Barcelona Metropolitan Issue 165

OCTOBER 2010 | Nº 165 | Free

ART EXPOSED THE CITY’S PUBLIC ART AND WHERE TO FIND IT

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Contents OCTOBER 2010 THE REPORT 14 Open Air Art

Features 13 Interview Dr. Diane Whitmer 18 City focus DIY Culture 22 Dispatches What Crisis?

26 Street life Passeig Picasso 36 Food and drink Reviews and more

Regulars 6 You the reader 7 City snapshot 8 On the web 11 Columns 29 On 58 Back page

DIRECTORIES 40 Food & Drink 44 Marketplace

14. PUBLIC ART

From the Editor: Barcelona has never shied away from the new; the city has frequently reinvented itself and undergone dramatic transformations. With this in mind Will Shank investigates the wealth of art commissioned for the seminal 1992 Olympic Games, he looks at those pieces that have survived the years since and those which time and further development have left damaged or missing. He travels to the edges of the city for our cover article ‘Open air art’ to see to what extent the artistic legacy lives on. Sara Blaylock also has Barcelona’s cultural heritage in mind. For her piece ‘Cultural DIY’ she discovers a grass roots artistic movement currently gaining importance in the city’s cultural agendas and speaks to a number of renegade artists, musicians and performers that are forging new, home-grown practices in theatre, art and music. Meanwhile in our own ON section, cinema takes over. With a plethora of film festivals this month, it seems the best place to be when the heavens open is under the cover of darkness in front of a cinema screen.

Katy MacGregor

31. HURTS Publisher Creative Media Group, S.L. Managing Director Esther Jones Acting Senior Editor Katy MacGregor Assistant Editor Natasha Young Art Director David Robinson Graphic Designer Aisling Callinan Design Assistant Anna Klein Sales Director Rainer Hobrack Account Executives Hazel Walker, Alex Bonetto, Richard Cardwell Sales Assistants Claire MacGrail Financial Assistant Freny Tavadia Editorial Assistants Dylan Clive, Pascale Davies, Lauren Heineck Contributors Jonathan Bennett, Lucy Brzoska, Will Dunn, Christina Quaine, Roger de Flower, Tara Stevens, Nicola Thornton, Sara Blaylock, Will Shank, Carrie Frais, Hannah Pennell Photographers Tracy Gilbert, Lucy Brzoska, Patricia Esteve, Adriana Trif, Ranald Ward, Lee Woolcock, Bela Zecker Illustrators Cat Cameron, Ben Rowdon Editorial Office Enric Granados 48, entlo. 2ª, 08008 Barcelona. Tel. 93 451 4486, Fax. 93 451 6537; editorial@barcelona-metropolitan.com Sales ads@barcelona-metropolitan.com General enquiries info@barcelona-metropolitan.com. www.barcelona-metropolitan.com Printer Litografia Rosés Depósito Legal B35159-96 The views expressed in Barcelona Metropolitan are not necessarily those of the publisher.

Reproduction, or use, of advertising or editorial content herein, without express permission, is prohibited.

Find your nearest

distribution point www.barcelona-metropolitan.com

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R E N TA L S

Two-storey Attic apartment with pleasant views in Eixample

Renovated 250m2 attic duplex, 50m2 terrace – Eixample

A 275m2 apartment with communal swimming pool – Via Augusta

105m2 apartment beside Passeig de Gràcia

A 200m2 house with private garden and swimming pool– St. Gervasi

Sunny 160m2 apartment with views of all Barcelona – Pedralbes

140m Attic, large living room, fantastic 60m terrace, kitchen. Top floor, two double bedrooms, single bedroom, bathroom. Unfurnished.

Price: 1.900 Euros Ref 924 2

Terrace fantastic views, two floors, living room, eat-in kitchen, en-suite bedroom.

Upstairs two bedrooms, one bathroom. Unfurnished. Price: 2.600 Euros. Ref 1132

Sixth floor apartment, large living room, kitchen, two en-suite bedrooms, two bedrooms sharing bathroom.

Unfurnished. 3 parking places and trastero.

