La Merce 2009 - Barcelona's Festival Week

September is a great month in Barcelona. The Patron Saint (or one of them) Our Lady of Mercy has her feast day on the 24th September, and this is a great excuse to dust down some Catalan traditions and festival celebrations in a week-long party which involves the whole of the city.

According to the city website, this year celebrates 150 years since Ildefons Cerdà's plans for Eixample were approved, so expect some big goings on in Barcelona's biggest neighbourhood. Plaças and streets are filled with stages and open air concerts, and like other years, the festival embraces other cultures and countries, too. From the official site, it states that

"the Mercè likes to travel without leaving home. That is why this year it has invited Istanbul, which will be Europe’s Capital of Culture in 2010, to offer the people of Barcelona a taste of Turkish culture. And not only the most traditional elements, best represented perhaps by the whirling dance of the dervish Akin Çakmut (Maritime Museum), but also by the newest. Among other events, we will see an exhibition of contemporary artists from Barcelona and Istanbul (La Capella), we will hear the Eastern dub of the Baba Zula, a group that combines the purest oriental tradition with electronic sounds, and we will see the shadow theatre of Gengiz Ozek (Maritime Museum), a renovator of the tradition of what is called karagöz."

Expect the other fireworks displays, fire-runs (said to be under threat due to new EU regulations on the handling of fireworks for minors), dances and castellers, there's a circus up on Montjüic from the 24th to 27th, the Party in the Sky, as well as plenty of live events at the Greek Theatre, and music events all around the city centre. It's impossible to detail all of the events and highlights, especially as there may be some things I would prefer than other readers (like the Hives playing at the old Damm factory, or the magicians for my kids at the circus!) so you can read a full programme here. Unfortunately, like other years, the programme is only in Catalan - and I would pretty much bet that it stays that way. This is a very "local" festival, and whilst everyone is welcome to the celebrations, it's not greatly advertised around and translated into other languages, as other events are. Things kick off this weekend with the Marathon around the city centre, with many streets cut off temporarily during the morning and lunch hour, so if you're thinking of coming in the car, don't!

Coming to Barcelona for La Merçe? Leave a comment and tell us whet you'll be looking forward to seeing! I'd love to hear from you. And if you're still stuck for a place to stay, try these apartments for rent in Barcelona.

Palau Robert - The Art of Trickery

This coming week is your last chance to see the cool exhibition at Palau Robert in central Barcelona called "El Arte del Engaño" - another cool thing to do in Barcelona for free.

Palau Robert is a nice little place just on the corner of Diagonal and Passeig de Gracia, with a great little garden at the back, somewhere often overlooked. The Palace often has free exhibitions and galleries so it's always worth a look if you're passing by.



This exhibition is all about special effects in the film industry, and celebrates the 2007 Oscar for the special effects in Guillermo del Toro's wacky Pan's Labyrinth. It also features a bit of history about the beginnings of special effects and how slow motion animation began with things like King Kong models, the classic Japanese-style fighting dinosaurs, bringing you right up to date with Terminator 2, HellBoy and many other odds and ends (like chucky from Child's play!). It's a fairly short exhibition, but as it's free to get in, it's well worth a look.



I apologies for the poor quality of the photos here, but they were taken on my phone very quickly, as I don't really think you were allowed to take photos!!







Get yourselves down to Palau Robert before the 27th September, as the exposition ends. Coming to Barcelona soon? Try apartments for rent in Barcelona and for a short but thorough Guide to Barcelona, click the link.

Great Bars with Terraces - Part 3

Never one to let the arrival of September influence my decision on sitting out on a terrace for a drink, I will keep going with a few more recommendations for great terraces in the city for having a coffee of a drink as and when I can remember!



Today's post is a great little place to combine with the cable car which leaves Barceloneta. If you've been down by the beach area, then head on down to the cable car tower close to the beach. Take the cable car ride over the sea and cruise ships to Miramar which is the opposite side, and perched on the edge of Montjüic. apart from a great cable car ride over there, you can walk up the steps and have a sit down at the adjoining cafe/bar which offers some of the best views of the port and the nearby old town.



