Sant Jordi - The legend

Every 23rd of April the catalan people celebrates Sant Jordi. It is a holiday where men give their beloved women a rose; they, in return, offer books to their knights. Therefore, the main streets of the different villages and cities are filled with stands, some of them with roses, some of them with books. It is also a date when the writers sign their books. 

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This tradition has its beginnings in a legend that goes…

Once upon a time, there was a wonderful village terrified by a dragon that lived in a cave nearby. The villagers were afraid since the day the dragon went down the hill demanding them for food.

First, they start giving it the chickens they had, but that was not enough, as the dragon was very big. The chickens were soon finished and the dragon went down the hill, again, asking for more food. Thus, the inhabitants decided to give away their sheep and goats, but that was still not enough to soothe the dragon’s hunger. Therefore, they tried with the cows, as they are bigger and the dwellers thought it would fill the dragon’s stomach. That neither worked, and the cows were soon finished too. The time passed and the village ran out of animals to offer to the dragon and it was getting really angry and hungry.               

One day, the dragon, weary of waiting for more food, went down to the village; the major explained that they had no more animals to offer him and beg the dragon to leave. The dragon, after thinking for a while, said:

-         I won’t disturb you as long as one of your children is waiting in front of my cave every Sunday morning. Otherwise, I will set your entire village in flames!

There was nothing to do but to obey and so the inhabitants, after long time thinking, agreed that there was just one way to decide who would be given to the dragon each week: the fortune will choose:

The first Saturday arrived and all the villagers met at the main square and the names of the children of the village were written down and put into a bag. The king took out one of the papers and he couldn’t believe it. His daughter was the one destined to be eaten by the dragon! But they had an agreement and, although she was deeply scared, she bravely accepted her destiny and set to the dragon’s cave.

When the princess arrived to the cave, the dragon was outside waiting for her. It was getting close and about to reach her when a knight riding a horse appeared. He was wearing a white costume with a red cross on it and was armed with a sword; the princess couldn’t believe it and the neither could dragon.

The knight pushed his horse forward and drew out the sword, aiming it at the dragon, which, at the same time, blew a ball of fire towards the courageous boy but he put up his shield to stop the impact as he kept approaching the dragon. When he was close enough, with all the strength he was able to gather, gave the dragon a hard blow with the sword right into its heart. The dragon screamed and fell hard onto the floor.

The princess ran to him and, while they were embraced, from the red blood coming from the dragon’s heart, a rose tree sprouted. Little by little, the tree grew and wonderful red roses appeared. The knight went to the tree and took the biggest and most lovely rose to give it to the king's daughter.

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HO(S)TEL

So we have all heard that hostels are diversifying, no longer just for the poor backpacker, right? But, honestly, who believes that? I’m sure there are a lot of people who still think that hostels are not for them; in fact, before I started working here I thought hostels were not my thing. Every time I said to myself “I’m just travelling for few days, I might be better off paying a little more and stay somewhere more comfortable”. But you know what? It is never ‘a little more’ and I always end up being all day out and just going to the hotel to sleep! But since I saw for myself how clean and comfy hostels are (at least our hostels!!), I started choosing them over hotels, and here are some reasons why I have become an advocate for staying in hostels:

1.    Hostels are cheaper and you can save for new journeys. This one is the first, as it is the most obvious. It is so easy to pick up the travel bug and always wondering where your next destination is. It is definitely like this for me (The more you travel, the more you want to keep travelling), but the money is always an obstacle. So here is the thing: hostels are usually way more cheaper than hotels, so you will spend less and save money to keep doing what you like most: travelling.

2.    To socialize with strangers. After a long day exploring the city, a hotel can be quiet and full of people keeping to themselves. Nightfall is the best moment of the day in a hostel: everybody is wearing comfy clothes after having just showered and the kitchen and the living room become a meeting place. People sharing their day at a table full of new friends from all around the world, telling some funny stories, eating tasty food and, above all, it is a place to create new experiences you will be sharing with family and friends for years to come.

3.    The people working there like to travel too. Usually, the people working in a hostel are people who love travelling themselves, so they have been there and done that; ask them about it as they often have a cool story and may know well what you are looking for and give you some ideas.

4.    You can get to meet people from all over the world. So picture yourself cooking in the hostel’s kitchen and suddenly you realize you forgot to buy eggs and your carbonara won’t taste good without it! But the person next to you has plenty of eggs and so he/she offers you one, and you both start talking about recipes and, after a while, you are chatting about the difference between your countries. All of a sudden, you are making plans to sightsee together next morning and instead of exploring the city by yourself you will do it with someone you didn’t know at all 24h earlier.

5.    They are your home far from home. That is one of the things that defines hostels; it looks and feels like home. Each one is different from the rest and has its own personality. You will be able to do things you could do at your place, like watch a movie in the living room in your pyjamas; but this time you will be surrounded by other travelers. And hostels are also where you will have someone to talk to when you come back from an amazing day; and that is always great!

Friday evening at The Hostel Box