Price: 3.000 Euros Ref 1167

Prestige Real Estate SL

2

Elegant apartment, very nicely renovated. Two bedrooms plus office. Gallery. Quiet location off Passeig de Grácia.

Price 2.700 euros Ref. 897

Spectacular apartment on the seventh floor of a building on Plaza Catalunya Stunning 100m2 apartment overlooking Plaza Catalunya, beautifully decorated, living/dining room, jacuzzi kitchen, bedroom. Furnished, option for parking. Price: 3.300 Euros Ref 1098

A two-storey house, living room, landscaped garden, dining room, kitchen, three bedrooms, Master ensuite. Furnished and with one parking space.

Price 5.500 Euros Ref.20780

FOR SALE

Delightful sea views apartment with 90m2 terrace – Illa de la Llum, Diagonal Mar

140m2 apartment, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, an equipped kitchen and one 30m2 living-dining room. All outside, large terrace. Furnished.

Price: 4.300 Euros Ref 1177

Large terrace, three double rooms, three bathrooms, equipped kitchen, 40m2 living room, air-conditioning, parking space. Furnished.

Price: 2.600 Euros Ref 1176

Sunny refurbished apartment - Vila Olímpica 127m2 apartment, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, equipped kitchen, 30m2 living room, 9m2 terrace, two parking spaces, partly furnished.

Price: 1.900 Euros Ref 1170

Please call for further properties 93 241 30 82

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06 YOU THE READER

Metropolitan events Networking social event at Margarita Blue Join us on October 12th, from 7.30pm, at Margarita Blue (Josep Anselm Clavé 6) for an evening of networking, live music and a cheeky glass or two of cava.

With live Cuban jazz courtesy of Laia Porta and Friends (9pm) and Margarita Blue’s legendary cocktails and food, this is your chance to make new friends or contacts and meet the Metropolitan team. Get there before 9pm for your free glass of cava or a chupito and discounted drinks if you have dinner.

For more information, email readers@barcelona-metropolitan.com or become a fan of Barcelona Metropolitan on facebook: www.facebook.com (Barcelona Metropolitan Readers).

www.meetup.com/Barcelona-Metropolitan-Readers: join up to find out about all our events.

Win tickets for our October walking tour Metropolitan Sunday stroll on October 24th gives you a chance to discover the uptown neighbourhood of Sarrià with our English-speaking guide. You’ll learn about the history of the area and get the chance to meet new people and try arguably the best patatas bravas in the city.

All you need to do to join us is turn up at noon at the patio of Casa Orlandai, Jaume Piquet 23 (next to the FGC Sarrià station). The tour costs €12, payable in cash at the start of the walk.

This month, we have five free places to give away. To be in with a chance of winning a ticket just answer the following question: Who designed the Torre de Collserola? Email your answer to: info@barcelona-metropolitan.com by October 18th. Remember to leave your contact details so we can let you know if you’re a lucky winner.

Online Community We’re very happy to announce the launch of our online community. Just go to the community tab on our homepage (www.barcelona-metropolitan.com) to discover how you can meet new people, ask other foreign residents questions about the ins and outs of life in Barcelona or even set up a special interest group. It’s a simple and easy way to connect with other foreigners in the city.

Win a free flight!

With the Metropolitan Health Survey We are conducting a survey into foreign residents’ health habits, healthcare needs and their opinions on what is on offer locally. Besides helping us to help you better, we will also be sharing the conclusions with local healthcare professionals keen to improve their services (note that no personal information will be shared with third parties).

Each month we have four return Ryanair flights to give away. To enter the draw, all you need to do is spend five minutes filling out the survey. You’ll find a link to the survey on our homepage: www.barcelona-metropolitan.com

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Become a Facebook fan of Barcelona Metropolitan. Our page on Facebook features information about what’s going on in Barcelona, and offers users the chance to share ideas, tips and advice about being a foreign resident here.

You can also follow us on Twitter— ‘bcnmetropolitan’ posts regular tweets about what’s happening in the city and we’d like to hear about Barcelona from you too.

