House of travel Spain, Portugal, Greece & Turkey 2017 | Page 9

Feisty festivals Art and design Get amongst the
markets
It’s no secret that the Spaniards love
to party. When it comes to creativity, the
Spaniards never play it safe.
Whether you find it whacky or
extraordinary, the works of Dalí,
Picasso and of course, Antoni Gaudí
are forever fascinating. In Istanbul, you can peruse one of
the oldest covered markets in the
world, the infamous Grand Bazaar;
a labyrinth of 60 streets and 5000
shops. Look out for one of the four
main gates situated at the ends of its
two major streets, otherwise you’ll
get stuck inside for a decade.
La Tomatina festival is the world’s
largest tomato fight. Occurring
annually and on the last Wednesday
in August, the little town of Buñol
plays host to a gigantic food fight.
In recent years participant numbers
have been capped, so book early to
avoid disappointment.
For those with nerves of steel, the
Running of the Bulls is held 7 July
through the streets of Pamplona,
and the Las Fallas Fire Festival,
held in Valencia every March,
encourages the neighbourhoods to
build towering statues stuffed with
fireworks. These statues (or ninots)
can take months to construct,
and then, once placed in strategic
positions across the city, are set off
every night across four consecutive
evenings.
Visit Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia for
a moment of sheer astonishment,
or Parc Güell for equally impressive
works on a smaller scale. Art lovers
should weave both Frank Gehry’s
Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao
and Valencia’s The City of Arts &
Sciences into their agenda.
For architecture, Greece and Turkey
steal the show - with archaeological
treasures littering every city, town
and village.
While in Portugal, marvel at the
Azulejos (Portuguese ceramic tiles),
they might not be very well known,
but they adorn Portugal’s charming
townships, and they are quite
simply beautiful.
In Barcelona, look out for La
Boqueria. A market for foodies,
it’s crammed with butchers,
fishmongers and greengrocers; loud
sellers and even louder buyers;
those cooking for a few, and those
cooking for a few hundred; La
Boqueria provides many Catalan
restauranteurs with their produce.
For touristy items, Greece’s
Monastiraki Flea Market sells
everything. Visit on a Sunday when
the locals go, but get out before
11am - before the crowds become
suffocating.
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