Spain travel and tourism blog and rss news feeds

Between Thursday, May 8 and Sunday May 11, an estimated 250 thousand people will visit the Motorcycle show which is going to be be held at the Montjuïc venue - Fira de Barcelona (Plaza Espanya). The most important manufacturers, importers and distributors of motorcycles, mopeds, quads and accessories (about 260 exhibitors) from Spain, other European and international countries will attend the event.

In fact, the fair opened today its doors, but only for the professional sector. Besides there will be a lot of activities going on during the next days.

After having won a few minutes ago against ATP world no. 1  Roger Federer in the Masters Series Monte Carlo final, Rafael Nadal, current ATP world number 2 tennis player, will head towards Barcelona in Spain, after disputing also the doubles final. Nadal liftet a 0:4 in the second set to win against Federer 7:5 and 7:5. It is his forth title at Monte Carlo in a row.

At the tennis tournament Conde de Godo at the Real Club de Tennis Barcelona 1899 installations and with a total fund of 850 thousand Euro, the player, seeded number 1, will attempt to win his fourth consecutive Barcelona title. Twenty of the top forty ranked ATP players will be there and with a total of 15 Spaniards.

The Spanish Davis Cup player David Ferrer, who recently won the Valencia title, is seeded second, ahead of David Nalbandian from Argentina and the USA tennis player James Blake.

Today, Sunday 27, the Harlem Globetrooters with their unique basketball, being a mixture of sports and entertainment, are at the Palau Sant Jordi, next to the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, at 5 pm.

The Harlem Globetrotters have played more than 20 thousand games around the globe and amazed actors, politicians and religious people among others.

As from 9 am there will be entertainment for the children, including mini basketball competitions, games, surprises and gifts.

This coming weekend the Formula One race is back at Montmelo - Circuit de Catalunya, north east of Barcelona in Spain.

The pitlanes were visited today by 25 thousand people, and more than 100 thousand tickets were sold already one week ago, before the race qualifying sessions start tomorrow. The big day will be on Sunday, when more than 150 thousand people are expected to attend the F1 race.

As about 30ºC are expected for the weekend, it is advisable to wear a cap, sunglasses and comfortable clothes, apart from using sun lotion.

Due to huge crowds attending the F-1 Spanish Grand Prix, the best is to access the circuit with public transport. Options are a coach service from the center of Barcelona or by train to Montmelo station. From the station it is then a 20 minute walk. If you prefer to stay close, you can use the campsite during these 3 days.

For disabled people are special parking spaces at the race area as well as specially adapted toilets.

The female singer Noa from Israel, will present tomorrow at the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona her new album Genes & Jeans, forming part of the traditional Festival Internacional de Guitarra de Barcelona.

After six years, she is back with an album full of songs with a style between folk and jazz, modern and traditional. You should not miss her and take the chance to see the wonderful Music Palace (Palau de la Musica) from inside, with the great acoustic it offers. The building by the architect Lluis Domenech i Montaner, celebrates now 100 years of existence. 

The Catalan theatrical group La Fura dels Baus, is back again in Barcelona with two operas at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

The operas, on until April 20, are Diary of One Who Disappeared by the Czech composer Leos Janacek  and Bluebeard’s Castle by the composer Bela Bartok.

The group was founded in the year 1979 in Barcelona and has evolved with surprising productions that have been seen worldwide by over three million people in 4 continents.

For the last 15 years, the theatre group has performed in areas such as opera, classical and digital theatre, written drama, Italian style theatre, macroshows and awarded films.

The big breakthrough was in 1992 with the Olympic Games in Barcelona, as La Fura dels Baus produced the opening ceremony, watched live on TV by over 500 million viewers around the globe. Afterwards came promotional macroshows for many International companies. Special events include performances of all kind towards a large audience.

In case you are a fan of Mark Knopfler, or of his former music band Dire Straits, then you should not miss his concert tonight at the Palau Sant Jordi, in the Montjuic Olympic area of Barcelona. The Palau is actually just besides the Olympic Stadium.

Mark Knopfler will present his new solo album called Kill to get Crimson. Besides it is very likely to hear some great Dire Straits hits.

Doors for the music concert will open at 9.30 pm. Hurry and get your ticket.  