THE BEST OF BARCELONA DELIVERED TO YOU Sign up for your free newsletter Find out what’s coming up in Barcelona with our e-newsletter. Go to the homepage of our website and sign up for your weekly mail.

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YOU THE READER 07

CITY SNAPSHOT

JOANNA MARTIN, 18NATALIA MORALES, 17 CATALAN ENGLISH “ A BALLERINA.” “I WATCH TV OR FILMS.”

FLORENCE 19 WILL PEARCECHAMP, SMITH, 24 FRENCH ENGLISH PAINTER.” “I PLAY“A MY VIOLIN.”

JOSÉ PABLO CRUAÑES, 33 SPANISH LAUREN HEINECK, 26 “A SAILOR.” AMERICAN “I LIKE TO MAKE SOUPS.”

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When the sun is shining it can be hard to imagine rain but in October clouds darken the sky on a fairly regular basis.

With this in mind we ask nine readers (on an unseasonably sunny day) what they like to do here when it rains.

CARLA SOBERA, 30 SPANISH “I ENJOY GOING TO THE THEATRE.”

DANIEL MIRELLA THEODOSSIOU, 26 CARRERAS, 35 SPANISH MADAGASCAN “I GO TO THE CINEMA.” “A BLUE POWER RANGER.”

KLEBERANAIS TEJADA (& MAYA), 30 GSCHWIND, 23 ECUADORIAN AUSTRALIAN GO SURFING.” “A“ISCUBA DIVER.”

SHIR LEV, 21 OVAISISRAELI HAI, 36 “IENGLISH GO TO A RESTAURANT VIEW.” “AWITH ROCKA STAR.”

JACK HUMPHREY, 18 ENGLISH “A MEXICAN CHEF.”

BRIAN O’KEEFFE, 25 IRISH “A FOOTBALLER.”

FINN JASCHIK, 27 GERMAN “I GO TO MACBA.”

BELA ZECKER, 18 THIBAUD LEBLANC, 24 FRENCH AMERICAN “I GO TO A BAR “A BIRD.” WITH FRIENDS.”

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08 ON THE WEB

Any questions?

For the months of October and November, our ‘Ask the Expert’ feature is with Tine Mathiassen from Casamona International SL. Founded in 2004 this international real estate company has gone on to become one of the leading property companies in the city. The company have worked hard to earn a reputation of excellence and have the expertise to guide clients through the rules and regulations of real estate. They are very committed to their job; helping clients to find their dream house. Their motto is: “We only sell and rent homes out that we would love to live in ourselves!”

If you have any questions you would like to ask Tine Mathiassen about any aspect of property, whether buying or renting then please email them to: editorial@barcelona-metropolitan.com

The Informer Monday 6th September A family of five wild boars (senglar in Catalan, jabalí in Castellano) walked from the Collserola park to the neighbourhood of Gràcia yesterday, reaching Plaça Lesseps before they were herded back up the hill by police. The group were seen wandering the streets of Gràcia in the early hours of Sunday morning, an area of Barcelona that the creatures are not generally seen. There is a known community of boars living in the surrounds of Collserola, where they forage for food in nearby residential areas, and in recent times, they have become increasingly brave in their outings to search for food.

This summer, several of the animals have been spotted close to Park Güell and in the Park de Guineueta. The five animals who were in Gràcia were spotted by residents who alerted the Guàrdia Urbana.

Agents from that body guided them back towards Collserola. Barcelona’s city council has undertaken a campaign to remind citizens not to give food to wild boar or to leave rubbish bags on the streets.

