Every year during the last weekend in January the Barcelonian neigborhood of Gracia celebrates the Mallorcan festival of ¨Sa Pobla¨ In honor of Mallorca’s patron saint of animals and farmers, San Antoni Abad.
It`s a festival of arts and entertainment that originated on the island of Mallorca which is part of the balearic islands.
Gracia`s plazas fill with colourful processions and red devils. Everyone gathers around open bonfires and dance to Malloran folk instruments.
On Friday, concerts begin at 10pm in the Centre Artesà Tradicionàrius (CAT) with unique performances from some traditional Mallorcan groups. The festivals main events take place from 11am on the 30th with artisan markets, typical food and drink, castellers (towering over the crowds), lively parades, carrefocs and customary dances. The bonfire is finally lit at 11pm and the celebrations continue on into the night. In addition, until 28 February, the CAT and the Ayuntamiento de Gràcia show a collective exhibition combining the work of 30 new and established Mallorcan artists.
Irene from Colombia-Catalunya, afternon receptionist.
A rainy Tuesday night, time for some drinks to cut the week in half. At 7PM I met with some friends in La Champañeria, the most famous Cava bar in Barcelona and our favourite place to splurge on cava and tasty, greasy food! Cava is the Spanish variant of Champagne and is mainly produced in Catalunya. Of course we started with some glasses of cava for €0,85 each and croquetas. Followed by more glasses of cava and bocadillos (sandwiches). Don´t even think about sitting down and relaxing in La Champañeria! It´s standing in a crowd, made up of locals and tourists, old and young, and using your elbows to get to the bar to order. After finishing the delicious bocadillos, you can just throw your napkins on the floor. Who said anything about etiquette?! When we were all very happy and satisfied, everybody went their own way. My friend and I ended up in a cute little French bar called Pastis, not far from ´Barcelona Mar Hostel´. This bar featured strange pieces of decoration, cards, pictures etc. everywhere, French music and the right amount of cigarette smoke to make it look cozy but not disgusting. We were lucky ´cause after a glass of red wine, a duo started playing tango music on guitar and accordion. So we decided to stay a bit longer. We found out that this bar has live music a couple of nights a week! We´ll come back for sure!
www.canpaixano.com
www.barpastis.com
-Tamar from Holland, morning receptionist
If you are bored of the busy shopping streets of Barcelona, go to The Outlet Off Shop, held for the first time this Saturday the 9th of January. A small but completely different market in Barcelona. This market is an outlet. You can find clothes and accessories but also fabulous vintage pieces, artwork and heaps of other stuff. Apart from shopping, you can enjoy the performance of Estel Seguí from the group Circodelirium and have a bite to eat. The market starts at 12PM till 8PM. To get there you can take the metro line 1 till Marina. The building is called Art Factory T45, the street name Calle Ali Bei 114.
Annalisa from Italy, Morning Reception Trainee
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Mark, USA
The Sound hostel was a very nice hostel located in a great area almost 1 minute from Para.llel metro station. They have a community kitchen, lounge with three internet computers, wifi, a large TV. The rooms had security lockers with a nice key card system that keeps your belongings safe. [ + ]
26-06-2010Lucas, Australia
Nice hostel, stayed there for 3 nights. Close walking distance to La Rambla. Staff were very friendly and helpful. Thanks for a great stay! [ + ]