The main new features of the Barcelona Marathon this year are focused on improving the event for aficionados and runners alike. In addition, the race is keeping overall to its basic route, despite a few changes, which means it will pass the city sights for tourists and keep to the athletics aim of a faster race, with fewer sharp turns or narrow avenues and fewer inclines.

Barcelona Marató Website  |  NN Hotels: www.nnhotels.com

Barcelona Marató

Art Weekend in Barcelona

 Now open your eyes. Welcome to Barcelona !!!

U232 Hotel invites you to discover it on an Art Weekend package, which includes:

• 2 nights stay at our U232 Hotel in Barcelona (on a single, double, triple or family room)
• Breakfast in the exclusive U232 buffet restaurant
• Welcome drink in the U232 bar (1 per person)
• 1 Art Ticket per person that entitle you to visit:
  • Museu Picasso: Picasso lived key years in Barcelona – those of his apprenticeship as an artist. He established and maintained strong links to the city throughout his life and it was here where he wanted his museum to be.
  • Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya: MNAC has the best known display of Romanesque frescoes in the whole of Europe, unique both for the quantity and for the quality of the works on show.
  • Fundació Joan Miró: The Foundation holds an exceptionally comprehensive collection of works by Joan Miró.
  • Centre Cultural Caixa Catalunya  - La Pedrera by Antoni Gaudí: Visit the most famous building bythe most famous architect in Barcelona.
  • Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona: One of the largests collections of Contemporary Art in Europe, in a building by Richard Meier.
  • Fundació Antoni Tàpies
  • Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona

Book now your Art Weekend in Barcelona and discover all the museums of the city !!!

The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona

Between 15 and 18 February, Barcelona is going to be the world capital of mobile telephony. The Mobile World Congress at the Fira de Barcelona will bring together the top leaders of this industrial technology, who are not going to miss the most important event in the world in this sector.

During the four days the congress lasts many activities, talks and events will be held, along with presentations of the latest advances in mobile technologies. It will also see the presentation of the Global Mobile Awards, the sector’s most prestigious awards.

Place:  Fira Barcelona  |  Address: Av Reina Maria Cristina, 2

3GSM Mobile World Congress

Mobile World Congress Website

Contest winners

 The contest has been a major success, we received more than 140 pictures. Thank you all for joining us and taking part.

Winners are:

• 1st PRIZE: Eva Fortuño, who will enjoy a 2-nights stay at wonderful U232 Hotel in Barcelona. Congratulations !!!
• 2nd PRIZE: Mandreja Marrón, who has a booking for two at Restaurant H1898. Enjoy your meal !!!

All the pictures will remain on exhibit at our facebook profile, on the album Fan Photos.

Stay tuned, as this was our first contest, but will not be the last…

the first UEFA Seminar in Barcelona

During this meeting, Barcelona’s Mayor, Jordi Hereu; the UEFA President, Michael Platini and the other participants will sign a memorandum of understanding to promote respect and fair play in cities where international competitions are staged.

Under this commitment from the cities, clubs and fans, the aim is to highlight the desire to combat the violence and acts of vandalism which surround international football events. At the same time the signatories will demonstrate their commitment to improving communication channels and information exchanges, to improve how fans are received during European competitions.

Source: www.bcn.es

Under the heading “Outumuro. Looks” Disseny Hub Barcelona has put on display more than 200 images by fashion photographer, Manuel Outumuro. The retrospective exhibition, which can be seen until 25 April, covers twenty years of the photographer’s career

Outumuro Looks. Fashion photography

 All the top Spanish models have posed before Outumuro’s lense, such as Laura Ponte, Judit Mascó and Martina Klein, whose first photo was taken by him. “We are practically family” he said.

International models have also posed for Outumuro, including many famous figures, such as Penélope Cruz, Rossy de Palma, Alaska, Diane Kruger and Luz Casal, among many others.

Manuel Outumuro fuses the spirit of classicism with a search for elegance, an elegance which portrays femininity in its truest form. The photographer is drawn towards women’s fashion and the only job he ever rejected was taking photos of jeans. His images are timeless, though the photographer tells us that he works without looking for a particular style. “I take photos as I feel them” he says.

