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Pope Benedict XVI will arrive to Barcelona on November 6th following his visit to Santiago de Compostela coinciding with Santiago de Compostela Holy Year.
The Pope Benedict XVI will preside the consecration of Barcelona’s Cathedral La Sagrada Familia (officially called Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family) and a mass will be celebrated at 10am on November 7th.
During his visit, Pope Benedict XVI will hold a private meeting with the King and Queen of Spain.
The Pope will travel in his vehicle the route between the Archbishop’s residence and the Sagrada Família. Benedict XVI will leave Avinduda Catedral, go up Via Laietana, Carrer Pau Claris, along Carrer Diputació up to Carrer Marina to the Sagrada Familia.
The police will close the roads of the route to traffic from 8am on Sunday 7th November. The City Council has announced that major public transport and traffic alterations in the city during the Pope’s visit will take place.
Barcelona City Council estimates that Pope’s visit will generate €39.8 million to the city’s economy with more than half of this amount coming from money spent by visitors (accommodation, restaurants, shopping, transport, …).
Clocks will go back an hour at 3am on Sunday 31st of October, so at 3am it will be 2am. The idea behind this change is to save hours of daylight and therefore reduce energy consumption.
This means that most people in Spain (and in the rest of Europe) will be able to enjoy an extra hour in bed when clocks go back an hour to mardk the start of Winter time.
Future time changes:
2011 – Sunday 27th of March and Sunday 30th of October
2012 – Sunday 25th of March and Sunday 28th of October
Don’t forget to set your clocks back by one hour on Sunday 31st October
The month of Setember is usually a very hard month as it comes just after summer holidays. In Barcelona, to make a softer and more pleasant return there are the 2 main festivities:
11th of Setember: Diada de Catalunya (Catalonia Festivity)
24th of Setember: La Merçè (Barcelona’s festivity)
Merçè is the female catalan name that corresponds with the Patron Saint of the city. The festivity is celebrated for over a week and it holds a large number of activities for everyone.
A large number of events are organized for La Merçè Festivity:
- 10km run Solidarity race taking place on Sunday 26th and going through main Barcelona areas.
- Theatre performances, shows with fireworks and giants and heady characters are performed every day along the whole city.
- Museums in Barcelona are free on the 24th of September.
- Castellers (human towers) on the 26th of September at Plaça Sant Jaume.
- Piromusical (fireworks) the 26th at Av. Reina Maria Cristina (Plaça Espanya – Metro map):
- Concerts from the 23rd of September among the main groups are:
- Thrusday 23rd: Belle and Sebastian, Loquillo, Quimi Portet, La Pegatina, Groove Juice, Obrint Pas i Balkatalan Experience, Suckafish P. Jones, …
- Friday 24th: Goldfrapp, San Leon, Crystal Fighters, La Unión i El sueño de Morfeo, las Flores Azules, Black Baudelaire …
- Saturday 25th: Gespa, Susan’s Red Nipples i Toundra, Maika Makovski, I Blame Coco, Ash i Vinila Von Bismark & The Lucky Dados, Fundación Tony Manero
Catalonia Festivity is known as “Diada de Catalunya” and it is celebrated the 11th of Setember. With this festivity, Catalonia celebrates the the fall of Barcelona in the hands of the Bourbon troops under the Duke of Berwick during the War of Spanish Succession on September 11th, 1714, after fourteen months of siege.
Institutions and political parties traditionally made floral offerings to the monuments of Rafael Casanova (Ronda Sant Pere 51, metro Urquinaona, check Barcelona Metro map here) and Josep Moragues, both in Barcelona and the rest of Catalonia.
Since 2003, the main festivity is holded in Ciutadella Park (click here for Public transportation information in Barcelona). On this festivity, music, catalan personalities and thousands of citizens meet to celebrate and enjoy this very special date.
During the celebration, the most relevant icons: la Senyera (Catalan flag) can be usually seen everywhere and specially hanging from balconies and the Catalonian National anthem “Els Segadors” can be usually heard as it is commonly played to exalt the Catalan feeling.
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