200 events planned for Tarragona's Santa Tecla celebrations

Tarragona is gearing up for its annual Santa Tecla festivities, with around 200 events planned from September 15 to 24.

The 2020 festival will be, incredibly, the southern city's 699th official celebration of its patron saint, and is sure to be unlike any previous year, given the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Some of the festival's iconic sights will be absent this year, such as the famous human towers, or castells, and the Seguici, Santa Tecla's traditional parade, but Tarragona mayor Pau Ricomà says that people can still look forward to a "bright, successful and safe" celebration.

There will be a registration process for many of the events that do go ahead, in order to limit the numbers attending, while some events will be recorded and broadcast on local radio and television.

Concerts, cinema screenings, plays and other cultural shows will take place at venues including the Camp de Mart, Saavedra Park, La Palmera, Tarragona theater and the Casa Canals gardens but Ricomà asked people not to wander the streets to see what they might find. "Without a reservation you will not find anything," the mayor warned.

The head of Cultural Festivals, Xavier González, admitted that this year's program was "thinner," but added that "if it had to be measured by effort it would be thicker than ever."

Tickets for events at Tarragona's Santa Tecla festival are available from Thursday.

Earlier this week, Barcelona revealed its plans for this year's La Mercè festival, which has likewise had to rethink its offering in light of current health guidelines.