This August, if you happen to visit Barcelona you can join the “Fiesta Major” taking place in the districts of Gracia and Sants. Gracia’s own festival opened this week and will be on until the 21st of August. The following week, it’s the district of Sants which will host its very own programme of events.

The principle of this yearly cultural event is easy: people celebrate their neighbourhood by decorating their streets, organising events such as concerts, dinners, open cinemas etc. and that’s a lot of fun! It’s a call for innovation and artistic talents.

The street of Verdi always impresses with its decorations and it’s no wonder that it has been awarded the best decorated street for the second year running. It’s just been announced. In Sants amongst the many decorated places, Correfoc and the Castellers are generally worth the visit. Don’t miss them! These entertaining and popular nights are the best ways to explore the Catalan culture and enjoy a nice moment with family, friends and neighbours.

This year, an interesting initiative that you can take part in is a photography contest organised by the festival. To join the contest, just follow this link: http://twitter.com/festagracia and publish a tweet with the hashtag #fmgracia and your picture. Good luck!

More information Sants
More information  Gracia

From Barcelona Guide Bureau we had the pleasure to meet Sally Webster, author from Canberra and unconditional lover of Barcelona. She has written a travel novel which takes place in Barcelona and did several tours with BGB.

Barcelona Guide Bureau: Sally, who are you? Let’s introduce you.

I live in Canberra, Australia’s national capital, but my heart and soul has been in Barcelona since the first time I visited in 1996.  My passion is communicating and writing. I am also an author having had my poems and short stories published, and have now written a travel novel for young readers about Barcelona. I am now writing a second travel novel about Barcelona for young adult readers. And, I love animals. I have two dogs, Puppy and Kisho, and a cat, Scout.

Barcelona Guide Bureau: What is your novel about?

My travel novel is titled ‘Barcelona – friends until the end…the journeys of Montse and Dras’.  It’s the story of a dog, Dras, who lives with his owner in the Barri Gòtic near the cathedral, and a cheeky, stray cat Montse, who befriends Dras and tells stories about her adventures in and around Barcelona, including at Pedralbes, Camp Nou, Montjuïc, Barceloneta, Parc de la Ciutadella, Parc Güell and, of course, Las Ramblas.
I wrote it for all age groups, but it is specifically for eight to 14 year olds depending on their reading abilities.  Through the story readers can travel in and around the city and learn more about the Catalan culture and history of Barcelona.

Barcelona Guide Bureau: Why write a novel about Barcelona?

Anyone who knows me knows that I would write about Barcelona.  It’s like I breathe, I eat, I sleep, I swim each day, and my heart and soul is traveling the streets of Barcelona. The more pragmatic answer is that over the years that I have been visiting Barcelona I noticed that in the tourist shops and shops at the museums there were many English-language books for adults and picture books for very young readers, but nothing for young adult readers. So, I thought why should they miss out on learning about the wonderful, rich Catalan culture and the magical city that is Barcelona? Therefore, I wrote ‘Montse and Dras’ specifically to promote Barcelona to young readers. I hope to now get this novel published.

Barcelona Guide Bureau: Why is Barcelona so special for you?

Barcelona and its people captured my heart when I first visited in 1996. It is an enchanting city.  There are so many places in Barcelona that are my ‘favourite’, but there are two that stand above the rest which to me fully represent the Catalan seny – that is its spirit, energy, heart and soul. These are Montjuïc and the Palau de la Música Catalana.  These are two places that to me are almost spiritual.

Wherever you walk throughout the city you can feel the history and the culture.  It’s a city that has it all from the Romanesque to Modernism to contemporary – and yet it takes all of this in its stride.  It’s not showy or brash like some other cities – it just is!

Barcelona Guide Bureau: How did you know the Barcelona Guide Bureau?

When I participated in a public tour of the Palau de la Música last year – a place I know well and love, I was surprised by my reaction as I was very impressed by Mercè, my tour guide, and the Barcelona Guide Bureau who runs the tours for the Palau.
Mercè’s tour was one that did complete justice to the Palau. It was informative, inspiring and demonstrated that the guides working with the Barcelona Guide Bureau have as much passion for the Palau as I do – perhaps even more…?

Earlier this year, I took another tour with the Barcelona Guide Bureau and this was to Camp Nou with the tour guide, Artur.  Experiencing the home of F C Barça with Artur is a must for every visitor to Barcelona – this is true Catalan spirit and passion.

The key difference with the Barcelona Guide Bureau is that the staff just aren’t tour guides, they want to share their love and understanding of their city, and through their passion and care, they become a friend.  It’s really the same ethos I am trying to achieve through my travel novel ‘Barcelona – friends until the end…the journeys of Montse and Dras’.

Authorities in Barcelona are preparing a massive campaign to convince tourists to put on clothes when they leave the beach.

On Friday a spokeswoman for the city hall said that they “Want to make people understand that it’s an attitude that we don’t like. It is not forbidden or punishable but we don’t think it is civil behaviour”

In the coming weeks, posters showing a couple in swimwear with a red line across it, along with another couple dressed normally but without the red line will appear in the metro, buses and public areas as a way to encourage the Barcelona tourists to “cover up”.
Will wear bikini on the Barcelona streets be banned?