Coming to Barcelona soon? Try these Barcelona apartments for families - you can save some money having your own kitchen and living areas. Also try the Barcelona Tourist bus - much easier for families travelling.

Barcelona Day Trips: Cava Tours

Not that there are infinite ways to entertain yourself in Barcelona, but some people who visit the city like to combine a side-trip with the city visits, so I thought about writing a series of posts this month about the most popular day trips from Barcelona. We'll start with the Cava Tours - there are half a dozen, but I'll choose an easily accessible one, bearing in mind that everyone may not be travelling in the luxury of their own vehicle.



One of the first things to note is that the Penedes region which produces most of Catalan Cava is a beautiful area, and at around 45-50 minutes from Barcelona city centre, is a wonderful day trip for those people who like to get into the hills and nature. Without a doubt this trip is easier in your own car (or perhaps an organised coach trip, of you don't have a "designated driver" and all want to do a bit of tasting.

Otherwise, you can use public transport. Trains leaving the city centre head for Sant Sadurndi d'Anoia which is the little town right around the main vineyards. Directly outside the RENFE train station for Sant Sadurni is the Freixenet Cava Winery, and it's also one of the prettiest from the outside, too.

If you do have a car, then you can continue from Freixenet (the first one as you turn off the main motorway) and head towards the tiny village of Sant Pere de Ruitdebitlles (try saying that after a few glasses of cava) - easy as it's the only road, so just follow your nose. Here you'll pass more of the same, with Codorniu, Seguras Vuidas, etc. Seguras Viudas is the one pictured below, and is a magnificent place with immaculately kept hedges along the entrance. It's worth clicking on the picture below to see Montserrat in the background (another popular day trip).



All of the cava tours are generally free, and they just have a convenient stop in the shop at the end of a tour (which by then you fancy buying a couple of bottles anyway). Also, many of the vineyards have picnic facilities which (upon the purchase of a bottle or two) you can use as a lunch stop, too. If you fancy getting in touch with nature and away from the busy city, I can well reccomend the trip.

Looking for accommodation for your trip? Try Apartments for rent in Barcelona for considerable savings on hotels. Also, for a heads up on the rest of the sights to see in the city, see this Barcelona Guide.

Wheelchair Users in Barcelona

After being in contact with 2 wheelchair users these last two weeks, I found some interesting reflections from our conversations, and felt it merited a mention on the blog. I'm also (as always) open to comments and contributions from other wheelchair users who may have visited the city and have anything to add.

The general takeaway from both users was that Barcelona is a fairly easy city to visit and the wheelchair users didn't miss out on the majority of sights the city has to offer. Anyone who's been here knows that Barcelona is slightly on a gradient - flanked by Montjüic mountain to the left, Tibidabo at the back, and the Mediterranean sea at the bottom. It's a haven for skateboarders (although perhaps more due to the Police tolerance in comparison to countries such as the USA!) and the many bike lanes and success of the city's Bicing venture, means that getting around on two wheels is not that much of a headache.

Public transport is a huge influence on any persons visit to a new destination, especially a city - none more so than those with a wheelchair. Well, both my contacts were staying very central and were extremely happy to see the newly installed lifts on the metro at Liceu on Las Ramblas, as well as the Purple Line (Line 2) being the only line at the moment with lifts from street level to the platforms. On the occasions where there was not a lift, the accompanying people were able to help up escalators or steps - although they mentioned that staff also seemed keen to help on one occasion. One group also used the buses in town, and although they had to wait for the next bus, when it arrived it had lowered suspension and was perfect for the wheelchair user to board.



Obviously, some of the bigger attractions were a gamble in not knowing if things would work, but as one family were travelling with children, they wanted to make the most of the trip, so opted for the Cable Cars up on Montjüic. The good news is that the Funicular at Parallel metro station is perfectly adaptable for those in a wheelchair. I would have guessed as much, as I have used the Funicular with a pushchair on various occasions. However, one point worth mentioning is that in order to be at the front with little or no steps when you arrive to the top, you need to ensure you board the very end carriage down in Parallel - this way you save steps when the funicular train arrives at the top. In the image above, you would go right to the end where the publicity board is - meaning at the top you'd have maybe one step to the lift.

