Sardana Dancing in Barcelona

During the Sardana dancers, an band played Benninguda in the plaza

by Eric Hegwer

This was one of the highlights of our visit to Barcelona. Although we arrived on November 1, All Saint’s day, a National Holiday, and the day didn’t start good. It was a few days after our anniversary, and to treat ourselves to something special, we took the first-class train from Paris to Barcelona. This was a night trip, and while the food, accommodations, and train was top-notch all the way, we were a bit groggy when we arrived.

Looking down the Passeig de Gracia in Barcelona on the day we arrived. Our hotel is on the left.

Maybe it was the new country, or the new language, either way, I wasn’t able to “code switch” from French to Spanish as fast as I wanted to. Or maybe it was because our hotel wouldn’t let us check in early (we arrived at 9:00 AM, and standard check in time was 3:00 pm).

So we had to spend some time out and about. Of course, that’s never a bad thing, but when you are tired, sometimes the best thing is to just take a nap. Since that wasn’t possible, we headed down the Passeig de Gracia (thank goodness our hotel was centrally located), to the Cathederal de Barcelona (nope not the Gaudi one) and grabbed some coffee at a cafe on the square.

A traditional European breakfast. a coffee with a pastry.

Sitting in a cafe in Barceonla or the rest of Europe for that matter, it’s not like going to the Cheesecake Factory. In America, restaurants want to turn tables as fast as they can, and I usually feel rushed when I eat out in the states. But in Spain, you can sit and enjoy. And for about 5 € ($7.25), we ate two pastries, had a couple of delicious coffees and were treated to a show.

The show started when we saw a guy pushing a piano down the street:

Some street performers rolling an upright piano down the street in preparation for their performance. (this isn't usually part of the Sardana Dance)

Then, spontaneously, the Sardana Dancing began. A bunch of Catalonians had formed a circle in the Placa de la Seu (the square in front of the Cathederal). A band began to play and everyone danced. And Danced, and danced. This went on for hours. People would come and put their bags in the center of the circle, dance a few times, and then grab their stuff and go. There were probably several hundred sardanistas, and about a thousand tourists taking pictures.