The Aplec festival
The Aplec festival welcomes everyone interested in having a good time and getting to know the gastronomy of Lleida. One thing that really stands out about this major gastronomy festival are the figures: 12 tonnes of escargots. That’s the amazing quantity of gastropods that will be consumed during the three-day Festival.
The main ingredient of the meals served during the Festival is the escargot, which is why snail consumption skyrockets in May. Escargots are shipped to Lleida from the rest of Spain, North Africa and South America to the delight of the Lleida escargot lovers and visitors to the city. On the Festival grounds there is an area set aside for the general public to taste dishes made with different kinds of snails at reasonable prices.
The Escargot Festival begins on Friday afternoon and lasts until Sunday. There is something for everyone, including outdoor evening celebrations, concerts, music, “castells” (human towers), competitions and much more. Besides gastronomy, the Snail Festival offers an extensive programme of free activities open to one and all: performances, charanga music, outdoor evening celebrations, exhibitions of dances and castell human towers, and entertaining competitions. A number of events take place at the same time in different parts of the city, which means there is always something fun and exciting happening during the Snail Festival weekend.
Come to Lleida. Besides the Snail Festival, there are hundreds of other exciting things to do. Impressive monuments such as Seu Vella Cathedral, the Templar castle of Gardeny, La Panera Art Centre, Roda Roda Automobile Museum and the Water Museum; the May festival, the Moors and Christians Festival and the International Puppet Festival; Senglar Rock Music Festival, the International Jazz Festival and the opera season at the Auditorium; the Latin American Film Festival and the Animac International Animated Film Festival; the BTT Bicycle Centre; the gastronomy and culture of Lleida; and the longest pedestrian shopping street in Europe.