Interview This month Katy MacGregor talks to Claudia French about her involvement with the organisation, ‘Barcelona-en-Transición’. The Transition movement is fast gaining strength and is defined as a community-led response to climate change and fossil fuel depletion. All of the groups involved, all over the world, aim to drastically reduce carbon emissions and mitigate the effects of reaching Peak Oil. Claudia French and the Barcelona group organise events, such as Caminatas; walks where they meet local artisans, craftspeople and artists, who use local materials and explore the allotments, shops and food co-ops which sell

Wednesday 22nd September

local, organic and/or loose (unpackaged) produce.They also

The Generalitat has cut €63 million from Catalunya’s university budget for this year. It has emerged that the rectors of the region’s public universities were called to a meeting in July by representatives from the government’s Economy and University departments, and told that of the €105 million earmarked for their institutions for 2010, they would in fact only receive €42 million. As a result, the University of Barcelona is looking at a budget of between €18 million, €19 million less than expected, the rector Dídac Ramírez told El Periodico; last year, the university managed to finish in the black and thus avoided adding to its existing €80 million debt. “I expected a cut, but I thought it would be less,” admitted Ramírez.

Similarly, the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, which has pre-existing debt of €89 million, will receive €12 million less than expected this year and has had to cancel planned building works, including making smaller teaching rooms in line with European requirements.

organise regular talks and agricultural fairs. Go to their website for more info: www. barcelonaentransicio.webs. com or to read the interview go to: www.barcelona-metropolitan.com/transition

For more details on these and other local stories, check our daily, English-language news blog, The Informer. www.barcelona-metropolitan.com/informer

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ON THE WEB 09

The archive

Since the launch of our website last year, we’ve uploading lots of our old articles onto the site. There’s everything from an interview with Bobby Robson back when he was Barça’s coach in 1996 to a report on the city’s tattoo industry in 1998. Click the archive tab on the website to have a browse.

Each month we will be choosing one article to give you a taster of what’s there. This month, we look back to October 2006 when Alice Ross went out in search of some Halloween thrills and chills.

Spooks & The City: Barcelona’s Creepiest Corners Over the centuries, the city has seen plagues, riots, famines, bombardments and gun battles on Las Ramblas—not to mention the everyday tragedy of less violent deaths. Monuments throughout the city tell some of the story, like the flame that burns beside Santa Maria del Mar to commemorate the collapse of the city’s year-long siege in 1714, which ended Catalan independence. Elsewhere, the clue is in the name: the street Baixada de Santa Eulàlia marks the place where, it is said, the young martyr Santa Eulàlia was rolled down a slope in a barrel filled with nails and broken glass as part of her punishment for enraging Emperor Diocletian in 303CE. If you look in the right places, there are many corners of the city with a decidedly morbid glint to them. When better than Halloween to give the sparkly city-of-the-future a break and head into the gloom?

Cementiri del Sud-Oest Since 1883, Barcelona residents have been interred on a quiet flank of Montjuïc, away from the day-trippers, museums and magic fountains. Some suggest that the mountain, itself, takes its name from an earlier Jewish cemetery on the hill. The modern cemetery is a huge site, with a density that more or less matches that of the city itself. It even has its own bus service, winding its way up the steep seaward side of the hill through the calm, sun-bleached avenues flanked with cypress trees. There are avenues of opulent, ornate crypts built for rich families, and walls and walls of simpler urn compartments bearing a clear and unsettling resemblance to the L’Hospitalet apartment blocks that can be seen from the hilltop.

To read the rest of the article, go to: www.barcelona-metropolitan. com/spooks

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COLUMNS 11

Wild Barcelona Text and photos by Lucy Brzoska

Heading home

By Will Dunn and Christina Quaine

Butterfly brawlers

I

n early autumn the two-tailed pasha— the sultan of butterflies—is on the wing.

To view this flamboyant, hard-fighting, hard-drinking creature—a member of the manly African Charaxes family—head for Collserola, where the strawberry trees grow.

Brown and orange on top, the pasha’s

Two-tailed pasha

a likely place to lay their eggs. The leaves will nourish the caterpillars, who make their silken beds in the tree.

The strawberry tree is a Mediterranean evergreen and it’s easy to locate, festooned with glowing scarlet berries. Biting through the slightly gritty surface you find a soft yellow centre, ideally with an acidic tang. Taste varies from tree to tree and year to year —those of the Garraf region produce the best I’ve ever tried, with the right balance between sweet and sharp.

