Stylish… and pretty!
OK, I confess… Now and then, I’m taking photos of pretty girls. Don’t tell my wife, LOL!
In this case, at the Fiera de Abril, andalus mega-party in the Forum area, every year in April (…). Place and time where you pay 10 euros for a can of Coke. BYO!!!
Earth day 2015
Today is Earth day. In Barcelona, we celebrate it with a big fair this weekend at the Arc de Triomf, and…with a lot of very international food! Celebration + Barcelona = food, what else. And also a lot of music, events, alternative things to buy. Go there, it’s my favourite event of the year!
Festa Major de Gracia, one more thing…
One more detail of the street decoration during the festival.
Festa Major de Gracia: detail 2
And another detail…
We were away for a few days, in Andorra and Madrid. Back to normal tomorrow.
Festa Major de Gracia: detail
A detail of the fantastic street decoration, made of recycled plastic bottles.
Festa Major de Gracia 2011
This week, like every year, the highlight of the summer: the Festa Major de Gracia, or the big street festival in the hip Gracia area. 15 or 20 streets, decorated with mostly recycled stuff, music,theater, food, drinks… It’s just wonderful! More in the next days.
Click on the picture to see it better!
WARNING! This post is not for vegetarians!
The 40th Fiera de Abril is in full swing! Big annual 10 days party organized by the southerners in Catalunya, people from mostly Andalusia, the fiery ones. Music, fancy dresses, food, fun!
Lots and lots of food!!! Some more photos…
 Skywatch Friday
… and the sky was full of jellyfishes…
The one and only Skywatch Friday! Just a CLICK away!
Happy new year!
Nice looking dragon, isn’t it? He was part of the Chinese New Year celebrations in Barcelona. Happy new year to all my Chinese friends everywhere! Enjoy: it is the year of the rabbit!
 The Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu…
… and the Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Barcelona, Yan Banghua.
More about it soon!
And a warm welcome to Z, from NYC, our 394th follower!
America del Sur
Barcelona is one of the most multicultural places we ever lived. Amongst others, many many south Americans
This photo was taken during a Chilean festivity, quite a while ago.. Fantastic costumes!
Merce 2010, the Hispano-Suiza
Closing the parade on friday was this fascinating Hispano-Suiza, probably from the late 1920es-early 1930es. Hispano-Suiza was a car company founded in Barcelona in 1904, making luxury cars. Here is what Wiki says to it.
Who’s the guy saluting? Your guess is as good as mine.
Merce 2010: the enchanted city hall
During the Merce Festival, several times during the evening, the facade of the Barcelona City Hall changes quite drastically… Enjoy!
The guest city this year being Dakar, the capital of Senegal, some of the photos have a very african inspiration.
Festa Major de Gracia, and the winner is…
The Festa Major de Gracia is finishing. 17 streets were decorated by there inhabitants with recycled materials.
Every year, a committee decides which one will get the price for the best decoration. This year’s winner is Calle Verdi, for the 4th time in the last 5 years, with this enchanted forrest. Unfortunately, they didn’t say on their website what exactly they won, apart of the admiring glances of bystanders and some bottles of Cava, the local bubbly.
Festa Major de Gracia 2010
We are starting today a few posts about the yearly Festa Major de Gracia, which starts today. Gracia is the arti part of Barcelona, the place where everybody under 30 wants to live and party.
Every year, a dozen streets in Gracia are decorated, with a different theme for each street. An amazing fact is that absolutely everything is made from recycled stuff.
But honestly, not quite sure what the theme for this street is…
Wonderland
One of our main treats this month will be to watch the new Tim Burton movie, Alice in Wonderland.
This is what Barcelona had to say about it last summer during the Festa Major de Gracia, the cartoon way.
Recycled garden under the sea
During last summer’s Festa Major in the Gracia area, one of the squares was made up as a garden under the sea. Here is a small part of it. Everything is made of recycled materials. Great idea!
Gracia
Aaaahh……..What time is it????/ Mais quelle heure est-il????
Street scenes at last summer’s Festa Major de Gracia. Every year, the suburb of Gracia organizes a spectacular one week long big party, with concerts, fire, theatre, and street decorations. This street’s theme was… Alice in Wonderland, of course!  And there was this big orange cat as well. No, his name is not Garfield! If you click on the Gracia label at the bottom of this post, you will find some more photos of the Festa. 
 Chaque annee, le quartier de Gracia organise une fete qui dure toute une semaine, avec des concerts, du theatre, des feux d’ artifices, et des decorations de rue.Glass, and a smile, please!
Despite of the massive attraction offered this afternoon by the final of the Redbull Airrace, 1.200.000 reasons decided us to go to a small medieval festival in Sants. Monks, priests, peasants, knights, doing a lot of medieval things, and selling even more (it was organized by the shop owner’s committee). Some nice things, like this guy trying to make a glass, and trying not to freeze to death under the icy stare of the lady in the back. She obviously didn’t like being on this picture.
Lots of food as well, of course!
La Mercé 2009: Fetes et Feux part 2
And a few more…
La Mercé 2009: Fetes et Feux
Yesterday was an early Christmas for me: I replaced my old 4MP camera with a million dollar baby in the shape of a nice 12 MP one. Here are the first pictures!
La Mercé 2009, aka the Feast of our Lady of Mercy. The biggest holiday in Barcelona, a huge 3 day party, religious processions, dragons on the streets, hundreds of free concerts, circus… Officially, la Mercé is on September 24th, but the festivities are ongoing, until next weekend, with the finals of the Redbull Air Race. No worries, your man in Barcelona will be there to report!
Anyway, last night was also the end of the 12th International Pyrotechnic Festival. The French company Fetes et Feux did it’s very best to impress the thousands of people massed on the beaches. And they succeeded!
So, that’s a few of the pictures I got by playing around with a good camera and a slow shutter speed. Enjoy! And do yourselves a favor: enlarge the pictures!
Festa Major de Gracia 2
Festa Major de Gracia, day 2.
Amongst many many things going on, around a dozen streets or squares are decorated with recycled material. Each street has it’s own theme: a medieval street, a spooky one, Alice in Wonderland, Big Bang, and so on. One entire street has been transformed into a streetcar! Will show you later.
One of my favorites had the following theme: everything is fragile. This is what you can see hanging over this street. Once again, I repeat: all of it is made of recycled materials!
More to come!
Thanks to all for your comments and wishes!
100th posting! AKA Festa Major de Gracia 1
Festa Major de Gracia. This is Catalan for Gracia’s main fiesta. One week of music, dancing, fire, drinking, eating, fairy tales, etc in the barrio of Gracia.
One of the most immediate things you see when you come into Gracia is the street decoration. Not any street decoration though: they brought it to a level and a scale I haven’t seen before. It is a photographer’s dream. And maybe the best thing about it is that almost everything is made of recycled stuff.
It is just amazing. Watch and enjoy.
When the festa in Gracia is over, the next one starts in Sants! Great! Many photo opps!!!
Flamenco!
Lots of Andalous “immigrants” here in northern Spain, mainly for economic reasons. Therefore, you can learn the flamenco pretty much everywhere, and I love it!