Tonight performs the band Nomhadas from Barcelona, that has made a new step in the musical concept of fusion, another turn of the screw of the popular “mestizaje”: Hindu and Easter roots, pop, hip-hop, flamenco, native chants.

Nomhadas ara unaware of musical frontiers and nothing makes them shut up. In their magic songs their lyrics talk about love, devotion and struggle. Come to see them this Saturday at Colonial Norte in Madrid, Spain.

Information supplied by Mapamundi Music.

Mapamundi will be invited today Wednesday 26th of March at 22 h, at ‘Tresfusión’ radio show, on Radio 3 (RNE - National Radio of Spain). And next 9th of April we will broadcast a new edition of ‘Le coin ibérique’ / ‘El rincón ibérico’ (’Iberian corner’), at ‘Le monde est un village’ programme, on La Première, RTBF’s (Belgium French-speaking National Radio) first channel & RTBF International.

Information supplied by Mapamundi Music.

The Berga resort campsite, north of Barcelona, offers a romatic pack with 2 nights accommodation in a bungalow or mobil home for a relaxing stay. Berga, located at the foothills of the Pyrenees in Catalonia, Spain, is a great place for excursions in the surroundings or a trip to the costa Brava, Girona or Barcelona.

The offer for 3 days and 2 nights includes the following:

- 1 massage with bamboo canes and green tea per person (60′) .
- 1 facial relaxing massage (30′) + thermal circuit per person (1h 30′) .
- 1 hour daily hour in the covered swimming pool per person.
- Free access to the fitness centre and gym.
- 2 h. at the Chiqui park for the children!
- 2 nights in bungalow or mobil home.

And as a welcome gift a bottle of champagne!

Prices per person range from 162 Euro in a bungalow and 188 Euro for  mobil home during the promotional season to 235 and 294 Euro respectively in the high season. Bungalows for two adults (children from 4 to 10 y.o. free) and mobil·home for two adults (two children free). Tax included. Children do not enjoy the massages nor the thermal circuit.
Can not be accumulated with others promotions and offers.

For information on camping in Berga, province of Barcelona in Spain, visit the following page:
http://www.spaindreams.com/eng/info/ca_berga.htm

The trade fair Alimentaria, held in Barcelona every 2 years, is on again until Friday, March 14. The food and beverages exhibition is the biggest of its kind in Spain and one of the major food fairs in the world. 

This years explanatory space at both venues, Montjuïc and Gran Via has been increased again, with more than 5 thousand exhibitors from 70 countries and about 160 thousand visitors, among them 33 thousand International professional visitors, to attend the thirteen product areas of the fair these days.

One of the exhibition areas, called Innoval (innovation), offers among other an imaginative and quite surprising vision of the future retailer, as a result on upcoming technologies and distribution innovations. Other innovative developments include areas such as food safety, food marketing and advertising apart from the lastest advances for people with disabilities.

Activities during the Alimentaria exhibition include the Business Co-operation Projects, the project of Central and Eastern Europe, the Congress on the Mediterranean Diet and the International Food Forum among many others. Educational, demonstration and recreational events for the visitors of the fair will also form part.

Gourmets can enjoy from wine tasting, cured Spanish ham, 100 types of Spanish cheese to olive oil sessions. One of the highlights will be the Chef of the Year competition, showing their cuisine skills.

Flamenco concert on March 8, 2008 at Colonial Norte in Madrid.  

Talking about Benjamin Escoriza implies unavoidably to talk about the spanish music group Radio Tarifa, the band that, from the beggining of the 90s, has been on the cutting edge of the fusion of cultures in our country, with their mixture of flamenco, North African, oriental and medieval sounds.

After his 14 years in Radio Tarifa, hundreds of concerts worldwide, travels, meetings, and shared experiences, nowadays Benjamín’s own style gets deeper into a harvest of sounds with open arms, and, at the same time, it’s impregnated with his personality, with the spontaneity you can smell at the streets of Granada, Madrid or Marrakech, as it is shown in his first album, Alevanta (Get up!), acclaimed worldwide too. And in Colonial Norte, Mapamundi Musica is proud to bring him in sextet, with a very special guest artist, another one of the three Radio Tarifa’s pillars: the flute player Vincent Molino.

Information supplied by Mapamundi Music.