Immortalised in the Madrid coat of arms, which pictures a bear reaching up for the fruit, the strawberry tree brings a festive air to Collserola in autumn. Before the red berries disappear, clusters of white belllike flowers will also emerge.

underwings are a rich tapestry of chocolate and grey. As well as the striking markings and a twin set of tails, the pasha’s attitude and sheer phyiscal presence also impresses; this is the largest butterfly in Europe.

The males are fearless defenders of their territories, often seen perched on a post or tree, ready to launch an attack on intruders, people included. You might experience an intense flutter of wings about the head if you stray into their zone.

When not brawling, the twotailed pasha is looking to get liquored up. Drawn irresistibly to rotten fruit, such as figs over-ripened Strawberry tree fruit in the hot sun, it avidly sucks up the fermented juices. Lepidopterists prepare rotten bananas laced with rum to coax the butterflies in for a close-up.

Lucy Brzoska runs nature tours in BarceIn October the females are flying fast lona and writes for www.iberianature.com among the strawberry trees, as they look for

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Will Dunn and Christina Quaine are two journalists from London who moved to Barcelona for a year. As their time in the city comes to an end, they talk about the experience of going home

T

he build-up to leaving Barcelona had been stressful, but we were sure that once we were out of the city, everything would be fine. It wasn’t. The first day went well, if you call driving several hundred miles in the sweltering heat with no air conditioning ‘going well’.

We arrived at a small campsite situated in the Cévennes, a large national park in southern France.

We pitched our tent, then had dinner and a couple of carafes of red wine by the little river that ran through the campsite. Then, the following day, the stomach pains began. Will had been experiencing abdominal pains for a few weeks but being true to his gender, he had refused to see a doctor in Barcelona. Now he was feeling rather unwell so he conceded that maybe he should see a medical professional. A French GP came out to the campsite and he immediately called a taxi to take us to the hospital. “Your appendix could pop,” he explained, “and this would not be good for you.”

If you’re ever in the town of Mende, in France, we’d recommend eating somewhere other than the hospital. Will spent two days on the dreaded medicinal diet of ‘BJD’ (bouillon, jambon, dessert), a lamentable three-course combo of vegetable stock, plastic ham and fruit compote, the only possible purpose of which must be to keep French people from entering a hospital unless they are really, really ill. The medical treatment, however, was superb. We were soon back on the road, but the camping trip we had planned was definitely over.

After a day of careful progress—Christina can’t drive and Will had been told to take it easy—we headed for the coast. It took 10 hours of driving to reach Calais but after a week of strange hotels, late nights and French doctors conducting investigations of Will’s most private regions (well, we hope he was a doctor), we were definitely ready to go home. By the time we reached English soil we were both so knackered that we stopped at the first service station and asked if they had any rooms at the motel. Like some warped modern day version of the Nativity story, we were told that there was no room at the (Premier) inn, so we continued on to Christina’s parents’ house, another two hours away. By the time we arrived, the petrol light flashing plaintively and Will’s belly emitting a dangerous rumbling noise, we were spent, pooped and shattered. But we were home, and it felt good.

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INTERVIEW 13

Dr Diane Whitmer, Neuroscientist, American, 35 I first came to Barcelona many years ago as an undergraduate on a Spanish language study abroad programme. I then came back after finishing my PhD. to take a job at Starlab where I work as a researcher in applied neuroscience. I already knew the city and loved it and I came with an open mind as to how long I would stay.

The city has changed quite a bit. The pickle building [Torre Agbar] didn’t exist and there weren’t so many tourists. Back then, the people were very proud of the newly built Olympic village and we had the peseta. The Gaudí stuff is, of course, timeless.

Neuroscience is the interdisciplinary study of the brain and nervous system. Applied neuroscience could be described as the development of technologies (hardware and algorithms) for enabling neuroscience research. One example of applied neuroscience R&D is the field of braincomputer interfaces (BCIs); devices that allow people to move and take action based on brain signals alone.

I’ve been interested in maths and science, since I was a young child and my parents encouraged this curiosity. My interest in neuroscience started when I was an undergraduate and I took courses in neurobiology. I remember being especially fascinated when my professor explained that neurons are essentially analogue-to-digital converters.

