October 12th is ‘El Día de Todos’ in Spain, a national fiesta day. Two years ago we celebrated it in Bilbao, mostly on the 11th which was a Saturday, the Sunday of the holiday being relatively subdued.
We stepped out of our hotel in Bilbao and were delighted to find the streets alive with people.
Just down the street a live band played Spanish rock, and then we discovered another band a few blocks down at a dead end, and then another band up an alleyway; ultimately at least a half dozen bands were playing in the narrow alleys.
Many of the crowd were wearing berets along with pañuelos in different colours, and carrying a flag that matched their pañuelos.
Popping into a nearby bar we found frantically efficient bartenders who somehow managed to keep up with the crowds that came pouring in. And then of course, the crowds poured out again, to watch the bands while clutching glasses of beer, vermouth, cocktails and wine.
We figured this wasn’t a usual Saturday event when a garbage truck tried to come down the crowded street and the dancers went crazy, lambada…
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The Spaniards really like to sing and dance – all the time!
That’s so true – we joined a sing-along on Sunday where they were holding up iPads with the words to the songs on them so that everyone could sing along and ended the night going “la, la, la, la…” all the way home!