The Three Kings (Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar in Catalan) visit children in Spain on the twelfth night of Christmas like Santa visits us on Christmas Eve. We joined the parade in Barcelona that welcomes the Kings on the eve of the Epiphany.

The crowds came to the parade with crowns, bags to collect the sweets, ladders to watch from high and wish list letters.

The kings arrived from the port in a small cavalcade and the procession turned around to head into Barcelona.

First came the police horses then the emergency service vehicles and then the Royal Guard Lancers on horseback. Followed by street sweepers to clean up after the horses.

The real parade started with a double decker bus from which sweets were thrown to the crowd. Next came the post men, riding bikes or carrying nets to collect the children’s wish list letters. Others of the Kings’ helpers collected children’s pacifiers or dummies.  Various floats passed by representing children’s performers and toy factories. Dancers also passed by, often preceded by a trailer of generators to provide stage lighting. The parade was frequently punctuated by sweet throwers and the children’s bags were filling up.

The theme was definitely Middle Eastern, representing the homes of the kings and perhaps also representing the huge Moorish influence we have seen in all parts of Spain.

The Samsung float came by, followed by the Kings’ helpers recording wish lists from children in the crowd on Galaxy tablets.

A float with sleepy children drifted by, reminding the young audience that nothing will happen without a good night’s sleep.

The kings came in highly decorated floats and waved to the children, with their promises of gifts to the good children.

The last float, before the second round of street sweepers, was the coal mine, threatening to bring just a piece of coal if you were bad.

There had been a long wait for the parade but the kids were great and well entertained. Even I felt like going to bed early in case those three wise men visited me.

According to the Barcelona Yellow City Guide in 2012 an estimated 500,000 people go to see the parade which involved 1,200 costumed performers and eleven floats. Twelve tons of gluten free sweets are thrown to the crowds. I managed to grab 1 sweet.

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Our Christmas greetings come to you this year from Barcelona, where we have rented an apartment for a few months, as a base for our travelling.

After an exciting year on the road we are finishing it with a trip to Madrid and then Granada for Christmas, where we will spend time with Hayden and his partner Andrea. We then move on to Seville for the New Year.

We will end our adventure with a European winter escape to Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, before arriving home in late January. Just in time to farewell Evan and Steph before they leave for their South American trip.

We left home in February 2012. After some time in Malaysia and Dubai, we joined a great group in Egypt, since then we have mostly been on our own. As well as the journals we have kept within our web pages, we have made a list of some highlights, they’re in the chart below.

We have enjoyed the travelling and each other’s company. Obviously it has been a year of discovery and learning. It has also been a year of tolerance, patience and understanding. So many things don’t just happen the way you expect them to.

But we have missed family and friends and all the intimacies that go with sharing a coffee or a meal and conversation in English.

It will be challenging settling back at home, not waking up to a new city with its own sights, smells and sounds every few days. But how nice to look into the wardrobe and see more clothes than will fit into a suitcase.

So as we plan our last few weeks, we also think of you and wish you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2013.

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