I enjoy ‘mind’ films like The Matrix and Inception, even though they are far from reality. I was particularly impressed by the 3-D brain renderings in Avatar and the fact that they use the term ‘phase-locking’ to describe how close the character is to achieving the Avatar state. When I saw that, I thought, somebody has done their homework!

I have always worked in male-dominated fields so I’ve never really experienced the alternative. My impression is that women in these fields need to make an extra effort to find mentors and establish collaborations.

I didn’t find it at all difficult settling in at Starlab.

Spanish people are extremely friendly and sociable, so it was fine.

There is almost nothing I love more than dancing. I took West African dance classes when I first came to Barcelona and I have also done a fair amount of salsa dancing. When I lived in San Diego I used to salsa dance for 10 hours a week.

Coming here to live, I found it hardest to adjust to the cigarette smoke...I took clean air for granted. It was hard for me to go to bars in the winter time. That, and the amount of dog shit on the sidewalk!

I prefer the mountains to the sea, especially being amidst green trees. It’s very restorative. I grew up in the mountains [in Massachussets], so it feels like home.

Modern society has developed a destructive relationship with nature and the environment. There was an article in The New York Times recently about some neuroscientists who spent a few days in the wilderness, exploring what happens when people get away from technology; there’s some evidence that their ability to retain information is improved.

We’re just at the tip of the iceberg in terms of understanding how the healthy brain works and what gives rise to neurological disorders like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. For example, there is a treatment for Parkinson’s called DBS (deep brain stimulation) and it is extremely successful in treating people’s symptoms and bringing back natural movement, but scientists don’t yet fully understand how it works.

I am currently reading Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, which is about Mormon fundamentalism. It’s a fascinating look at an American subculture, a religion that was created in America less than 200 years ago.

I find creationism to be ridiculous. But the religion versus science debate is also silly to me because I don’t think there’s any contradiction there when you define a religion in terms of a set of cultural practices and traditions. Agnosticism is also much more interesting to me than atheism, because it leaves room for asking hard questions, which is actually what science is all about.

Interview by Nicola Thornton. Photo by Lee Woolcock.

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14 REPORT

Cel Caigut (1991) by Beverly Pepper

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REPORT 15

OPEN AIR ART Step out of the art galleries and discover the wealth of art facing the elements and brightening up the cityscape

By Will Shank. Photos by Tracy Gilbert.

T

he year the Olympic Games came to Barcelona was a monumental one which changed many aspects of life in the city. The ambitious Cultural Olympiad programmes that surround each Games are designed to showcase the arts and culture of the choosen location to the rest of the world and their legacies remain visible long after the hurdles are packed up and the medals are handed out. Certainly here in Barcelona the works of art commissioned especially for the Games, (that dot the city but are particularly visible along the Barceloneta waterfront), have endured long after the hype.

Many grand scale works of art by major artists can still be enjoyed, free of charge, you just need to know where to look. Some of them remain as they were, some of them have been damaged and sometimes they are in unexpected areas of the city. The artists may surprise you; they did me.

Eduardo Chillida, the Basque sculptor whose powerful works grace many highly visible locations in Spain and abroad, created an amazing suspended claw that hangs from cables over a lake in the Parc de la Creueta del Coll and weighs over 50 tons. His Elogi de l’aigua (Eulogy to Water) was made in the former quarry in 1987 and simultaneously encloses and exposes space, speaks of the relationship between water and air and defines both gravity and levity. It is a wonder to behold.

The park’s artistic credentials continue with Ellsworth Kelly’s monolithic l’Escultura (Totem), which soars ten metres into the air.

The upright plinth made by the American minimalist painter and sculptor in 1987 can be found not far from the Chillida installation. Elsewhere in the city, an even taller, stainless steel version of Totem, from the same year, stands at the north end of the Santiago Calatrava bridge in Clot.

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Homenatge a Picasso (1983) by Antoni Tàpies One of the most playful examples of sculpture commissioned is by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen who created Mistos (Matches 1991-1992). The mammoth book of matches, both active and spent, is installed at the corner of Avinguda del Cardenal Vidal i Barraquer and Carrer del Pare Mariana. Why matches? Why not? The Dutch couple, who were known for their enormous clothespegs and other household objects, wanted to create something that was symbolic of fire but concealed within a simple and everyday object.

