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The Montmelo Grand Prix in Barcelona, Spain

The Montmelo Grand Prix in Barcelona, Spain

In the fast moving world of Formula One, it’s nearly time for the Spanish Grand Prix, which takes place at Montmelo, Catalunya, Spain on 27th April 2008.The Montmelo Track, which has recently undergone structural work to improve safety and race quality, promises to deliver an exciting race. The leading trio of Räikkönen, Heidfeld and Hamilton are being pressured by Massa, whose victory in his Ferrari in the Bahrain Grand Prix last weekend(March 30^th, 2008), puts him in good standing to climb into the driver’s top three. Only three races into the 2008 season, there are still plenty of exciting ones to come, with both the driver’s, and constructor’s table wide open.

The Montmelo circuit is located about 30 minutes north of Barcelona, and can be easily reached by train from either: Barcelona Sants, Passeig de Gracia or Clot rail stations in Barcelona centre. Train Tickets are cheap,1.35 Euros each way, and if you are considering attending other events over the weekend, try buying a 10 trip bonotren, multi person ticket valid for 30 days.

Alternatively, there will be a special bus service operating. The bus leaves from Passeig Sant Joan 52. The nearest metro stops are: Metro Tetuan (Purple Line, L2) or Girona (Yellow Line, L4) Bus tickets may be obtained from the ticket office at Passeig Sant Joan, 52. The price of a Return Bus Ticket is 6.00 Euros. The Bus will operate from 06:00, leaving every 5 minutes on the 25th, 26th, and 27th April 2008.

Those spectators who are lucky enough to have time on their hands over the weekend, should sample the delights of Barcelona, where they will find a lot to offer, a lively mix of history, culture and fabulous nightlife converge, for those who wish to explore this famous regional capital.

Over the last few years, Barcelona has continued to become an increasingly popular destination, and as spring heats up, so does the search for quality accommodation, with more and more people heading for the city. This influx of people can inevitably lead to accommodation problems, with demand often far outstripping supply. Rental apartments offer a new flexibility and price advantage over hotels, and they often work out a better deal than hostels.

Fortunately, there are many short term stay apartments available, but be aware that the quality and standards may vary greatly, and it is worth researching to find one of the better accommodation companies. You can check out our various accommodations at welcomeapartments.com office: 0034 93 443 6673 Mobile:0034 678 538 632. We have clean, affordable accommodation while offering a very personalized and caring service. You can check out our website testimonials and blogs from previously satisfied customers.

For more information about the Grand Prix, check out: www.circuitcat.com/ingles/index.asp

For tickets you can check out: www.grandprix-tickets.com/index.asp

Christmas in Barcelona

Judging by the festive traditions of the Barcelonese, they’re generally dreaming of a brown Christmas, as opposed to a white one. For hidden in the nativity scene there is often a surprise in store beside the figures of Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus; a little figurine of a man having a cheeky dump.

He goes by the name of el caganer, or ‘the shitter’, and dates back as far as the 18th Century. Firmly on the heels of the ‘the shitter’ in terms of yuletide popularity is the caga tio, or ’shit log’. This delightful creation is a log which children beat and throw on the fire before chanting ’shit some presents’ at it.

Beginning at Portal de la Pau and finishing at Montjuic is the colourful and hectic Procession of the Three Kings on Christmas Eve. In the squares of La Seu and Plaza Nova, are vibrant markets selling Christmas gifts and objects, including the usual caga-related merchandise.

Christmas treats for the palate include roast suckling, lobster and bacalao (cod) as well as dozens of sweet fancies such as turron, marzipan and polvoron (powder cake).

For more information about exhibitions or other events around Barcelona don’t hesitate to get in touch. Welcome Apartments offer an affordable home from home in splendid locations for your stay in Barcelona.

Barcelona Nightlife…Razzmatazz in November

Razzmatazz, Barcelona’s premiere alternative music showcase, is a must for any nightlifers coming to town. Located in the up and coming barrio of Poble Nou, the club is huge consisting of five different areas, the Razz Club, the Loft, Lolita, Pop bar and Rex Room, each with a sound and vibe of its own.

Tickets cost anything upwards of 5 EUROS and can be booked at the ticket office or on the website Salarazzmatazz

The line-up of bands for the rest of november looks like this:

• Friday 10–11-2006: SOUTH: Razz Club
• Saturday 11-11-06: THE KILLERS (+ unnamed support): Sala 1
• DORIAN: Pop Bar
• DIKERS: (+ unnamed support): Sala 1
• Wednesday 15-11-06: MIDLAKE (+ unnamed support): Sala 3
• Friday 17-11-06: Wintercase San Miguel 06: MAXIMO PARK + THE SPINTO BAND + THE MOTHERFUCKERS: Sala 2
• Friday 17-11-06: MOTORMARK: Pop Bar
• Friday 17-11-06: MAD: Sala 3
• Sunday 19-11-06: Wintercase San Miguel 06: VIOLENT FEMMES + ARAB STRAP: Sala 2
• Sunday 19-11-06: PROMOE: Sala 3
• Thursday 23-11-06: CRADLE OF FILTH + DEATHSTARS: Sala 2
• Thursday 23-11-06: PECKER: Sala 3
• Friday 24-11-06: Wintercase San Miguel 06: THE MAGIC NUMBERS + PETER BJORN AND JOHN + GOODBOOKS:Sala 1
• Friday 24-11-06: THE PIGEON DETECTIVES: Pop Bar
• Saturday 25-11-06: Wintercase San Miguel 06: SURFIN BICHOS + BRAKES
• Saturday 25-11-06: CLINIC: Pop Bar
• Monday 27-11-06: W.A.S.P. + JADED: Sala 2
• Wednesday 29-11-06: DESTRUCTION (+ unnamed artist): Sala 3

Welcome Apartments’ closest locations to Razzmatazz club is our Barcelona Triomf Series and Quatre Gats Series. Please do not hesitate to ask us any questions of you need any further information.

Barcelona What’s On: MACBA

Gego: Defying Structures (Cadaques Gallery) 08/11/2006 - 14/01/2007

Little is known in Europe about the German-born ‘Gego’, who emigrated to Venezuela at the outbreak of the Second World War and went on to become one of the most important South American artists of the second half of the 20th Century. She is often cited as an equal peer of the more widely known Lygia Clark and Mira Schendel.

Interestingly her career seems to have been evolved from the most abstract realms towards something more mundane and everyday and this exhibition reflects that evolution.

The most instantly recognisable of her works is ‘Reticularea’ (1969). It is a huge geometrics structure of lines suspended in space and connecting to each other via wire joints. A characteristic feature of Gego’s work is to give shape and form to the empty space between lines and it is in this piece which experts consider best exploits that goal. On view are several drawings, which show the development of her ideas.

Later on comes ‘Chorros’ (1970), a random chaos of vertical lines falling out of space and ‘Troncos’ (1974), concerned with triangular geometry in which Gego seems to be returning to rest her feet on the ground after her abstract exhortations.

For more information about exhibitions or other events around Barcelona don’t hesitate to get in touch. Welcome Apartments offer an affordable home from home in splendid locations for your stay in Barcelona.

Barcelona What’s On December: Art: MACBA

Palazuelo

15th November 2006 – 18th February 2007

Like Gego an important, yet neglected figure of the late 20th Century art scene. Pablo Palazuelo coined the term ‘non-figurative’ for his own work, as opposed to ‘abstract’, and it is judged against the conventional view of the evolution of abstract art- from

Picasso towards minimalism- that his work suffers. Like Gego, Palazuelo was obsessed with geometry. Inspired by Klee and the Russian constructivists, Gabo and Pevsner, he sought to evoke the hidden reality of the psyche through imagination and saw geometric systems as the way to achieve that.

A few words from the man himself: “Geometry is at the origin of life, which is the most inventive and endless thing we know. To have a vision of the structures that are contained in other structures, to see the new forms in potential, to see the possibilities of generating forms, to experience the passage of forms into others through metamorphosis, to see what grows like a plant. The geometrical forms I work with also develop through a very long metamorphic process or movement, and for that reason we can say that those forms are open and remain open and predisposed to transformation.”

For more information about exhibitions or other events around Barcelona don’t hesitate to get in touch. Welcome Apartments offer an affordable home from home in splendid locations for your stay in Barcelona.

Barcelona What’s On December: MACBA

Capitalism, Work Forces, Politics, Antisystematic Movements: Seminar
Monday 11th December 2006

The territory of this fascinating-sounding seminar is the post-modern political world. It seeks to explore capitalist society- how it absorbs and regurgitates anti-systematic antagonism, using it to supplement its domination of its subjects. The seminar is a part of the Program of Independent Studies’ Political Imagination series. More political fare is offered at the MACBA in the form of the following seminars:

Capitalism, Social Hegemonies, Politics: Monday, 11.12.06 with Giovanni Arrighi and Mario Tronti

Workforces and Transformations of Productive Paradigms in Contemporary Capitalism: Tuesday 12.12.06

With the interestingly named pair, Sergio Bologna and Beverley J. Silver

At the end of the series on Wednesday December 13th there is a debate focussing on all the issues with each contributor participating.

For more information about exhibitions or other events around Barcelona don’t hesitate to get in touch. Welcome Apartments offer an affordable home from home in splendid locations for your stay in Barcelona.

Whats Going on in Barcelona 3 - September, October

More stuff to do this month in Barcelona…

GATCPAC 1928-1939: NEW ARCHITECTURE FOR A NEW CITY

Museu d’Historia de la Ciutat, Placa del Rei. Entry €3.50. Open 10am-2pm tue-sat, 10.30am-3pm sun until October 5.

