Archive for May, 2012

Grec Festival 2012

Published: May 31, 2012Posted in: Barcelona EventsTags: , , , , , ,

The Grec Festival of Barcelona is one of the most important cultural events in Europe, and definitely the most exciting summer cultural event in BCN, with theatre, dance, music, circus and other stage arts.

Grec Festival 2012 in Barcelona

This festival was created in 1976 and every year the city is flooded with stage arts and music. Groups and companies from all over the world arrive to Barcelona to fill the city with the most varied offers.

The Teatre Grec, or Greek Theatre, which is on Montjuic, is an open-air theatre which was originally built for the 1929 Universal Exhibiton. Nowadays, during this festival, the entire city turns into a stage.

The 36 edition of the Grec Festival in Barcelona is from 1st to 31st July 2012, but opened with a big free Grec show on the street Passeig de Lluís Companys in the Born area of Barcelona, featuring aerial visual theatre from Antwerp, bands La Troba Kung-Fú, and Canteca de Macao among others.

The Grec Festival, with its new director Ramon Simó, has decided to radically change its cultural offer, leaving aside the international guests and the cosmopolitanism that has always characterized the happening, to become more participatory, more festive and appropriate to all kinds of audience.

In general, the Grec Festival follows a two-fold mission. First, they give the most creative Catalan artists the opportunitiy to stage their work. Secondly, they simply want to present outstanding international work.

Artists as Toquinho, Katie Melua, Tomatito & Omar Faruk Tekbilek will partecipate in Grec Festival 2012.

On the oficial web site, the Organizacion Team wrote: “The programme is aimed at family audiences, at younger spectators, at those interested in technological innovation, at all those interested in discovering new shows by Catalan artists, at those who look to the Grec for the chance to enjoy some of the most outstanding international productions… And at those who know what they want, those who have yet to find out and those who would prefer not to know”.

Informations on how to buy tickets, get to the stages and the entire program can be found on the official website. We can offer you a luxury accommodation on our Fira apartments, very close to the main stage of the Grec Festival on Montjuic.

Moto Grand Prix of Catalunya 2012

Published: May 30, 2012Posted in: Barcelona EventsTags: , , , , , ,

Three weeks after Alonso’s victory on the domestic circuit of Catalunya-Montmeló for the Formula 1 Championship, the engines return to Barcelona from 1st to 3rd of June. Our holydays apartments will be your personal box for a unique motoring experience.

MotoGP 2012 in Barcelona

Moto GP comes to Barcelona in the Catalunya race track on the first weekend of June.  This is one of the world’s fastest and most exciting motor sports and always attracts a big crowd, especially in Spain, frome which come some of the best drivers in the championship.

Over 100.000 race fans and visitors come to see bikes reaching speeds of over 300 kph. Montmeló has a capacity of 104,000 and there are only a few tickets left and you can get them for around 80 Euros.

The Montemló Circuit is about half an hour from Barcelona, where you can stay in one of our luxury apartments, to enjoy the beauties of the city.
From Plaza Catalunya you can take the train that takes you right on the race track.

In 1989, through the joint collaboration of the Catalan Autonomous Government, the Montmeló Town Council and the Royal Automobile Club of Catalunya (RACC), work began on giving one of Europe’s most beautiful cities a state of the art race track to match. The Circuit de Catalunya opened on the doorstep of Barcelona in September 1991 and welcomed its first international event that same month, hosting the Spanish F1 Grand Prix. It went on to host the European Motorcycle Grand Prix and in 1995 became home to the Gran Premio de Catalunya. Considered to be one of the best designed circuits of the recent era, the Circuito de Catalunya won the much coveted IRTA ‘Best Grand Prix’ trophy for 2001. This is one of the most popular races on the Moto GP circuit.

Make your stay in Barcelona unforgettable and don’t miss the chance to experience the world’s top motorcycling: Championship live in the 125cc, 250cc and MotoGP classes in Barcelona. The circuit has seventeen grandstands, three of which are covered. 20 giant screens are located around the track, so you won’t miss any action.

 

English Taste in Barcelona

Published: May 25, 2012Posted in: Barcelona what to doTags: , , , , , , ,

Barcelona is a fantastic maltin’pot, where many cultures show their culinary traditions to the barcelonians and to the tourists on holiday in the Catalan city.
Gràcia is perhaps the neighbourhood that offers more options to eat ethnic: Italian, Greek, Lebanese, Palestinian, Tibetan, Canadian, French, Russian, Indian, Japanese and many more.
If there is a culture not exactly famous for its cuisine, that is the British one. Nevertheless, in Barcelona you can also find the true English taste, in addition to the many pubs of the city.

English Taste in BCN

If you you’re a fan of the deep fried goodness, you must go to Rambla del Raval 26 to check the Fish and Chips Barcelona. Besides the fish and chips, the menu offers all kinds of mouthwatering authentic British cuisine and comfort food such as: Steak & Kidney Pie, Chip Butty, Mushy Peas, Sausages, Sausage Rolls, and don’t forget the Crumpets! They also do a wicked day-long full English Breakfast and quite a few options for the Veggie clientele. They also do delivery, so this is an ideal solution for those who rent one of our Las Ramblas apartments or Plaça Catalunya apartments. Quick and tasty.

Furthermore, for homesick british tourists, wich need provisions for their holiday apartments, Barcelona offers a real british supermarket. A Taste Of Home has been open since 2008 in Carrer de Floridablanca 78. They stock more then 2000 products, with more than 140 different cook-in sauces and over 120 different herbs and spices.

