Upon arriving I discovered the town was celebrating its annual Festa Major de Santa Rosalia. I power walked to the old quarter just in time to catch a throng of castellers wrapping up with back braces and black cloth in preparation for creating "human castles." The sport of castelling originated near Tarragona in the 18th century and involves teams of mostly men but also some women standing on each other's shoulders, with smaller and smaller castellers clambering up their backs to create a human tower. Two small children in helmets climb to the very top. I watched them build one that reached as high as the surrounding buildings with seven levels of people, eight if you count the kids who really don't stand up, just climb up and down. Everyone cheered when the children reached the top and with each layer dropping back down, but the greatest applause was always for the guys at the bottom and those who bolstered their efforts with their bodies and hands. My emotions ran away with me while I watched; castelling demonstrates not just teamwork but the importance of depending on others, working together and achieving something exciting and although fleeting, a powerful display of human spirit and comradery.
Torredembarra's Festa Major de Santa Rosalia enthralled me with a vivid close-up of Spanish culture that I had hoped to discover on this trip. Although I'm sure other tourists like myself attended, most of the people in the streets appeared to know each other, so I soaked up a lot of local flavor with this festival. Torredembarra is not even listed in my 2013 Lonely Planet Guide to Spain. Most of the tourists here are Spaniards.