable ‘boom – boom’ of salutes being shot. The sounds only lasted for 15 minutes or so. I assumed it was fireworks, or how Spaniards call it ‘los fuegos artificiales’ or ‘pirotecnica’

The next day I went exploring, calling friends about the schedule and location of the fireworks. I found out that they were being displayed at Barceloneta and Plaza España. I decided to check out the closing night firework display at Plaza España…. It felt like all people of Barcelona had left their homes for what was a spectacular show! There were tons and tons of people actually the media informed us there were close to 1.6 million!! The sky was alight colour and the atmosphere was electric. I really enjoyed my first la Mercé very much and I now understand why it is such a huge deal for the people of Barcelona. Mercé is definitely my new favorite holiday!
Souhailla Aulad Ahmed, Sales Department

The team of Lifestyle Barcelona also enjoyed their last blast of summer during the la Mercé festival. They shared their stories, too.

An amazing show on Saturday September 26th, live from the street in front of the old Dam beer factory, THE HIVES. More than 10.000 people showed up to chill out to the electric riffs of the Swedish band The Hives, and we also enjoyed the vibrations of some local support acts.
All this for free, Mercé is just awesome!!

Yohan Londchal, Sales Department

Check out their amazing single ‘Tick Tick Boom’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqkJ30Kh7ZM

La Mercè is one of the craziest and most traditional festivals in Barcelona, with scores of loud, multicultural concerts all over the place. There were free museum entrances, wine tasting, yoga sessions on ‘Paseo de Gracia’, traditional Catalan dances and tents full of second hand books on so many of the super crowded streets. Once again the diversity of Barcelona showed itself. I could see that life in Barcelona can be so very different depending on which part of it you find yourself! Down by the beach there were surfers taking advantage of the awesome waves whilst other people were sitting back to taste an assortment of wines from different regions of Spain. A little way from the port in the quaint neighborhood of El Borne the Picasso Museum had opened its doors for FREE to any passer-by’s to enjoy its treasures. In the Gothic Quarter people were dressed in traditional clothing and danced through the narrow streets singing and chanting ryhmes. Moving away from the city centre and up to the hill of Montjuic children were being entertained with a variety of circus characters and tasty refreshments. I truly love this city; there is no better and livelier place for me than Barcelona city!

Marie-Luise Albrecht, Sales Department