The Auditorium in collaboration with the Association of Jazz Musicians in Catalonia organizes the Vermuth Jazz Festival, taking advantage of the wonderful spring weather in Barcelona during May and June.

The Vermuth Jazz Festival is back again after previous years of success. Starting the 23rd of May and lasting until the 20th of June, you will every Sunday be able to enjoy free concerts with great artists. In May artists such as Son3 and Andreu Zaragoza Triometry will perform.

What could be better than sun, fresh air and good vermouth to start the summer?

This tour is the best way to cover the very best of Barcelona in a day. A combination of the Gaudí Tour and the Montjuïc and Panoramic Tour, includes entrances to Park Güell, Sagrada Familia and Poble Espanyol among many other things.

If you don’t have a lot of time and you are just spending a couple of days in Barcelona, our Highlights tour is the best way to visit all the best sites in Barcelona.

The Park Güell, the Old Port, the facades of Gaudí’s buildings on Passeig de Grácia and the Olympic Ring stadiums on the Monjuïc Hill are just a few of the many incredible places you will discover on this tour.

Book your tour now!

This tour combines two areas of natural beauty used by Barcelona for culture and recreation.Come and see the best views over the city with the Montjuïc & Panoramic Tour. The mains stops on the tour are the Waterfront, Montjuic Hill and Poble Espanyol.

You will discover the Waterfront which is a living example of how the very old successfully can be combined with the very new: the Old Port with its Dock warehouses and the Gothic Drassanes or shipyards have been preserved and incorporated into a remodelled recreational area, with the Aquarium, the World Trade Centre, restaurants and cinemas. Just north of the Old Port, the Olympic Village and Olympic Port were built for the ‘92 Games, transforming an industrial part of the city into apartments facing the sea, beaches, marina, and parks, criss-crossed with bicycle paths.

After the waterfront Barcelona Guide Bureau will bring you to Montjuïc Hill with its parks, art galleries, museums and the 1992 Olympic Ring of sports stadiums which also provides spectacular views over the city. You will visit the charming Poble Espanyol and have free time for lunch there; we will give you a voucher valid for a 10% discount in any restaurant.

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Last month, after two years of architectural renovation the Fundació Antoni Tàpies has reopened to the public. The current exhibition ‘The Places of Art’ is a perfect occasion to know more about the artist.

For those who already know the Fundació Tàpies, you now have a new opportunity to discover the building as well as the artist’s works. The foundation closed its doors to the public in January 2008 to carry out an architectural renovation of the building. Last month it reopened to the public with a new exhibition.

The exhibition Antoni Tàpies. The Places of Art, includes works realised by the artist in the last twenty years and a selection of earlier works acting as counterpoints that can be seen as the seeds for his later production. The exhibition also includes a selection of works from the artist’s private collection ranging from Egyptian art to modern Western art, with pieces such as ritual objects or scientific books. The selection brings together pieces that have rarely, if ever, been seen in an exhibition space.

This tour will take you to the best of Gaudí in a comfortable coach and avoiding entrance queues.

Barcelona Guide Bureau will explain what makes the Gaudí buildings extraordinary: the detail, the symbols, the structural secrets, the technical innovation, and give you a guided tour of Park Güell and the Sagrada Família.

Gaudí’s master work, the Sagrada Família, is the last on the tour so you can stay and explore it as long as you like, return in the coach to the city centre, or continue on “The Montjuïc & Panoramic Tour“.

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Barcelona Guide Bureau offers you a unique chance to discover the FC Barcelona. Book a tour and get backstage at the Barca stadium.

The first stop on the tour is Montjuïc and the Olympic Village with its panoramic views over the city and the legendary Olympic Stadium. After that you will visit the FC Barcelona Stadium, Camp Nou, which is the biggest stadium in Europe. Barca became European and Spanish Champions this year, making football history.
FC Barcelona Stadium and Museum: Guided tour. You will visit the changing rooms of the visiting teams, the bench, the chapel, the pressroom and interview set and the press boxes. All of the backstage area of Barca will be yours. Like Stéphanie and Jan say, it’s the best! Then you will visit the museum, the most visited museum in Catalonia, with the trophies from more than 100 years of competition as well as photos, videos, and the Pablo Ornaque collection of football curiosities and antiques.

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Barcelona Guide Bureau has a special offer for the Gaudi Lovers: the two Gaudi Tours in one day! Book this tour and save 20 Euros.

The Gaudí Combo Offer shows you the modernista (art nouveau) Barcelona visiting Gaudí’s most famous buildings as well as the hidden secrets that he built for the Güell family. Barcelona Guide Bureau will bring you to the main points of the modernista Barcelona: Passeig de Gràcia, Park Güell, Sagrada Família, the Gate to Miralles Estate, the Güell Pavilions and to finish the Colonia Güell Crypt.

Book your tour now!