GATCPAC, in case you’re wondering, were a movement of so-called ‘rationalist’ architects who formed in pre-Civil war Spain. Out of the twilight of modernism sprung sharply tailored buildings such as Josep Lluis Sert’s 1934 Tuberculosis Clinic in the Raval. The rationalists did not stick around for Franco’s reign however; a mass exodus ensued. We can only wonder what might have been achieved had they stayed.

SOLIDARITY YOGA

C/Tigre 27, Raval. Entry €4. Open every Tuesday.

The ornate theatre, La Paloma, in mass yoga shock! Get into some awkward positions, preferably on your back so you can look up at the delightful frescoed ceiling, courtesy of Solidarity Yoga, who donate all the money to a charity for senior citizens.

FC BARCELONA – RCD ESPANYOL

Camp Nou Stadium. Entry €20. 10pm, September 5.

Barcelona play a deadly local derby against Espanyol in the Catalunya Cup Final. Not for the faint-hearted!

For more info about Barcelona history and tourist stuff, don’t hesitate to get in touch. Welcome Apartments offer a home from home in ideal locations across Barcelona.

Whats Going on in Barcelona 2 - September, October & January

Here are more reasons to visit Barcelona in upcoming weeks…

PIRATES at Museu Maritim

€6 entry fee. Open daily 10am – 7pm until October 15

On the Avenida Drassanes in Barcelona’s Raval District the Maritime Museum hosts an exhibition exploring the bloodcurdling history of those seafaring scoundrels the Piates. From your Carthaginians of antiquity to your Jack Sparrows in the movies via the Vikings and their longboats, all the available information is plundered.

MARILYN MONROE at Palau Robert

Palau Robert. Passeig de Gracia. Free of charge. 10am – 7pm Mon-Sat. 10am – 2.30pm Sunday until September 3.

The blonde that gentlemen really did prefer, a twentieth century icon. Taken from Maite Minguez Ricart’s collection are childhood and teenage portraits, as well as original items of clothing worn by the star, creating a personal touch.

DIVINE WORDS at Museu Egipci de Barcelona
C/Valencia, Eixample. €8.50 entry fee. Open 10am – 8pm mon-sat, 10am – 2pm sun until January 15.

The origin of the written word is the subject of this show. Hieroglyphics were to the Egyptians what the alphabet is to us today. These ‘divine words’ in their pictogram form were originally deciphered by clever man Jean-Francois Champollion and his process of discovery is here explored with the help of original notebooks.

For more information about what’s on around Barcelona get in touch and we’ll be happy to help. Welcome Apartments offer an affordable home from home in excellent locations across Barcelona.

What’s going on in Barcelona 1 - Sept & October

Here is a rundown of exhibitions and shows on around Barcelona in upcoming weeks…

THE LANDSCAPE OF THE BRAIN at CosmoCaixa
C/Teodor Roviralta. Open 10am – 3pm until Oct 30th.

Quite a title I’m sure you’ll agree. Celebrating the career of Nobel-Prize winning neuro histology expert Santiago Ramon Y Cajal is this bizarre but compelling collection of images of the nervous system, the result of a worldwide competition.

HENRY MOORE
Casaramona, Avenida Marques de Comillas. Free of charge. Open 10am – 8pm tues-sun until Oct 29.

Retrospective dividing the British artist’s career into six sections. Included in the opening section is a poster Moore produced during the Spanish Civil War in support of the Republicans. Also exhibited are his Mayan masks, ‘Thin Reclining Figure’ and sculptures taken from his home in Much Fadham.

PARALLEL VISIONS: REALIST PHOTOGRAPHY IN SPAIN AND ITALY
MNAC, Palau Nacional, Montjuic. €8.50. 10am – 7pm tue-sat, 10am - 2.30pm sun until September 3.

The daily routines of Spanish and Italian citizens between the ‘40s and ‘60s are eloquently portrayed here. Implicit in the 250 photographs are the ravaging long-term effects of war on both societies.

For more info on what’s on around Barcelona and upcoming events get in touch with us. Welcome Apartments offer an affordable home from home in excellent locations across Barcelona.

Free Activities in Barcelona

Whoever came up with that old adage, ‘all the best things in life are free’ obviously didn’t spend much time in Europe’s metropoles. This Blog though, being essentially a bit tight with the old roubles, has gone in search of Barcelona’s budget short cuts. Listed forthwith are all the freebies the old miser could find…for the moment.

Free Cinema

The CCCB Museum’s Gandules 2006 Exhibition will show movies refecting current cultural and ideological issues by a new wave of directors- absolutely gratis- throughout the month of august on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10 o’clock in the museum’s Patio de les Dones.

Free Music

At 10 PM on Wednesdays and Fridays jazz ensembles play in the bandstand of the beautiful Ciutadella Park. You can watch the ducks, stare at the sky and relax with some soothing tunes.

Free Party

Mid-august is the chaotic Gracia festical, where the entire neigbourhood of Gracia parties for a whole week. Each street and square is decorated in outrageywoosh fashion by its residents and there are an infinity of stalls serving munchies and cocktails.

For more info on these events and more stuff about BCN, contact us at Welcome Apartments.