The most recognisable work of Joan Brossa, who uses letters as sculptures, is probably the aptly named Barcino installation (1995) in the Plaça Nova, outside the Cathedral, near the ruins of the medieval city wall.

Barcino is the Roman appellation for Barcelona. There is also his more remote alphabetical installation Poema visual transitable en tres partes, (Transitable visual poem in three parts 1984), hidden away at the Velòdrom de la Vall d’Hebron.

It was some time before I learnt that one of my daughter’s favourite playtime places in the Parc de l’Estació del Nord was actually part of an installation by Beverly Pepper.

The American sculptor collaborated with Andreu Arriola and Carmen Fiol to beautify a formerly unsightly area of town once dominated by train tracks. Her Sol i Ombra (Sun and Shade) work features Spiral of Trees, a sunken sylvan spiral in the shade and the snakelike Cel Caigut (Fallen Sky), clearly a Gaudí tribute, which stands proudly in the

>>

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16 REPORT

>> sun.

The project was commissioned by the forward-thinking urban planner and architect Oriol Bohigas who gave a huge amount of artistic freedom to the artists commissioned for the Games.

Across town, on the Passeig Picasso, Tàpies, Catalunya’s favourite son, created his Homenatge a Picasso (Homage to Picasso 1983) next to the Parc de la Ciutadella. Most passers-by may mistake the sculpture for a working ad for some sort of surrealist bathroom. When the complex installation is functioning, water streams down the insides of a glass cube that contains a collection of furniture, fabrics and hardware. A fitting nod to perhaps the most innovative artist ever born.

A little further on in the Barceloneta neighbourhood, German artist Rebecca Horn acknowledges the pain of the local disenfranchised inhabitants in her enigmatic stack of rusty steel boxes called L’Estel Ferit (The Wounded Star). She provides the viewer much food for thought with the precariously balanced sculpture. Is it a lighthouse, a beacon, or a housing tenement falling down? Its verticality challenges the horizontal shoreline in the same way that gentrification has challenged the former fishing village. It is even more haunting when illuminated from within, a system that sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.

Besides the splendid offerings of the per-

tural Olympiad to provide permanent homes

manent collection of the Fundació Joan Miró

for the works of art by world-class artists,

in Montjuïc, admirers of Barcelona’s other

maintenance issues have kept some of the

local boy wonder may bask in his glory in

1992 collection from surviving. There are a

the eponymous park near Plaça de Espanya,

few you may have missed or might be over-

where his Dona i l’Ocell (Woman and Bird

looking.

In spite of the good intentions of the Cul-

1983) sculpture dominates the skyline or in

Greek-born Jannis Kounellis created Bal-

the bold patterns and bright colours of the

ança romana, (Roman Scale) as one of the

circular mosaic paving installation, (Plaça de

eight installations for the ‘Configuracions

la Boqueria, 1976) in the centre of La Ram-

Urbanes’ exhibition in Barceloneta. Located

bla.

at the junction between Carrer Baluard and

The late Juan Muñoz created a poetic work

Almirall Cervera in the heart of Barceloneta,

for his 1992 commission. Una Habatacio on

it was a tribute to the history of imports and

Sempre Plou (The Room Where It Always

exports in the port. It comprised of a vertical

Rains) contains five round-bottomed figures

series of burlap bags filled with coffee beans.

in classic Muñoz stance; ignoring each other.

Materials associated with industrial shipping

They are further isolated from the viewer by

are a recurrent motif in the work of Kounel-

the large cage that contains them. Thought-

lis, who was born in the Greek port town of

fully placed in a small grove of sycamores on

Piraeus. Displaced by construction works the

the Passeig Marítim the piece is beautifully

sculpture has not yet found a new home.

by German artist Lothar Baumgarten. A tribute to the early ‘wind rose’ navigational device. The installation spells out, in Catalan, the eight directional points of the compass.