Finally, there’s other thing that links english and spanish souls: a great passion for beer. Spain is Europe’s fourth largest country by beer consumption, the market is dominated by local lagers such as Cruzcampo, San Miguel, Mahou, and Estrella Damm. Altough, there are indications that the Spanish beer palate is more discerning than it once was. La Cerveteca in Carrer Gignàs, 25, offers a vast assortment of beers from around the world.

Ferran Adrià’s Touch

Published: May 22, 2012Posted in: Barcelona EventsTags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Barcelona is the land of the vanguard. Many of the greatest innovators geniuses, from Picasso to Dalì, spent part of their life here. But Barcelona is also a fabulous holiday destination, where you can enjoy all life’s pleasures, like relaxing in luxurious apartments rented directly on the sea and tasting good food. Nowadays the most important ambassador of the real spirit of BCN, probably is Ferran Adrià, the Catalan worldwide best cooker.

Ferran Adrià

The Tickets Bar, the last chapter of the Adriá’s myth, opened more than one year ago and there you can find (but you have to book well in advance…) the most amazing tapas in the world. But the Adría’s brand is much more than this. In the restaurant elBulli (Roses, on the Costa Brava), Adriá trained generations of chefs, who now dominate the cuisine universe anywhere in the world. Ferran is without doubt the most influential chef in decades.

elBulli has now closed its doors as a restaurant. However, it will be re-opening (2014) as the elBulli Foundation, continuing to experiment with food and push boundaries.

Until 3 February 2013, at the Palau Robert, you’ll be able to visit an exhibition that traces the trajectory of this extraordinary culinary genius, from his first steps in the historic Bar Pinotxo, at the Boqueria Market, to his most famous creation, elBulli, since it opened as a restaurant in 1964. The exhibition is not just a retrospective. It also documents the findings of the elBulli foundation and it offers a program of events, including lectures and demonstrations.

The Palau Robert is situated in the Passeig de Gràcia 107, at the corner with the Avinguda Diagonal, the heart of the bourgeois Barcelona, one of the thousand souls of this city.

That is an unmissable opportunity for foodies and gourmets, but even for people interested in creativity and art. It’s a great experience for those who planed an unforgettable holiday in Barcelona. The best way to enjoy the many others opportunities that Barcelona offers its visitors, is to rent an apartment in the city center, starting from the visit at the most spectacular show of its gastronomy, the Boqueria Market, on the charming Ramblas. This is a place to have breakfast, eat a fresh fruit salad, try the unique taste of the spanish ham, or buy fresh fish, but even just for a great photo opportunity.

Concepto Baño: Barcelona city of design

Published: May 21, 2012Posted in: Barcelona CongressTags: , , , , , , , , ,

Concepto Baño is a brand new exhibition, unique in Spain, which concentrates on the new protagonist of the home: the bathroom. A tailor-made space for the companies working in one of the most innovative sectors of the construction industry to showcase their ideas to trade professionals and the general public.

Concepto Baño

Concepto Baño is a construction & real estate trade show held in Gran Via Exhibition Centre of Barcelona, which will be celebrated in 2013 inside the international construction exhibition Construmat. This trade show exhibits newest products, technology and trends in this industry.

Concepto Baño includes all products relative to the bath and healthcare universe: sanitary engineering products, ceramics, baths, shower cubicles, pools, saunas, furniture & equipment for bathrooms, finishing materials, accessories and bathroom design.

The ‘Fira de Barcelona’ (The Exhibition Centre) is situated at the Gran Via street, at the corner with the central Plaça de España, very close to the city center, where you can take advantage of the Plaza Catalunya apartments or the Las Ramblas apartments, to enjoy the wonders of Barcelona’s cultural heritage.

Concepto Baño is a business platform. It’s fashion, design and innovation, but it’s also an interesting opportunity for just only interior design lovers who are on holiday in Barcelona. Generally, professionals related to the field of decoration, home & office design, furniture, lightning home exhibitions, swimming pool, sauna & spa are the target audience.

This is an event that shows the evolution of the bathroom, which has ceased to have just an healthcare function, to become an area related to the welfare, comfort and technology.

Concepto Baño will be held every two years and it’s also a great excuse for an holiday in Barcelona, enjoying one of our luxury apartments with sea views.

Primavera Sound Festival

Published: May 15, 2012Posted in: Barcelona EventsTags: , , , , , ,

The Primavera Sound Festival will take place in the Forum in Barcelona from the 30 of May to the 3 of June 2012. In the two weeks leading up to the main attractions of the festival, which will be boosting with rock and indie music acts, free concerts will be put on in thirteen venues around the city.

Primavera Sound

The Primavera Sound Festival started off with its first edition in 2001 and has evolved in as little as a decade from a relatively small indie festival to one of Barcelona’s main music festivals.  The vast majority of the open-air concerts are being held on various stages in Parc del Forum by the beach. Other gigs are being put on at Arc de Triumph, the Parc de la Ciutadella and different clubs in the city centre. This year bands such as Kings of Convenience, The Cure, Franz Ferdinand, the Afghan Wigs, The XX and Beirut can be seen live on stage. Next to these main concerts, a number of concerts are also put on for free in the two weeks leading up to the official start of the festival, as well as   on the festival`s opening day and closing day. On these two days companies will host free concerts by national and international artist at the Arc de Triumph presenting acts such as Nacho Vegas and Yann Tiersen.

Primavera Sound 2011

If you are interested in visiting the festival, make sure to have a look at our quality apartments located in Diagonal Mar, which are situated close to the Forum and the venue of the festival. We also offer top apartment accommodation in the city center, only a 15 min metro ride from the festival location.