Ciudad de Castells in Tarragona!
One of my favorite people from our on-arrival training is Inés and she sent me a message and invited me to Tarragona to see an amazing traditional event, and of course I told her ‘yes, I’m coming’. Inés who is from Portugal, lives in Tarragona with her flatmates Giacomo who is from Italy, Anita from Hungary, Lina who is half South Korean and half German, and lastly my lovely ‘brother’ Felix who is from France. They are all doing EVS like Evelina, Lucia and me.
I went to Tarragona but we didn’t tell to Felix that ‘I am coming.’ It was a surprise! When Felix came back from his work, he saw me, and he went crazy from happiness. That moment was definitely priceless for me.
Some of the other on-arrival training friends who are doing their EVS in Palma de Mallorca, Adam and Pier, were also there that weekend. After a long time apart we were finally back together and were hanging out on the Friday night. Before the night started we went to the place of the training for the Castells, I saw that activity live for the first time in my life and no doubt it was really exciting for me. All the participants were so concentrated and quiet. I liked the atmosphere, it was very intense.
Finally it was Saturday and I couldn’t wait for the event. After lunch we went to the arena of Tarragona, Tarraco Arena Plaça at like 5 pm and started to watch the incredible thing. At last Castells, started to rise in the arena, one after another. By the way, I have to tell you something it was also a dangerous thing because when the Castells fell down, competitors were falling down from really high distance and it could cause serious injuries for them. The contest continued like 4 hours and I followed that without batting an eyelid. I could feel the sentiment, the competition and also the friendship around the other teams. All the teams represented their ‘barrios’, so there is an air of competition and friendship at the same time. It finished at almost 9 and I saw more than 50 Castells maybe. Everything was great. I am looking forward to next year; I want to go again, not just for Castells but also for the city of Tarragona.
Special thanks to; Inés, Felix, Giacomo, Ani
ta and Lina for hosting; Adam and Pier for being with me.
Best,
Mert Erbek
