Gracia Festival: Barcelona’s biggest and most colorful street party

Probably Barcelona’s biggest and most colourful street party, the Festa de Gràcia gets underway on August 15th and, during one week, seventeen streets will be decorated for the celebrations, on another year of this historical event. The first reference of this festivity dates back to 1817, when Gràcia was a small village, and not yet absorbed as a neighbourhood by Barcelona.

Gràcia was established in 1626, in the surroundings of a convent called Nostra Senyora de Gràcia (Our Lady of Grace). Gràcia was an independent municipality until it was annexed to Barcelona in 1897 along with other villages in the plain of Barcelona. The expansion of the Eixample  district in the 19th century eventually led to the northward expansion of Barcelona, connecting Gràcia to the growing metropolis.

Given the confirmation that some two thirds of the event’s visitors will be attending its morning, afternoon and early-evening activities, it will hold its main family-interest shows and cultural events at those times.

Still, the night party may stretch out to 2 am during the week and 3.30 am during the weekend, with concerts and music.

The first event of the Festival was the poster contest. Aina Cordoncillo, local illustrator, has been selected among 268 participants, and her poster will be the Official Poster of the Festival.

Barcelona Modernista Fair and Street Trade Festival

Once again the neighbourhood spring festival in the “Dreta” or right side of Eixample will be offering visitors a journey to the end of the 19th and start of the 20th century, when Barcelona was at the height of its prosperity and Modernisme its avant-garde movement.

From 28 to 30 May, from Aragó street to Avinguda Diagonal, Girona street will be holding the sixth Modernista Fair, Modernista Market and Street Trade Festival.

Children’s games, shows, workshops, a large marquee containing vintage cars, exhibitions, a talk, silent movies, puppet shows and a mini-train, in a period atmosphere with lots of surprises, will be taking place over several days in this stretch of Ildefons Cerdà’s expansion district, the Eixample.

Then, throughout the weekend, you will be able to visit some eighty stands of every kind, ranging from craft products and food prepared according to natural processes, children’s workshops for handkerchief printing and preparing badges with Modernista motifs, demonstrations of old buildings and lots more, all designed to recreate a highly representative historical era in our country.

Last year, the Hotel Europark located Aragó street with Girona street (Gaudí Modernist route), and was visited by a group of friends of Terrassa by reason of the Barcelona Modernista Fair, dressed up for the occasion. This year, they will repeat!

Loop Barcelona. Videoart Festival

For eleven days, Barcelona will be the great international showcase of video art. Loop Barcelona - now in its 8th year - hosts its most extensive programme ever, featuring over one thousand videos in some hundred venues located throughout the city. 

In a restaurant, in a bookshop and even in a flat specially rented for the occasion, video art comes to the whole city for eleven days of Loop Barcelona, the most important international event in visual creation in existence.

Artists presenting works include Michael Snow, Perejaume, John Baldessari, Miquel Barceló, Isabel Coixet, Eulàlia Valldosera and Bill Viola.

Among the videoforums that have been prepared, you might find yourself inspired by a meeting with film director Hannah Collins, who has a joint project with Ferran Adrià, or by seeing what television arts presenter Jef Cornelis has to say.

You can also see Miquel Barceló’s live creation of a piece of art at the Museu de Ceràmica de Barcelona.

More inf@: Loop Barcelona

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

Mobile World Congress Website

Barcelona Snow Show 2009

This year Barcelona will be getting snow before the mountains. And that’s because the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium will be the main location, on the 7 and 8 November, for the first Barcelona Snow Show, a pioneering event in Spain that will feature the world’s best snowboarders and freestyle skiers.

The Barcelona stadium will be turned into a giant ski slope, where a 35-metre-high Big Air will be set up, which will be the highest ramp in Europe for a Snowboard World cup competition.

Thousands of snowboarding and freestyle skiing specialists will stop off in Barcelona to take part in the LG FIS Snowboard World Cup Big Air and the International Freeski Big Air.

The Barcelona Snow Show also aims to become the snow season’s big inauguration festival and the Olympic Stadium will have a large area featuring exhibitions that specialise in the sector with parallel activities open to the public.

The competition is expected to be held on Saturday, 7 November, followed by the parallel activities on Sunday, 8 November. The commercial exhibition, however, will be held over both days.

Barcelona Snow Show  Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys -> Avinguda de l’Estadi 54

NN Hotels: www.nnhotels.com

Mascota Barcelona - Pet Exhibition

For the first time in Spain, three important events dedicated to pets will be held in the same exhibition centre and on the same dates:  Fira de Barcelona’s Mascota Show where the latest pet food and pet care products will be presented; the Southern European Veterinary Congress attended by around 5.500 experts; and the international reptile and amphibian fair, Expoterraria. From the 1st to the 4th of October his coincidence will turn Barcelona into a reference point for pet professionals and lovers.

