The Three Kings

We are parked up on a campsite at Cambrils near Tarragona on the Costa Daurada. An uneventful drive here with a stop for LPG and diesel had us here by mid afternoon. We used the toll motorway today, the first time we have used them in Spain and they are much cheaper than in France. A bit boring but it saved us an hour on our journey time. A quick bite to eat and we set off to explore the town as the sun was setting.

 

As we strolled along the beach toward town we noticed a lot of families heading in the same direction and assumed they were out for a Sunday evening promenade but as we got nearer to the port it was obvious that something was happening this evening. We walked around to look at the fishing boats and noticed folk clambering aboard three of them which were decorated with bunting and there was a real feel of excitement in the air. The boats chugged off without any lights and we walked back to the harbour front which by this time was absolutely packed with people waiting for something.

 

At seven o'clock all the street lights went out to much oohing and aahing and as the excitement built suddenly the sky lit up with a short, but impressive firework display.

 

 

As the fireworks finished we heard the sound of boat's foghorns and everyone turned to the quayside to see the three fishing boats returning with flares lighting them up and a King in each prow. It really was a sight to see. There were thousands of people lining the quayside and it looked like every child in Spain was there tonight. The Kings descended from the boats with their entourage and threw sweets into the crowd. Then they disappeared for a few moments before reappearing on their carriages and as they drove past sweets were flying through the air and children were scrambling around at our feet seeing who could get most into the carrier bags they had brought for the purpose. The kings drove past and we assumed that was the end of the fun. We wandered off further down the road but the crowd showed no signs of dispersing. We came back a few minutes later and that's when the parade started! Girls in traditional dress on horseback led the way followed by a series of floats with a King on every fourth of fifth one; all the time sweets were raining down upon us and skidding all over the pavement.

 

So what started out for us as an evening stroll was an unexpected treat and we felt privileged to have been there this evening. And we saw the Magi! The remarkable thing also was that despite the, quite literally, thousands of people who were here tonight and who all seemed to know each other we saw one policeman and two guys in high vis jackets. We didn't see a drunk, we didn't see anybody behaving badly, we just saw families having a wonderful time with, generally, well behaved children and there was no need for any crowd control or policing at all. We would have had a drink to celebrate but as we were only going out for a stroll neither of us took any money with us but we're back in the van now and we've knocked the tops off a couple of stubbies. Perhaps not the most traditional of drinks to celebrate El Dia de Reyes but it'll have to do.

We were planning on heading off toward Valencia tomorrow but the town of Cambrils looked so lovely tonight that we may stay here another day to have a better look around tomorrow.

 

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