La diada de Sant Jordi, Barcelona

Bienvenidos, young lovers, wherever you are! Take your amor to Barcelona, Spain, in April for La Diada de Sant Jordi. It's easily the most giddy and amorous day of the year in this most romantic city. Saint George is the patron saint of the six million inhabitants of Catalonia, and he was a very romantic and chivalrous guy (more on that later).

Also known as "The Day of Lovers," La Diada de Sant Jordi is like Valentine's Day with some uniquely Latin twists. The main event is the exchange of gifts between sweethearts--men give their novias roses, and women give their novios a book to celebrate the occasion. Roses have been associated with this day since medieval times, but the giving of books is a more recent marketing ploy. In 1923, a smart bookseller started to promote the holiday as a way to honor the nearly simultaneous deaths of Miguel Cervantes and William Shakespeare on April 23, 1616. Barcelona is the publishing capitol of the Spanish-speaking world and this heady one-two punch of love and literacy was quickly adopted.

On Bacelona's principal street, Las Ramblas, and all over the city hundreds of stands of roses and makeshift bookstalls have been hastily set up for the occasion. By the end of the day, some four million roses and 400,000 books will have been purchased in the name of love. You will be hard-pressed to find a woman without a rose in hand, and half of the total yearly book sales in Catalonia take place on this occasion.

And while La Diada de Sant Jordi is not an "official" holiday, most romantics ditch the office to stroll the beautiful streets of Barcelona and to take in the sultry springtime weather. Love is definitely in the air, but even if you don't have a novio to smooch on a park bench there are still plenty of things to see and do.

For example, the Sardana, the national dance of Catalonia, will be performed throughout the day in the Placa Sant Juane. And many book stores and cafes will host readings by noted authors (look out for 24-hour marathon readings of Cervantes' "Don Quixote"). Elsewhere, hundreds of Jordis, Georges, Yuris, Jorges, Gorkas and others named for the Saint will be forming a chain to try to get into the Guinness Book of Records. And there will be a variety of street performers and musicians on hand to add a romantic ambiance to nearly every public square and plaza.

Additionally, April 23rd is the only day of the year when the Palau do Generalitat, Barcelona's principal government building, is open to the public. Inside this Gothic architectural masterpiece you'll see huge displays of roses created to honor Saint George. There will undoubtedly be huge lines, so try to get there early in the day.