Truly getting to know a new country includes meeting new people, sampling new food, visiting the sights and treasures unique and dear to that country and immersing ourselves in their art and culture.
An evening at a Big Band performance in Madrid’s main square
In a tour group, the itinerary is sure to include pre-organised events to showcase the country’s uniqueness – a traditional performance over a meal of local dishes, a private concert in a castle for your group, or a guided visit to the theatre or art gallery. We’ve attended and enjoyed many during our travels.
We prefer to travel independently these days, by-pass the ticket vendors selling tickets to the opera or a music show, and instead join the locals in their town’s piazzas, plazas and placas or sit in on a classical concert in a historic building where we can just wander in to take a seat.
A European Town square is a centre for gathering – a place to meet, eat, drink and enjoy entertainment. In winter, some will transform into mesmerising night markets but it is in summer where these town squares are the most vibrant.
Medieval parade in Arezzo, Italy 
Sunday afternoon entertainment in Barcelona
Preferring to travel to Europe during their summer, we have had the opportunity to enjoy this vibrancy. In almost every major town or city, stages will appear and buskers will hold their position around town squares.
Performances are varied, but all are professional and first class in quality. Anyone can attend, entrance is free, there are no queues, and you don’t have to dress up! Often, a number of these performances are on at the same time and you can wander between them.
We’ve stumbled unexpectedly across many a performance:
- On an evening stroll in Madrid, we came across a Big Band concert in Plaza Mayor and were entertained for almost two hours.
- On an afternoon walk down La Ramblas in Barcelona, we veered into a square and into the middle of a human tower competition.
- Instead of joining the others in the tourist hub of Monastiraki in Athens, we joined locals at an outdoor music concert featuring traditional Greek music and performances.
- As tourists queued to enter the opera in Vienna, we walked across the road to join the large crowd at the annual film festival in front of the Town Hall.
- Enjoyed a professional fashion show in the enchanting hilltop town of Paola on our drive back to Rome from Sicily.
- On the Old City walls of Treviso, we enjoyed two nights of incredible entertainment, Nina Zilli who represented Italy in the 2012 Eurovision performed one night and the Beuna Vista Social Club performed on the next evening. The atmosphere was electric!
- Wandering along 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, we stopped to listen to three brothers showcasing their music right at the end of the street. They are outstanding musicians who tour the US performing at schools and small venues and enjoy busking so much that their mother drives them the one hour to come down to Santa Monica every Saturday and then waits to take them home again.
- Staying a few days in the Tuscan town of Arezzo, we enjoyed the annual jousting competition held every night complete with a medieval parade through the streets of the town.
- In Seville, we wandered into an outdoor courtyard in a small Palais to join a small audience and listened to a spectacular classical piano concert.
- Recently, in Prague all the seats were taken by the time we arrived in Old Town Square, so we joined locals and other travellers like ourselves to sit on the kerbside to enjoy an evening of jazz.
A recommendation, next time you are travelling in Europe during the summer, take a peek in the town square or if like us, you decide on using apartment accommodation, ask your host.
Beuna Vista Social Club playing at the Summer Festival in Treviso, Italy