Outumuro’s influences are vast, from Harper’s Bazaar magazines of the forties and fifties to the world of cinema and literature.

Hotel Granvia commemorates this year its 75th anniversary. Stablished on 1935 in the former Palace of Serra-Chopitea family (built in 1870), this hotel has been part of Barcelona’s history and has seen all the majors events of the last century in the city. Its unbeatable location next to Passeig de Gràcia and Plaza Catalunya ensures the best of Barcelona to all its guests.

What: Outumuro. Looks
Photographic exhibition
Where: Disseny Hub Barcelona
Montcada, 12 - Ciutat Vella
When: until April 25th, 2010

Valentine's Day in Barcelona

 A visit to Barcelona with your special someone is the perfect opportunity for romance, surrounded by spectacular architecture, urban landscape, the Mediterranean Sea, an unbeatable climate…

In 1797, a British publisher issued The Young Man’s Valentine Writer, which contained scores of suggested sentimental verses for the young lover unable to compose his own. Núñez i Navarro Hotels today perfectionates this manual, with our Valentine’s Day packages and Romantic getaways.

Our nine hotels in Barcelona city center offer you a perfect location and excellent service, ensuring the most romantic weekend for you and your sweetheart.

Discover now our promotions and book your romantic stay in Barcelona!

Inside, the rooms are as seen on the website - even the basic rooms are very spacious and relaxing. The minimalist styling with recessed lighting doesn’t mean sacrificing all the comforts of a good 4-star hotel and it does mean a sense of calm and comfort. The service too is very friendly and helpful.

I could happily live out of the hotel…if only I didn’t have to return home…que sera sera…

By tomaso38, January 2010.

Awakening at the B-Hotel (terrace)

Visit www.b-hotel.com

New visions at the Virreina Image Centre

This is the premise for the Virreina Centre de la Imatge’s new stage. Under Carles Guerra’s direction, it opting for a rethinking of its layout and contents, to make culture available to the public according to their needs and to create a dialogue instead of one-way messages.

With these new working guidelines oriented towards cultural-policy debates, the Virreina Centre de la Imatge has two exhibitions in line for 2010 that will examine the weight of urban and media images.

The new Image Centre will not be conceived solely as an art centre; it will attempt to turn itself into a place where images and culture reveal the conditions under which they are produced and circulated.

With this in mind, the exhibition rooms will be concentrated on the second floor of the Palau de la Virreina, with a new layout that removes the architectural barriers and will turn the Xavier Miserachs gallery into a new hub of cultural services in the style of a “laboratory” at street level, allowing the public free admission to the auditorium and archives.

The Image Centre will start these activities on 9 March with Guia secreta de la Rambla (Secret Guide to the Rambla), a look at this controversial urban space now saturated with audiovisual and literary images. Accompanying this will be the book Barcelona en blanc i negre (Barcelona in Black and White), which shows the Rambla as an organic entity fully integrated into the city, and a room devoted to Ocaña for the artist’s central role on this avenue.

Virreina Image Centre website  |  NN Hotels: www.nnhotels.com

Axiom Groupe,  leader in production and communication, delivering business intelligence and strategic information, presents in Hotel 1898 Barcelona the conference Enterprise Risk Management. February 25th - 26th 2010.

Enterprise Risk Management in Barcelona

 A conference where top-profile speakers will discuss and share with you their knowledge on:

• Enterprise wide risk management versus centric risk management
• Developing a framework for managing wide-risk
• Combining Risk Management, Internal Audit & Compliance
• Today’s role of risk manager
• Insurance & risk: the right insurance programme
• Developing an enterprise wide risk culture
• Using Business Intelligence to turn risk into profit
• Identifying wholesale enterprise fraud
• Excellence in risk management techniques
• Financial Risk Management

Register now and learn with the best experts from solid enterprises such as British Telecom, Solvay, AstraZeneca or Alcatel Lucent.

Hotel 1898 has been selected as Official Partner in Spain, and offers a special Axiom Guest Rate.