While in the city of Tarragona, we got a phone call from our friend Rafa,who teaches at a school in Cornudella de Montsant, and told us that there was a festival there. Did we want to come? Of course!

He picked us up in his car, in front of the statue of Roger de Llúria near our hotel.
We left the city of Tarragnoa, passed near Reus, and soon were heading into the mountains known as the “Serra del Montsant”. In Cornudella, the festival was in full swing, with booths selling crafts, and a wine tasting event in the square. (The town is in the region known as Priorat, well known for wines). Rhonda and I were sipping wine and getting introduced to various people when the conversation turned to “Castellers.” This involves the sport of making human towers (“castles”) with various levels of participants standing on each others shoulders. Rafa knew that we hoped to see this sometime in person, and I showed him a flier I had picked up in Tarragona listing some dates and locations. He let out an exclamation and consulted with a colleague standing near us. As she made a phone call, he explained. Pointing to the paper he said that one of the listings was for that very day, in a nearby town. His friend was phoning the mayor of the town, an acquaintance, to ask whether the event had started yet. It had not! We piled into Rafa’s car and headed for Prades, winding along mountain roads. The town is known as the “Vila Vermella” (red town) because of the color of the stone used in many of the old buildings. A festival was well under way there and we got to see the castellers. It was great! Incredible! Want to see it on Youtube?

At a booth in Prades, we also bought the most amazing embutido (closest translation in English would be “sausage”, but the word does not do it justice!) we have ever had.