One thing that many ex pats miss about home is the TV. Spanish TV is notoriously bad, and even after the introduction of digital channels a few years back, the rubbish just seems to have multiplied. Being from the UK, I have SKY in my home as the satellite signal can reach Spain here (not the same for US channels for example). However, even then there are certain things that are broadcast or repeated online on such sites like BBC iplayer. Being in Spain, the site detects your computer's IP address, and the content is blocked. Which has been very annoying, until now.
Step up Expat Shield. I've been using this for a few months and was going to blog about it, but just never seemed to get around to it. It's a simple program which you install on your computer and it assigns a UK IP address to your browsing. You have to put up with a few banner ads, but it's definitely worth it.
Another great use it has is for watching movies online. There are many good blogs with cinema released movies which are streamed online. Some of the video hosting sites such as Megavideo and videobb annoyingly only allow you to watch 72 minutes of a movie, and then you have to wait for 30 minutes before you can re-start. There are various ways around this trick (opening various browser tabs and starting the movie at 20 minute intervals, etc.) but with expat shield, it's even easier - you can just "turn it on" and then watch the rest of the movie as the video host registers a new IP address (and you'll see all the ads turn from Spanish to English, too!). Go ahead and give it a try, I'm sure you'll be pleased!
Coming to Barcelona this month? Check out BCN Rentals apartments for a great saving on hotel rooms. And their Barcelona guide is a quick flick through the best sights, too.
Now Barcelona has had a turbulent history. From Roman times, Spanish Armadas, civil wars and the like it's no surprise that there are many stories hidden beneath the city streets of today. A wander in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona's Old Town will take you to the City History Museum, where you can literally be transported thousands of years to the past with a Roman village beneath the streets.
Montjuic Mountain also has many stories hidden in its rock. During the civil war the castle was used as a prison, and locals will tell you how many people were imprisoned simply for speaking the Catalan language. The elder generation have more vivid memories of these times and for many, a simple thing like taking the subway can bring back terrible memories. Underground tunnels with the alien sounds of oncoming trains and clackety-clack of rail-lines are too close to the fear that these children felt so many years ago when they huddled in underground tunnels and sewers, taking shelter from the danger overhead. There were many such shelters built during the civil war, some say as many as one thousand, but one has remained in excellent condition. Welcome to Refugio 307.
Cut deep into the city's bowels in between the old town and Montjüic, in the neighbohood known as Poble Sec lies a myriad of tunnels over 200 metres which included children's area, a medical station and many individual rooms. The indiscriminate bombings the city suffered at the time are brought sharply back to focus with this excellent example of the fight for survival that the local people must have had to confront at the time.
Refugio 307 can be visited for a guided tour (only Spanish and Catalan) daily at the cost of 3 Euros and is located very centrally on Carrer Nou de la Rambla, 169. Metro stop Parallel (exit funicular exit).
Good News people. If the 3 Kings didn't bring you everything you lost in 2010, you can at least brighten up your January with the news that it's going to be free to visit the Sagrada Familia on each Saturday morning in January.
After the Pope's visit and consecration of the Temple, Europe's wackiest - and unfinished - cathedral has been drawing the crowds even more than when it was just a building site with lots of men in hard hats smoking fags inside. My mam visited in November and made the effort to go in and have a nosey around, and needless to say came back with the usual glowing reports, "Oh, the photos don't do it justice" etc. which I fully believe. Having been inside various times since I've been living here, I did want to see the finished inside, but kind of didn't want to pay that much, as I've seen all the rest of it about 5-6 times, so this comes as good news to me!! hahah! Does that make me sound tight?!
Well, it's only opening from 9-14h, according to the news link and that may be subject to change (going by the story) so don't take my word for it, and double check if you're reading this at the latter end of the month, just in case.
The whole experience of going is well worth a visit, even from the intricacies of the two facades (both on Barcelona's list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites) so to be given full access for nothing is a no-brainer (I think it's about 12/13 Euros normally).
Since it's completion, the inside boasts the information "Now that the architectural work on the interior of the great church of the Sagrada Familia is complete, its Dedication is an offering to God for all time. For its scale and its artistic merit, it is now also a Basilica". I'm not completely sure what the difference between Temple, Cathedral, Basilica, etc. all means but quite frankly you can give the place all the words under the sun that mean church cos it deserves them in my book.
If you're coming to Barcelona this year, then be sure to check out apartments for rent in the city as a great alternative to a hotel room.
OK, so I'm a few days late, but hey, it's still worth saying. While the majority of Europe has got slowly back into the swing of things starting yesterday, for some Spanish kids tonight is what they've been waiting for since school broke up. Yes, the 3 Kings of Orient arrive tonight - on a boat, of course - all the way from Bethlehem and parade around the town on floats throwing sweets to children and bringing their presents like Santa Claus.