Mascota, which arose from the transformation of Sizoo and the Festival de la Mascota, will showcase the latest trends in food, health, accessories and specialised services for domestic animals. Although a trade fair, the general public will have the opportunity to see these new products at the weekend, on the 3rd and 4th of October, in the Montjuïc exhibition centre, also the setting for the other two major events which, together, will occupy halls 2, 5, 7 and 8 and the Plaça de l’Univers.

The show’s list of proposals includes the Pets’ Fashion Catwalk where the new collections of pet fashion and accessories will be presented, featuring designers like Adolfo Domínguez, and a large variety of activities for the whole family such as aquarium and cat exhibitions, training trials, a dog beauty contest and children’s workshops with service dogs for persons with disabilities, among others.

At the same time, around 5.500 experts on animal health will attend the Southern European Veterinary Conference - 44th Congress of the Association of Spanish Specialist Veterinarians of Small Animals (AVEPA), which will feature 200 conferences and speakers from around the world. Topics at the event will include Leishmaniosis disease in dogs, new medical and surgical advances, clinic management and veterinarian assistant training. There will also be specialised workshops on diagnostic techniques and dog behaviour, among others.

www.salonmascota.com  1 & 2 october: only professionals  | 3 & 4 october: general public

NN Hotels: www.nnhotels.com  | We suggest accommodation at B-Hotel (www.b-hotel.com) located at Plaza España

Cool hotel & very convenient location: B-Hotel

We stayed at the B-Hotel from 1 to 5 August.

Cool hotel from the pool on the roof to the Breakfast room on the 1st floor with fantastic views over Plaza Espanya.
The rooms are really well laid out, the decor is funky in a minimalist way, the breakfast was excellent and the location is very convenient - close to the city centre, transport connections and to Montjuic.
Staff were friendly and helpful. Already, we are recommending it to friends as the place to stay in the best city in Europe.

Experience posted by Phoebe Muckian, Sept 09.

Swing in Barcelona

Lindy Hop classes, face painting workshops, dance, concerts, etc. and all that with swing in the background. That’s what you’ll find in Plaça del Diamant during the Gràcia Festival, during which it will become the Plaça del Swing (Swing Square).

The music will be provided by Johnny Branchizio & The Lindy Hop Connection, the Ivanow Jazz Group, Lush Five, S’Arrual, The Swinging Singers, Jove Combo and Cabo San Roque, while there will also be musical performances with puppets for little children, theatrical performances and swing workshops for everyone.

Where: Plaça del Diamant,
Gràcia District.
When: Gràcia Festival week,
August 15th - 21st.
Cost: Free activities.

ESC Congress 2009 in Barcelona

The ESC Congress is an annual international congress held in Europe, represents the largest meeting in the world addressing issues in cardiovascular medicine. It is the largest medical meeting in Europe, gathering over 25,000 participants ever year.

The meeting, taking place over five days in 30 lecture theatres, provides a unique forum bringing together all the different disciplines and players involved in cardiology, including doctors, basic scientists, epidemiologists, nurses,  technicians and key opinion leaders.  An advantage  is that it covers both specific issues in the different disciplines as well as broader issues affecting all fields of cardiology.

The congress will provide delegates with great opportunities for education, including “Meet and Read with the Experts“, and for hearing about the latest research. There will  be valuable opportunities  for networking, including finding out about practice in different countries, exchanging ideas and getting to know a range of interesting new people. Let’s not forget our industry partners who will be holding over 80 satellite symposia and workshops and showcasing the latest innovations in pharma  and equipment in what’s probably the world’s  largest medical exhibition centre.

Barcelona is a truly wonderful venue. The city offers an excellent congress centre, good transport links, and is a really interesting place for delegates to take a bit of time out. You have magnificent Gaudi architecture, superb cuisine and a world famous football team. In fact it’s the  perfect mix – that’s so long as you don’t get too distracted from the Congress.

Fira Gran Via: Plaza Europa, Hospitalet - 08908 Barcelona  |  www.escardio.org

NN Hotels: www.nnhotels.com

“Toute la France” in Barcelona.

From 11-14 June, the Moll de la Fusta will host the “Toute la France” fair, showing visitors the many facets of Catalonia’s neighbour, from gastronomy and tourism to companies and businesses. This is the second time it has been held in Spain. Last year it was held in Madrid and received almost 70,000 visitors.

This year some 200,000 visitors are expected and they will be able to enjoy cultural activities, talks, exhibitions and professional meetings, among other things. A highlight of the fair site will be the French Producers Market, with around forty stands representing the various French regions.

Place:  Moll de la Fusta  |  Free Entrance
Address: Moll Bosch i Alsina, 2 - source: www.bcn.es

NN Hotels: www.nnhotels.com

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