BarGelona 2012-13 Christmas Ice Rink

This Christmas, the same as last year, Plaça Catalunya has been converted into a festive Ice Rink called BarGelona - the play on words there in Catalan, "gel" is "ice". Unconfirmed reports last year suggested that the installation of the rink was to stop another camp-in of the 15-M indignados who had spent so much time there in the spring, and not just an impulse to encourage Christmas shopping and spending to boost the economy. Either way, it must have been a success, as it's back.

 The rink is sponsored by local companies and banks, and is a little different to last year in the layout and organization. In a similar way to last year, there are plenty of vouchers flying around the shops and bars easy to pick up but this year seems like a better deal. Last year, you got 2 x 1 for 30 minutes skating and this year it's 50% off instead, so for 4,50 € you get an hour's skating time (but I'll get to that later).

I went with my kids and some other from their school last Friday, and there was very little wait to get your skates and get on the rink. You must take gloves - otherwise you have to buy some - and kids have the option of helmets (all free) and there are free lockers to drop off bags, coats, etc. as you can get quite hot skating around. I assumed before we arrived, that time would be regulated every hour -i.e. they blow a whistle on the hour and swap those who have been on with those waiting, in a similar way to last year. So, we got booted up with our skates and were patiently waiting for it to come around to the hour. Then we noticed that other people behind us just got their skates, and went straight on the rink, so we thought as there was only 20 minutes to go before the hour mark, they're probably just turning a blind eye to the time - you can see from the photos, it wasn't heaving. 

Well, we skated for 2 hours, and could have gone on for longer, I reckon, as no-one asked us for our tickets  or seemed to be controlling the time, and we only left as my daughter was really tired. So great value for money too! AND on the back of the tickets we were given to skate, there was a voucher for a free snoog-scarf from Banc Sabadell which I picked up this morning, too!

There is a refreshment area at the back with a bar, waffles, hot chocolate, etc. and plenty of room to sit down and take photos for those who aren't skating. There's also a smaller rink for the little ones who can practice with the big heavy plastic penguins - apologies for the photo being so blurry, I was trying to catch the action!

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Christmas Ice Rink at Plaça Catalunya ?

A recent post in La Vanguardia has reported that Barcelona council has given the green light to "considering" turning Plaça Catalunya into an ice skating rink, similar to the famous New York rink in front of Rockerfeller Plaza. The idea would need a pretty quick implimentation as the plan would be to co-incide with the traditional turning on of the Christmas lights and the annual late night shopping event this coming 30th November. It also reports that it would be a good incentive for those looking to vote for Barcelona for the Winter Olympic Games of 2022 as well.

The idea is to create a rink of around 800m2 with an artificial tree in the middle which would be paid for by the private sector - some companies such as Damm breweries (who else?!) have come forward in support of the idea. I think it would be really cool, and despite the usual criticisms in the comments on the vanguardia site, I'm all for it. I'm still very traditional when it comes to Christmas and love the lights and the festivities, and to be honest I think for the space that Plaça Catalunya occupies, it's a bit of a white elephant and could be put to much better use.

Of course, there's another reason why the rink has been proposed - to stop another occupancy of the Plaça Catalunya like in May from those in the 15-M movement. Christmas is always a time that the shops and city as a whole like to enjoy a bit of a peak again after the summer slump, so anything that could potentially disturb that  (i.e. a manifestation) is something the authorities will want to avoid.

What are your thoughts? Do you think it's a good idea, or it might look a bit limp compared to other cities ? I remember being in Brussels close to Christmas one time and there was a rink there that was pretty small, but really popular. Let me know in the comments.

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