Enjoy a 10% discount for a double room with terrace and wonderful mountain views in this nice country hotel, located for your vacation in Estellencs, Mallorca, Balearic Islands,  Spain, near the crystal clear waters of the Mediteranean sea. 

Special rate applies for a minimum stay of 3 nights, being 2 people. This offer is valid until the end of this month for bookings through our website.

For more information on this rural hotel check:

http://www.spaindreams.com/eng/info/ho_nord.htm

This years mobile world congress, which is held as from today at the Montjuic area in Barcelona, Spain, includes many seminars on the new technology HSPA, presented at this congress last year. This technology will be used through new mobile phone operators with expected 700 million people using it by the year 2012.

50.000 professional visitors from all around the world are expected to visit the 3GSM mobile phone congress in Barcelona during four days, in order to see the latest on mobile phones with special interest for the entertainment section. Robert Redford is expected to attend the venue on Wednesday. 

This coming Saturday, January 19, at 10.30 pm, the Spanish folk group Aljibe will perform at the Sala Colonial in Madrid.

Origin: Spain
Style: Castilian folk

More than 20 years on the stage and 8 albums: Aljibe proves show after show a broad knowledge of the musical legacy of our land, as well as a deep scenic know how, that melts instrumental and technical richness, with a warm, and even cheeky, connection with the audience.

Components: Juan Rodríguez (main voice, accordion, fole and charra bagpipes, saxophon, bandurria and lute), Luis Ramón Martín (bandurria, lute and Spanish guitar), José Manuel Rodríguez (voice, bandurria, lute, electric bass and percussions), Domingo Martínez (Spanish and acoustic guitar, guitarro manchego), Luis Miguel Novas (flutes, clarinet, dulzaina, bagpipe), Manuel Marcos (voice, keyboards, guitar and percusión), Teresa García (voice, violin and percussion). 

Information supplied by Mapamundi.

All seventy-two thousand tickets on sale yesterday for the Bruce Springsteen concert, to be held next July 19 at the soccer stadium of FC Barcelona - Camp Nou, were sold within 8 hours.

The Boss had originally not planned to come back that soon with the E Street Band, as he was already here last October.  

Between tomorrow and Sunday, the chocolate fair is held again in Barcelona.

Hundreds of products can been seen and many tasted, all having something to do with chocolate.

Activities during these three days include cooking classes, competitions, music and magic shows as well as kids activities.

Check also under: http://spaindreams.com/blog/?p=31

After the trip to the southern isle of Madagascar with Kilema, we go back to Northafrican sounds. Next Saturday, day 10th, we will have the pleasure to welcome the first concert in Madrid by Nour, a band that inherits the background of fascinating groups like the Barcelonan Cheb Balowski, the Argentinian Todos tus muertos and the French-Spanish Color Humano.

Origen: Spain / Algeria / France / Argentina
Style: Raï / Fusion / Hip-hop

Nour means “light” in Arabic. Enlightening a new way for Yacine Belahcene, this half Algerian half Barcelonan who was the singer of the great and amusing fusion combo Cheb Balowski, that embarks on a new flight in this internacional project, full of energy and consciousness, that has been registered at their album Papier mullat.

Yacine will be accompanied by Pablo Potenzioni, ex-drummer of Todos Tus Muertos, Stephane Carteaux at the keyboards, ex-member of the pioneer band Color Humano and Francisco Guisado ‘Rubio’ at the guitar, who was also a member of Color Humano and now of 08001; the bass player Manolo López, member also of Orkestina and Olalla Castro at the vocals and rap.

Information supplied by Mapamundi.

The Centre of Contemporary Culture in Barcelona will expose the winning photos of the World Press Photo competition with photographs send by agencies and newspapers, photojournalists and photographers. An independent, international jury chooses the winner from different categories such as sports, current affairs and news, daily life situations, animals, Nature, art and entertainment.

Tomorrow and on Saturday will take place at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona the Asics Music Festival. 2 days packed with live music, performing among others international artists and groups such as Paulina Rubio, Pet Shop Boys and also Spanish groups such as Dover, Hombres G and artist Mikel Erentxun. It will be interesting to see how they perform between recreated shopping streets of Tokyo, Geisha houses and Zen gardens.