Carnival in Sitges

A couple weeks ago, on Fat Tuesday (the Tuesday after I got back from Madrid) we made a last minute decision to go catch a Stokes Travel bus for 20 euro and go to Carnival in Sitges (a coastal town about an hour away known for its Carnival celebration). Carnival is the equivalent of Mardi Gras back in the states, but Mardi Gras to the degree that I imagine only New Orleans could possibly outdo.

We went to the party store and got masks, boas, silk gloves, wings...the usual and caught the bus around 10pm. We were stared at by everyone while riding the metro and two women even stopped us and asked to take their picture with us. I'll take it as a compliment...

When we got to Sitges, they gave us each a box of sangria and set us loose. The town was crazy. Approximately 300,000 people come to Sitges the night of Fat Tuesday, and there's a huge parade by the beach, and everyone dresses crazy.

Here is what they looked like:

And here is what we looked like:

After the parade finishes (around 1am) everyone crowds the downtown bars and clubs and forms a giant mob of people that looks strikingly similar to this:

It was a very fun night that ended with me napping on the way back home in the bus (4am) only to wake up and find a spanish man in a mask and silk cloak watching me sleep (ok creepy spanish man). Surprisingly, the only casualty of Sitges was my spanish phone which was easily replaced the next day for 10 euro (the one benefit of having a phone from 1924).