Christmas like a local. Part 5: New Year's Eve

Tomorrow is the last day of the year. If you are out in the streets, remember the Home dels Nassos (Man of the Noses, that has as many noses as days are left to the end of the year) will be enjoying his yearly walk around the city (learn more about that here).

If you have planned to go sightseeing, remember tomorrow most sites will be closing sooner than usual and some might just close around 2pm. Same thing for January 1st, as it is a family day, some sites might close at lunchtime and don't reopen later. Instead, the streets will be quite empty in the morning, as locals will be sleeping after a whole night out!

As for New Year's Eve, if you haven't got a reservation for dinner... oups! I'm afraid it'll be almost impossible to find a table available. So you better make friends with someone that invites you home!

In Barcelona, locals usually prefer to wait until midnight at home, with friends or family. We have a nice dinner (seafood, salmon, cheese, ham... hopefully something lighter than the Christmas meals), then watch the bell tolls on TV. Most chains cover the countdown from the Plaza del Sol in Madrid. However TV3, the Catalan chain, does it from the AGBAR tower.



But before that, it's time to be bit supersticious: Some people say it's good to wear a red thong for good sex in the new year (I think we imported that tradition from Italy). Others write their wishes on a paper and burn it in a candle... Whatever makes you feel confident about 2009 going to be even better than 2008!

And then the countdown approaches. Do you know in Spain we don't count down? Here is our tradition:

You'll be given 12 grapes (yeah, you can peel them and remove the seeds, but that's cheating!), and when the bells start tolling you must eat one grape per toll. You have to be quick! Or soon your mouth will be packed with grapes, juice pouring out over your face and you risk choking! But if you manage to eat the 12 grapes before the tolls end you ca be sure that means good luck for the next 12 months!

After the tolls, it's time to hug and kiss and toast with a good cava, and then it's time to party. In Barcelona we don't really celebrate much in the street, so don't expect to find much ambiance. So my reccomendation is you choose a well known nightclub and go there. The entrance fee will surely include many drinks, but be prepared to pay a high price for it...
By the way, locals will get there late, at least until 1am it won't be much lively. But after that time it'll be packed. And you can keep dancing until the sunrise, go see it from the beach, and after that do like locals do: have some hot chocolate and churros! You'll find bars open in the Old Town and La Rambla from 6 or 7am.

See you next year!