Flute Player, Flautist or Flutist?

This musician was performing with the rest of his quintet some sort of celtic music at the Mushroom Fair in Sant Iscle de Vallalta, near Barcelona. There was not much to photograph since the audience was there for the food and the last bright sunny days of the fall. I thought the pose by itself denoted concentration so I applied some blur effect to isolate him from the rest of the world. I think I did him a favor.

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images nikon+d70s

Sant Pol de Mar, Maresme Coast near Barcelona

Sant Pol de Mar is a small town of strong Mediterranean flavor, with white houses that adapt to the gentle slopes on the hills of Maresme coast.

In Catalan, there are two names for English name Paul, one is Pau and the other is Pol. Sant Pol celebrates one of its most important festivities on January 25th, which is St Paul's day.

Of all the beaches on Maresme Coast, Sant Pol is one of the cleanest and most attractive for tourists and locals alike. It is a very quiet town which I recommend to visit.

Today's picture was taken from the upper part of town and it shows as you see the train station and railroads. You can go from here to Barcelona or vice versa in 40 minutes all along the coast. There is a very well known restaurant which is a must visit: Carme Ruscalleda's Sant Pau

Gathering Wild Mushrooms or Bolets in Catalonia, Spain

In the months of October and November a large number of Catalans hit the road to go picking wild mushrooms or bolets in the countryside. Although there are many edible species we use the name bolets to refer to all of them. But then there are specific names according to the type like rovellons, rossiñols, ceps, llanegas. In general they are served fried with some garlic and parsley but you can have them in stews, with meat,etc. The mushrooms in the picture were part of a small sample on sale at Sant Iscle de Vallalta fair. This town is located in Maresme, a comarca or county along the coast next to Barcelones county where Barcelona City is. Once a year a market is set up to sell mushrooms and we decided to pay them a visit for the first time to try some. If you are interested, there are a bunch of similar activities in November. Check this Maresme Coast brochure in pdf to see the whole activity program.

barcelona barcelona+photoblog barcelona+photos barcelona+pictures barcelona+photography barcelona+images mushrooms nikon+d70s