TRAVEL catalonia
An April hailstorm in Barcelona on Sant Jordi? Indeed, it was coming down in torrents during the city’s biggest event, Catalan Valentine’s Day. Given the twoyear pause in celebrations, there was much disbelief, outrage and bandying about of phrases such as ‘absolute tragedy’.
Catalonians are a passionate people, more so when religion’s involved. God, Mary and all the saints (especially Sant Jordi, or Saint George) would have received fervent prayers from millions of citizens when rain was first forecast. But as the Divine would have it, passion and wrath were served in equal measure that day, yet there I stood on Passeig De Gràcia, eyeing Gaudí’s Casa Batlló adorned in red roses for the big day, as pebble-sized hailstones hit the ground.
In Catalonia, the legend of Sant Jordi has it that a brave knight rescued a princess from a dragon by slaying it, and then giving her a rose that sprung forth from the blood that was spilled. Love won, but so did the publishing industry, which is said to bring
