Barcelona Under the Stars

There's a pretty smart initiative for the coming month - assuming the weather behaves itself. I've spoken before about some of the best places for a rooftop cocktail in the city, and really only touched on a few places. However, from the 3rd to 7th May you have the opportunity to step up to 36 of the city's best terraces (many rooftop) with a variety of different activities ranging from hip hop music, magic shows, cinema screenings, gastronomy demos to literature readings.



Launched via the Gremi d'hotels de Barcelona, the idea is to encourage the locals to take more of an advantage of the fantastic spaces throughout the city to go out for dinner and a drink. There is also a photography competition running throughout the 5 days for those with a fancy for snapping with prizes of ipod shuffle, camera and a night in a 4 or 5 star hotel up for grabs.

Funnily enough the first night is the return leg of the semi-final of the Champions League between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Barça look to have the tie pretty much wrapped up after Leo Messi's brilliant sparks of individual skill this week, but hey - pretty cool place to watch the match, right?! For a full programme of events and dates, see the website here. Do you fancy any of the nights? Let me know in the comments.

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Easter Graffiti Anyone?

It's been a while since I've posted about graffiti, but for those new here, it's worth mentioning that I quite like it. Not the scrawls and the tags left almost everywhere possible, and I'm not that impressed by those that are like transfers (although some are great - like real Banksy style) - I mean the real arty stuff that takes time, effort and real imagination and above all skill.

So with the week being Holy Week, and me having covered some of the cool traditions in the past such as the processions I didn't want to repeat stuff you'll already know, but have a lot of respect for this time, too. So when I saw the graffiti here below, I thought it might be (cheekily) appropriate to post.



It was raining, so it's a little bit blurred, but you can clearly see the "back from the dead" zombie theme and click for a bigger pic. Good Friday today, so maybe I'm posting a bit early as no-one has risen/come back from the dead just yet, but there you go. Not sure how long the work will last either, as the council are pretty quick in spending the public's money covering up some perfectly good stuff - but this is on a building site, so may be safe for a while. Thoughts? Leave me a comment guys.

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Copa del Rey Big Screen Or Not?

This evening sees the second of four encounters of FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid - the first being a 1-1 draw in the league on 16th April. Jose Mourinho has been heavily criticised for the way he went about the game, but has responded by being "not bothered" in typical style.



Tonight's game is the final of the King's Cup and obviously cannot end in a draw. The game is being played at Valencia's Mestalla stadium and tickets have been sold out for a long time. Barça are perhaps favourites with their record in the cup (25 wins) and their all-round football this season plus their slender lead in La Liga too.

I was alerted this week for plans of a Big Screen to broadcast the match at Plaça Catalunya, so imagine my surprise when the big screen today is displaying the note of "The match will not be broadcast" ?! Now, I don't know if that's because it was TV3 and the match is not going to be broadcast on TV3 or if the powers that be have really decided not to put the match on at all.

Unfortunately, FC Barcelona fans have a poor record of public behaviour (whether they win or not) and given the date co-incides with a huge influx of tourists due to it being Easter Week, maybe the authorities have decided against people being caught in the crossfire? There was no-one around to ask and check, so I'm unsure!!?

Let's hope for a great match this evening, much more open as points are not at stake, and another great dress rehearsal for the up-coming semi-finals of the Champions League featuring the two teams again.

Anyone shed any light on the big screen? Is it or isn't it? Seems a waste to set the whole thing up, then not show the match, right?!

Coming to Barcelona this month? check out BCN Rentals who have a selection of apartments tro rent for short stays in the city. And for a quiick look at the city sights, try this Barcelona guide.