Festival de Gracia, Barcelona

Papier maché and pumping sounds in one of the coolest neighbourhoods in one of the coolest cities in Europe.

It’s not every day that a quiet walk through hot narrow streets leaves you tumbling into your own Alice in Wonderland world. With giant playing cards falling from the sky, rabbits in hats and towering blue caterpillars looming overhead, it takes the vision of Alice herself to help make the madness make sense.

This is the Festival Gracia, or Festa de Gracia, depending on which language you plump for. It’s held every August in Barcelona in Gracia, a bohemian barrio that once stood separate from the city but which now links up quite nicely via the famous Passeig de Gracia (home to Gaudi’s landmark Casa Pedrera…that big house with the swirly stone balconies and creepy ice cream chimneys. We’ll come back to that later…)

Residents and neighbours work together all year to produce these imaginative street art displays – and then crowds come from dawn until, well, the next dawn to admire and party away.

Read more here:

The Papier Mache Party: Festival Gracia, Barcelona” – Inside The Travel Lab