The Blat de Valls square once again marked a turning point in the season. The Joves de Valls and Colla Vella groups arrived with a top-notch program and managed to secure the first castellers of the extra-range variety seen this season. Furthermore, this festival had some spectacular performances: the reds had the best San Juan in their history, and the rosés an unprecedented finish. The castellers performed under blazing sunshine and temperatures exceeding 33 degrees.

Today is Saint John's Day, and like every year, last night I received a ton of messages toasting the coming summer. For some reason, This title (from a novel of mine published in 2013) struck a chord with readers who share this weakness for the night of San Juan.

Catalonia faces the first phase of the operation to exit the Sant Joan bridge this Friday afternoon. The Catalan Traffic Service predicts that 470,000 vehicles will leave the metropolitan area and that the return will affect 260,000 more. At this time of the afternoon, the first queues are already being recorded, especially on the AP-7 and at the entrances to Barcelona.

The San Juan festival, held on the night of June 23rd and 24th, is one of the most anticipated festivals of the year. This magical night offers a range of activities that combine tradition, festivity, and fire, celebrating the arrival of summer and the good weather. We present 10 activities spread across the region so you can enjoy this evening.

Many of us await the arrival of summer with candles, an indicator of good weather and the approaching holidays. But humans have been aware of the summer solstice for thousands of years, the moment when this season begins and marked on the calendar as a special date. For this reason, in many cultures, the arrival of summer represents one of the most important festivities of the year, many of which revolve around fire as their main symbol.

Barcelona is preparing for a Sant Joan festival which will be reminiscent of 2019. It is focussing on two points: the first is crowds on the beaches, where around 60,000 people are expected to gather; the other is wooded areas, due to the high risk of fire throughout Catalonia. "We are in a critical moment and any carelessness can cause a fire," warned Security councillor Albert Batlle, who recalled the ban on the use of fire within 500 meters of wooded areas, and remarked that the Guardia Urbana will pay special attention to the parts of the city that are closer to the mountains. The city adds one more recommendation: avoiding as far as possible launching fireworks and sky lanterns, as they pose a fire risk. The head of the Civil Protection, Fire Prevention and Rescue Service, Sebastià Massagué, has asked for "extreme caution" and avoiding this kind of pyrotechnics.

Barcelona will open all the beaches during the festival of San Juan (the evening of the 23 June) until six in the morning. But with conditions: the use of tents, music equipment and the entry of alcoholic beverages will not be allowed. In addition, the Guardia Urbana (the City Police) will make controls at the entrances to avoid crowds - also in the parking lots, to ensure that there is not a large accumulation of vehicles - and will monitor that attendees meet the "elementary" health standards of coexistence, ie, that there is sufficient distance between groups, that everyone wears a face mask, and that no alcohol is drunk.