Another bonus was that the Montjüic Cable Car was also wheelchair accessible, and I'm such a big fan of the cable car, so I was very pleased. I had suspected as much, after seeing how you can have a picnic in the sky there - if they can get a table in there, a wheelchair should be no problem, right?!

A shame that the same couldn't be said for the Cable Car at Miramar which goes over the water and cruise ships towards Barceloneta beach. Whilst there is a lift at the Barceloneta end, meaning it's possible to get up and down from street level to the elevated platform at the destination at Miramar, there is no lift and a fairly steep starcase back up to street level.

Barcelona's beaches are easily accessible for those in a wheelchair, with ramps along the Olympic Village beaches and the wooden boardwalks (there is one just near the spider's web climbing frame which reaches right down to the shore) and Barceloneta again having a very slight gradient down to the beach area - both very pleasing, especially given the heat the past couple of weeks!



One of the groups wanted to visit the Camp Nou for a football game and despite furious googling and contact through various re-selling websites, no-one was able to find wheelchair accessible tickets for the first game of the season again Sporting last Monday. Two of our ventured trekkers made their way up to the stadium and were told that there WERE tickets available for wheelchair access, but decided against going to the match due to the lateness of the game and the possible nightmare of getting home afterwards. This to me was a shame, as it's a great stadium to visit, and had tickets been booked in advance, a more strategic plan could have been organised with perhaps a taxi pick up after the game to avoid the crowds, etc. I think there should be easier information available on the website (there was a telephone number, but only Spanish-speaking operators).

The only possible gripe, and I've saved this till last purely because it didn't take a shine off either holiday was Park Güell. On my recommendation, one group took a taxi up to Park Güell, and whilst they were (at a push - no pun intended) able to visit the walkways and paths in and around the entrance to the park, there was no direct way to access the main plaça with the tiled benches. I was fairly surprised at this and backtracked in my head the various routes you could access the plaça from but also came up with a blank.

Overall, though, both groups had a fantastic time, and I thank them for the input in helping me write this post!

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Barcelona Scams. The Nightclub Flyer Scam.

I suppose it's because it's August, and the typical scams in Barcelona are aimed at tourists, that I'm back again with another Barcelona Scam. The blog is called Barcelona sights, so I'll try and steer back to the sights and not the scams soon, guys, honest!

The reason I'm adding this one, is that like my previous post on the Metro Push scam, this happened to someone I know - a mate who was visiting the city and who used to live here. It was a Saturday night, just off Las Ramblas walking home at around 1am, and he had a beer in hand. He's English and won't mind me pointing out that he looks very English and so perhaps was an easy mark for the scammers.



This seems to be a variation on the Football Dance scam, in that young scamsters try and entice you into close contact, in the same way as the football dance. This is the first time I've heard of this version (although I haven't been out at 1am alone on a Saturday for a while) and involves nightclub flyers. My friend told me that around 3 young northern Africans approached him each from a slightly different angle waving flyers in the air. He thinks that maybe the bait is that you would reach high to accept one of these flyers, and that gives them a chance to quickly skim your pockets or at least have a feel around. These tricksters didn't get half a chance as my friend told them where to go, in Spanish, which was probably something they were not expecting, and they scarpered. Sharpish.

How to avoid this happening to you ? I don't want you to take this the wrong way - there are many people giving out flyers around the city, and you can get some great discounts/happy hours/free entrances to places from picking up these. I also recognise that it's a pretty thankless task. What i would like to point out is that if you think about it, the majority of flyer guys/gals tend to stay in the same place and hand out their flyers. They don't wander streets and then come up to you in a gang, waving them in your face. This is a classic distraction technique, and if you're reading this and it's happened to you, don't feel bad - it's easy to fall for, as it's something you're not expecting. The best thing to do is just look away, uninterested, and keep a hand on your phone/wallet if you took one out. If it looks like you're putting up a fight, they'll move on to easier pickings.

For accommodation in the city, try apartments for rent Barcelona and check out this great Barcelona Guide.