As regular readers will know, I have two children and we'll be doing our best to stifle the yawns and cries to keep them up tonight to go and see the "cabalgata". I'm all for embracing the local culture, and despite the Epiphany going largely unnoticed in my homeland of England, it's a big deal here (if my memory serves me correctly, most English households actually take all their decorations down today). My only qualm is that it starts so bloody late!! OK, maybe my family don't follow exactly the same routine as other kids in Barcelona, going to bed at 21h onwards, but they're 5 and 3!! They flat out refuse to do "siestas" (don't blame them, never been a siesta man, even when I've wanted to!) and end up being knackered at about 19:30!! So today is the first time we'll be venturing out to the parade, wish me luck!!
Coming to Barcelona this year? You can certainly get some bargains for Barcelona Apartments in the low season for the first couple of months, so feel free to check out. Also, if you need information about the city in general, see this Barcelona guide.
One of the many thnings I love about spending Christmas in Spain is the Christmas Lottery draw also known as "El Gordo" - or "The Fat One". And for pure entertainment value. The very first year I came to Barcelona, I remember turning on the TV in the morning and almost every single channel (no TDT, guys) was broadcasting the draw. And I had absolutely NO IDEA what was going on. I was absolutely baffled.
I was 16 when the National lottery first started in the UK, so obviously went along and bought my ticket. Simple process, you fill in one of those sheets with the 6 numbers you'd like to choose and then get your ticket. So you choose all 6 numbers. And it's highly unlikely that there are more than, say, another person who has chosen those same numbers as you. So the expectations and dreams you might have of becoming a multi-millionare (and probably not having to share it with anyone) made part of the draw....er, part of the draw.
Now, I still don't think I fully understand how the bloody hell the Spanish Christmas lottery works, but it most certainly grips the nation like nothing I've ever seen before. Tickets go on sale in JULY, and there used to be a pretty famous bald bloke who would adorn your bus shelters around the cities with catchphrases such as "Could it fall here this year?" and the like. Wacky stuff in the heat of summer, seeing snow, Christmas trees and that bloke blowing angel dust towards you.
Tickets are known as "decimos" or "tens" as there are at least ten of each number and cost a whopping 20 Euros each. There are seemingly hundreds of prizes ranging from the refund of your ticket (usually goes straight back into the New Year Draw known as "El Niño"), and then varying amounts up to the big one of 3 million Euros. No, that wasn't a typo. The "fat one" is only 3 million Euros. OK, OK, I know "only" is perhaps the wrong word, but I mean none of your 110 Million EuroMillion malarkeys. Given the sheer amount of prizes, there's a 15% chance of winning some kind of prize, so maybe the "great" odds are what so many people play.
Part of the reason I (now I understand it) love the day, is the whole performance. Big old Bingo cages are rolled out and loads of little wooden balls are tipped into them, so no complaints about technology here. Starting from early morning, two balls are dropped out at a time with one being the ticket number and the other being the prize. Sounds pretty simple, right? Well, the funny bit is that kids from (I'm guessing a posh school called Sant Ildefons) SING the numbers out. Loudly. For about 4 hours.
Obviously, Spain now has the Euro as their national currency, but it used to be the Peseta - so numbers were huge (although not as huge as the Lira, to be fair, which was just silly). So 1 million pesetas was only 6000 Euros. Given that the Spanish lottery ticket number is a 5 digit number, the whole singing thing is an absolute tounge-twister for a recently-arrived foreigner (see first paragraph)!!
I could write a whole other post about improving your chances of winning by buying your ticket from the Catalan Town of "Sort" - where a huge majority of the tickets are printed. They have their own witch (Sort means "luck" in Catalan) too, and people flock from literally miles and miles around to buy directly from Sort. And you can still "choose your numbers" - apparently favourites this year have been the date that Spain won the World Cup, or the minute that Iniesta scored, etc. So if you're in front of a TV (or Radio, for that matter) then be sure to tune in on Wednesday 22nd December.
I don't know about you, but it's been a while since I went "out" on New Years Eve. I've always spent it with the most important people close to me, but we have usually opted for a house party, or dinner at a friends or invite people round. Previous years of so much planning for one night which always seems to be the biggest disappointment of them all seem to have taken their toll, and whilst I've had some cracking New Years over the ten years I've been here, they hardly rank as the best nights I've had as you might expect.
So who else is more in the know to exploit that new-year-blues feeling than the kings and queens of Barcelona night life, Matinee group? Instead of organising a massive New Year Party this year, they're presenting thier annual Matinee Winter Festival at the end of the Purple Line metro (don't even get me started on THAT one) in the Pavello Olympic Badalona. On the 1st January. That's right. You can go out AGAIN after that blur that is the week between Christmas Day and New Years Eve, just to make sure you're done welcoming in 2011!!
Given the fact that pretty much everything that Matinee Group touches turns to gold, it'd be a safe bet saving your 35 Euros to pay the entrance fee (with 2 free drinks to limited time) here, than 2 cubatas the night before in a place you can't quite remember the name of!
So what do you reckon? Like the sound of it? Planning on going? Let me know in the comments!
If you're coming to Barcelona this end of year, check out these Barcelona Apartments for a great alternative to a hotel room. and for a qucik look at the city sights, check out their Barcelona Guide.
Posts
