Fiestas de Gracia

Gracia

For those people visiting or staying in Barcelona during the month of August, there are some nice and interesting activities to enjoy their visit to Barcelona. One of these activities would be the well-known Festes de Gracia.

From mid August and for 9 days, the Gracia area is filled with joy, music and party all the time. Since many many years , streets are decorated by neighbours in search of becoming the most beautiful and attractive street of the whole area. This would be one of the biggest Barcelona traditions.

Gracia Area is located at the north side of Barcelona, at the end of Paseo de Gracia. The closest Metro stations are Fontana (L3 line) and Joanic (L2 line).

This year, and after a difficult decision, Verdi Street was coronated as the best coronated street and it looked like this:

Gracia are not the only ‘Fiestas’ holded in August in Barcelona as when Gracia are ended, ‘Fiestas de Sants’ starts. Sants Area can be reached by Metro at stations: Sants Estació (L5 and L3 line) and Plaça de Sants (L5 and L1 lines).

August 23rd, 2009 | Tags: | Category: Barcelona, Events, Useful information | Leave a comment

Is August a good time to visit Barcelona?

In my opinion it definitely is, as the city is less crowded so you have more “space” for you to enjoy your vacation.

The main reason for this, is that a large amount of business are closed in August so people are “forced” to take holidays. Locals normally leave Barcelona in August to go to the beach or the mountain so the city gets less crowded, but just to certain extent, don’t think the city gets empty as this is definitely not the case.

Of course some shops and restaurants will be closed but mainly at “local level” in non-touristic areas. City centre and the main tourist attractions will remain open so you will not miss anything.

Of course it is probably the warmest month of the year which could be hard for people coming from the UK or Ireland for example, but it is not as bad as the south of Spain, so just try avoiding outdoor activities during between 12 and 17h and use suncreen products.

For those of you who enjoy the sun, barcelona has several beaches easily accessible using public transport. If you go to the beach, just remember to apply sunscreen at least 20 minutes prior to sun exposure.

Anoter positive thing is that in August there are less queues for restaurants, museums, nightclubs, … so it is easier to get a table in a restaurant or get a taxi to get back to your hotel.

On the down side, sport activities really slow down so you will not be able to watch any F.C. Barcelona game as the football season does not start until the first week of September.

July 28th, 2009 | Category: Useful information | Leave a comment

Free WiFi Internet connection in Barcelona

Barcelona City Council has just launched a project to provide free WiFi internet connection in Barcelona. This service is completely free and available to everybody.

This free WiFi Internet access service is limited in terms of time and bandwith, although it depends on the WiFi hotspot you are connected. Once connected you will get a pop-up screen informing you of time (normally 1 hour) and bandwith availability (normally 200Kbits/s).

This free wireless Internet service does not allow access to ethically unacceptable websites such as internet gambling and gaming, pornographic sites, IP telephony, file sharing or videoconferencing.

There are currently 170 WiFi hotspots although there will be 500 all over Barcelona by the end of 2010. Most of the hotspots are located in municipal amenities (libraries, civic centres, sports centres, museums, …). Click here for a list of the different hotspots.

The wireless network name is ‘Barcelona WIFI’ so the easiest option would be to do a refresh on the wireless networks and if you see the network Barcelona WIFI in range, just connect to it.

Click here for further information regarding this service, unfortunately, this information is just available in Spanish or Catalan.

July 19th, 2009 | Tags: , | Category: Useful information | Leave a comment

Le tour de France

After many many years, Barcelona will host the Tour de France. The world’s most important cyclist event will count with 4 cyclist that have already won at least one edition,  something that did not occur since Miguel Induráin‘s first win in 1991.

Carlos Sastre and Alberto Contador will assume the favourite role as they are the winners of the last 2 editions, but we should never forget another spaniard Óscar Pereiro (winner in 2006) and of course the greatest Tour cyclist ever, Lance Armstrong who won the course 7 times in a row (from 1999 to 2005). Armstrong (Austin Texas, 18/09/1971) will be the most impredictible cyclist as after being retired for 3 years, he has come back to fight. Maybe he will not win but, for those we love this sport and know him, we know he is a winner and he has not come to relax.

Tour-2009

Next Thursday (09/07/09) the tour will arrive to Barcelona around 15:00 and will run over the following streets:

  • Rbla. Guipúscoa
  • Av. Meridiana
  • Consell de Cent
  • Pg. Sant Joan
  • Pg. Lluís Companys
  • Pg. Pujades
  • Pg. Picasso
  • Av. Marquès de l’Argentera
  • Pg. Isabel II
  • Pg. Colom
  • Pg. Josep Carner
  • Pl. Drassanes
  • Av. Paral·lel
  • Pl. Espanya
  • Av. Maria Cristina
  • Av. Marquès de Comillas
  • Pl this link. Sant Jordi
  • Av. Estadi

On Friday le Tour will leave starting at 11:00 at Plaza España and running through the following streets:

  • Plaça Espanya
  • Avinguda del Paral·lel
  • Ronda de Sant Pau
  • Comte d’Urgell
  • Gran Via
  • Passeig de Gràcia
  • Plaça de Joan Carles I
  • Jardins de Salvador Espriu
  • Gran de Gràcia
  • pPaça Lesseps
  • Av. Vallcarca
  • Ronda de Dalt
  • Carretera de St. Cugat
July 5th, 2009 | Tags: , | Category: Events, Sports | Leave a comment
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