Festival of la Mercè 2016

La Mercè is one of Barcelona's patron saints (the other being Santa Eulàlia), and her feast day on September 24 is a useful excuse for Barcelona to ease itself out of summer and into autumn with a week of fun activities that are all free. It's a great opportunity to enjoy some authentic Catalan culture, such as human towers, processions of giants and ‘big heads', and fire runs, which are all as spectacular as they sound. In addition, there'll be visual arts, dance performances, concerts, circus acts, open days at museums and other cultural sites, and wine tastings, all rounded off with one of the city's most extensive firework displays of the year in Avinguda Reina Maria Cristina.