Alta LuminaClimbing a

Alta LuminaClimbing a gentle hill, past a small lake andapproaching a forest from which soft blueand green lights lit up the sky, I had no ideawhat to expect from my visit to Alta Luminain Les Gets. Lights, sure, lumina is a bit of agive away. But other than that, I wasclueless. My friends at the tourist office hadbeen invited to test drive this new attractionwhen it opened to the public for the firsttime at the end of July 2020, and they hadn’tstopped talking about it. “We’re not tellingyou” they said when I asked them what itwas like. “You have to go see it for yourself.”Alta Lumina opens when it’s dark. It’sdescribed as an “immersive, multisensoryexperience that combines the poetics oflight, music, imagery, set design andinteractivity.” But if you asked me todescribe it in just one word I’d say “magical”.Like being in a fairy taleYou enter the forest to hear bird song andethereal music and then follow the story of atravelling music maker who, in his hot airballoon, travels beyond the mountains. Apath takes you past the most extraordinarylight installations. I was absolutely convincedit was a real actor in a hot air balloon takingoff right next to me when suddenly itdisappeared in the trees! There are whatlook like thousands of flowers made of light.Trees drip with shards of light like a torrentof rain if it were made of sunbeams. I heard alittle girl say “I never want this to end”. Butthis isn’t just for kids though they will love it.If poetry were light and music – then thisenchanted forest is a spectacular sonnet.If you ever read a fairy tale as a kid andwondered what it would be like to be “in” aland of fairy tales, I think this is how it wouldlook, sound and feel.This is the only lumina night walk of its kindin Europe though there are several aroundthe world. It’s a year-round attraction andyou can buy tickets on line: www.altalumina.com/en/