Tower of strength

Yes, more hands! I was going to pick another of my many photos today, but S reviewed them and insisted on this one.

Thank goodness, the day dawned dry and by lunchtime it was warm and sunny. We packed this morning, and S took the rucksack back to the car. Then we walked to one of the expensive cafes near the tourist office and had breakfast outdoors. After a failed mission to find a ham shop that was open, we tagged along with the procession of castellers and band to the Plaça del Vi, where today's show was. Three colles (teams) again, including the Minyons from Terrassa (blip), one of the most admired.

The space was much more compact than yesterday (where there was a handy "grandstand" in the form of the church steps from which I took yesterday's blip). It soon got very crowded. To the point where we were wedged in and unable to move. This made photos tricky as I was hemmed in by tall people, and shorter people waving their phones in the air in front of me. So I didn't take as many as yesterday. The performance was most impressive, especially as it was surrounded by tall buildings whose balconies were packed with people.  The biggest was a nine-layer tower with five people on each upper layer -- except for the pinnacle of two small children, one on top of the other. A couple of times the towers collapsed as they were descending, but no-one was injured. They obviously know how to fall, although it must still be uncomfortable for the mass of people on the bottom who break the fall.

If you were one of the people baffled about what's going on in yesterday's blip, I have two extras of my alternative choices which convey the atmosphere -- here (showing how crowded it was) and here. Note, the buildings are five storeys high, and yes the children are level with the top floor! It's amazing to see how swiftly and confidently they shin up and back down again -- their mothers always waiting at the bottom to grab them!

I was glad when some people left after the first half hour, as it really was uncomfortably crowded, and I was constantly being buffeted by people bigger than me and starting to plan potential escape routes. It was better after that, so we stayed for well over an hour. Then we wriggled out and walked to the Plaça de la Independencia for a tapas-based lunch, just nabbing the last table for two on the terrace at Xibarri before the hordes arrived.

Afterwards, a digestive 20-minute walk back to the car, and home. It's lovely to spend time somewhere so very different, under two hours' drive away. I have loads more photos to process, and I'll be adding them to the Flickr album later.