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Europeans from different countries (especially France) participate every weekend in street parties in the Catalan capital
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Many come expressly to look for a party that they cannot find in their cities; others are Erasmus students
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“Here’s a lot of fun” (“There is a lot of fun here”). It is the phrase most pronounced by European tourists (especially French) who are already back in Barcelona, exiled as they were for months due to pandemic restrictions. They have returned, yes, and most have made it specifically for the fiesta, that which is cooked in the massive street bottles that every weekend, since the state of alarm waned (last May 9), they are celebrated in different parts of the city. They recognize it shamelessly, with an uncovered face, no mask or social distance. Also without any fear of catching covid-19. The Paseo del Born, the beach of the Barceloneta, the gardens of the Three Chimneys, Thanks and some Raval areas they are fixed points of these unavoidable appointments of each weekend. Come by any Friday or Saturday at dawn and put your ear: you will hear Catalan and Spanish spoken, yes, but also a lot of French and English. The nightlife, pending the results of the pilot test held on Thursday in Sitges, it claims to reopen after 14 months in dry dock and to put control of these uncontrolled parties.
“We are here to enjoy the night (“We are here to enjoy the night”). We have come a week and we are in an Airbnb “, says Adrien, a 30-year-old Frenchman who, around one in the morning, is with friends drinking in the Plaza de las Olles, in Born. He has come from Paris because in Barcelona “the bars are open”, while in France “everything is closed”. “It’s very easy to come here (“It’s very easy to come here”) “, Explain. Although with him, Marilyn, 29, says that in the neighboring country “there are more illegal parties because everything is closed.” Where will the party continue tonight? “In the Airbnb where we are”, Adrien responds. This is the first time he has traveled since the pandemic broke out. “I like this freedom (“I like this freedom”) “, he claims.
In parallel, a few meters further, on the Paseo del Born, a macrobottle with hundreds of people glued to each other, most without masks or with them below the chin. No one would say that the coronavirus continues to cause deaths every day in every country in the world. What matters, here and now, is the revelry. “It’s more fun here (“It’s more fun here”) “, says Sam, a 29-year-old Swede. “You have to take off your mask”, rebukes journalists. He assures that he had covid-19, but he is not afraid because, according to him, “it is just another disease.” Around him, Tom, a 24-year-old German, says the same: “This is much more fun than Germany. We can make the party a lot easier. “ He is studying business (“business”) in Barcelona.
“Spain is the best country in the world (“Spain is the best country in the world”) “, he says Abdul, 31-year-old Parisian, grinning from ear to ear. He, he says, always vacationed here before the pandemic. And now he’s back for a few days from vacation. “In Paris the bars close much earlier,” he complains as he walks down Calle del Rec, with the rest of the crowd, while the police evacuate the Paseo del Born. “Here I am freer.” “Revolution, masturbation!” Shouts that crowd as it is slowly followed by the patrol cars.
The party continues in the Barceloneta beach. At 01.30 another hundreds of people have taken the wooden tower. They dance and sing loudly. As in the Paseo del Born, the vast majority are foreigners and do not maintain any type of prevention. “Everyone you are seeing here are Erasmus students”, explains one Bergamo Italian who does not want to give his name. He is also an Erasmus student in Barcelona. He assures that in Bergamo there is not as much party as in Barcelona, but because it does not have a beach. He says the same thing as all the tourists these journalists talk to. “Yes, I do a lot of parties. And i am not afraid of covid-19 because here in Barcelona I don’t see older people. “If it weren’t for the fact that it is May 22, the picture could well be that of any Sant Joan (but without fireworks).
Bas, a 19-year-old Dutchman, goes to the Barceloneta parties once a week. Three years ago he came to Barcelona, where he studies. “I chose this city because rules are more relaxed and for time “.
Outside, on the Paseo de la Barceloneta, a few bicitaxis they wait for the foreigners to finish the party to take them to their apartments or residences. The lateros sell one beer after another. Dancing and singing return to the wooden tower and two young people run there: they don’t want to miss it.
In Gràcia, in ‘small committee’
At 2 in the morning, already in Grace, these journalists no longer see the crowds witnessed hours earlier in Ciutat Vella. The Plaza de la Virreina, a hot spot on the last weekends, is guarded by three cars from the Mossos d’Esquadra. But a few streets away, in the Diamant square, yes there are a couple of groups of people who drink quietly on the benches. With their ears already used to the foreign language, the journalists meet four Belgians. One works in Barcelona, three have come on vacation.
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“I landed this morning and came to see my friend,” he starts Alex, 25 years. But, with the sincerity that has characterized all those interviewed throughout the night, he clearly explains, as soon as he is urged, why more reasons he has come to Barcelona: “The goal is to party a lot (“The goal is to party a lot”). “Of course (“Of course”) “, underlines a friend of hers next to him. And this is how the night closes with the same song with which it began: “It’s much more fun here that in our country”.
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