The Teatre Principal hosts many cultural events, including plays in Spanish that we couldn't attend. In October, though, the local Municipal Band held midday concerts on several Sundays, and we were able to attend one while we were in town. The band was talented, and it adds to the pleasure to be able to look around during the performance and study the lavish surroundings at a leisurely pace, instead of steering toward the next destination on a conventional tour. The pictures below show the ornate ceiling and balconies.

 One Saturday, we looked up from our lunch table and saw a wedding parade passing by. We ran outside to see the wedding party in its traditional attire, even though we wondered if the waiter thought that we had run out on the check (and most of our lunch.) It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to see people in traditional attire; the semi-tropical and tourist-laden Balearics don't teem with picturesque locals in flowing garb.

As it turned out, the waiter apparently wasn't concerned about our departure, as Spanish meals take a long time. Waiters do not hover; we're not even sure our waiter noticed our absence while we watched the parade.

The last weekend that we were in town, we spotted an advertisement for a festival to take place in some  squares around town. We started out at one square, where several teams had arrived in team-colored shirts. A few team members played rousing songs on small wooden flutes. Eventually, when the parade began, we saw these giant figures and big-headed marchers that we remembered seeing in the Barcelona Olympics.

The parade moved through town to another square, and immediately the team members began to put on large black belts. At first, we thought they had something to do with a costume, but it turned out that the long bands are to protect the participants' backs in the main competitive event. This suiting-up took a long time, because each of these players tried hard to tie them as tight as they could.

The climax of the evening was the display of "human towers" shown here. This is the reason that the belts are so important. Dozens of people huddle together to form the base of the tower. The first layer of tower climbs up; when they're in place, the next layer ascends. Several layers later, smaller people form the highest layer, and then, when you can't imagine the tower going higher, a small child climbs up and claims the top (you can see one here on the right side of the top layer.) It's exhilarating and terrifying to watch.