Let me start by apologising for the radio silence over the last two weeks, I have been so busy! Especially last week, where my attention was mainly drawn to the protests that have been taking place Catalonia-wide. These were sparked following the sentencing of the Catalonian politicians who organised the independence referendum in 2017, which was seen by the Spanish government as illegal. Charged with between 9 and 13 years for sedition, many people here have taken to the streets to protest their sentencing. The majority have been peaceful, but there have also been bouts of violent protesting in the form of lighting bins on fire. However, there has also been a reasonable amount of violence by both the Spanish national police and the mossos which has been highly contested by all Catalans, with some even joining protests against violence despite not being independentist. It is certainly an interesting time to be in Catalonia so if you are interested I would definitely recommend you to read up on it! It is an issue I cannot explain fully as I do not have enough information and it is very complicated, but I leave here just a few images of protests and of their aftermath in Tarragona…
Last Saturday I joined the Erasmus excursion to the Ebro Delta, which is about an hour away from Tarragona. Although the meeting time was 8:20 am, in true Spanish/Italian mañana mañana style we did not leave until 9am! Also, the bus driver was more precious about us eating on the bus than worrying whether we wore our seatbelts and we had to put our rucksacks under the bus!! We had a guided bike tour with a local guide, which was great and really informative. The Ebro Delta is known for its rice cultivation used to make the traditional Spanish paella and it is the perfect location for it as it is a flat wetland. The only downside is that it is full of mosquitos! It was a long day but it was definitely worth it as it was beautiful!
Fresca como una lechuga bien frotada 