Puerta del Sol clock to chime twice for New Year to include Canary Islands
Monday, October 8, 2018 @ 1:41 PM
FOR THE first time in its 150-year history, Madrid's famous Puerta del Sol clock will strike twice on New Year's Eve – once at midnight and once at 01.00 on New Year's Day.
Practically anyone who is in Spain and watching for the chimes on the TV on December 31 will be viewing the clock in the Puerta del Sol square in the centre of the capital – in fact, it serves as the Spanish answer to Big Ben on Old Year's Night.
And traditionally, people in Spain eat 12 grapes, one on every chime, supposedly to ensure 12 months of good luck in the year to come.
But residents in the Canary Islands have to rely on their watches or mobile phone clocks, as they are an hour behind and will still be in 2018 for an hour whilst the rest of the country is already in 2019.
This time, however, after Canary Island regional president Fernando Clavijo met with his Greater Madrid counterpart Ángel Garrido, it has been agreed that the archipelago's New Year will also be chimed in by the country's capital.
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