Unfortunately the integrity of the piece has been compromised by the placement of roads in the area of the Palau del Mar and several of the cast iron letters are missing.

Italian ‘Arte Povera’ artist Mario Merz created a series of neon panels in the pavement of Moll de la Barceloneta, near Carrer Almirante Cervera. Also created as part of the Urban Configuration series, Creixent en aparença (Crescendo appare), gives a visual face to the concept of Fibonacci numbers (where each successive number is the previous one added together). Technical problems have kept the installation from working and the lifeless glass blocks, almost indecipherable in a 160-metre line, are a shadow of their former selves.

Before the MACBA appeared in the Raval one of the most strikingly creative contributions to the neighbourhood was a mural by Keith Haring, the American social activist and artist. In Plaça Salvador Seguí, painted one day in February 1989, Tots juntament podem aturar la sida (Together We Can All Stop Aids) was a kind of art performance, for those lucky enough to observe its creation.

The young Haring undertook the Barcelona project in the last year before his own death from AIDS. When the wall was threatened with demolition the MACBA replicated it in a prominent location near the Eduardo Chillida tile wall. This version, alas, also proved to

enigmatic. The installation comes with its

Near the former site of the Kounellis, in the

be temporary. However it is thought that the

own security and has survived two decades in

Plaça de Pau Vila, one can still see a partial

museum is still hoping to recreate the mural

good shape.

version of Veles e vents (Candles and Winds)

sometime in the future.

Park benches (1991) by Beverly Pepper

14-16.Public art.indd 4

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main pages - Oct 10 .indd 15

21/9/10 14:27:07

18 CITY FOCUS Bunny Me! - La Reial Companyia

DIY CULTURE

There’s a growing trend for small-scale, accessible arts performances in Barcelona with the focus on audience experience and unconventional venues Text and photos by Sara Blaylock.

I

n a city infamous for a history of makeovers and takeovers, change is no new thing.

But could this change be the very thing that threatens the evolution of Barcelona’s cultural identity? Consider the 20-year evolution of La Rambla, an area of the city cleaned up for the 1992 Olympic Games. The once locally loved promenade, teeming with street artists and performers, has gradually been replaced by a crowded circus where bullfighting memorabilia and tacky t-shirts act as ambassadors for Barcelona’s cultural offerings.

And yet, this cloud has a silver-lining. A number of Barcelona-based artists, musicians and dancers, keen to demonstrate the region’s historic propensity for the unconventional, are currently participating in a grass

roots movement that could get the city back on track in terms of being considered as a serious location for the arts. This scaled down movement, international in scope but particularly vibrant in Berlin and San Francisco, replaces ‘high culture’ with a do-it-yourself vibe that relies on the homespun. It redefines form through location and audience and reinvents the modern art gallery experience and stage with a strong emphasis on audience experience, collaboration and community.

A testament to the power of the people, the trend focuses on the inclusion of previously untapped audiences.

Owing to its historical proclivity for the quirky, this city proves a particularly good location for these kinds of projects. So say

Jérôme Lefaure and Olivier Collet, co-founders of Home Session, an artists’ residency programme they host at their Poble Sec apartment. The couple lived in Paris for several years and were involved in the arts there too but after nearly a decade in Barcelona they agree that this city has a more willing, receptive public. They argue that the audiences here don’t have fixed agendas; that they are more fluid and not judgemental. This lack of pretension means their artist residency and ensuing programmes tend to attract a broad range of participants.

Artists’ residencies, wherein an artist is selected from a pool of applicants to live and work for a short time in a new environment, are generally considered essential to the pro-

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18-20 Culture at home.indd 34

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CITY FOCUS 19 fessional growth of the artist. However Home Session breaks with the traditional residency convention most obviously with the location; very rarely will a private home host such an endeavour. In addition to housing about three artists a year for one-month residencies, Lefaure and Collet curate exhibitions, lectures and film screenings in their home and also participate in arts festivals and exhibitions.

Their latest initiative, Site Specific: InvitedOne-Day, invites Barcelona-based artists to create an artwork or performance in the Home Session space that will remain for one day only.

Home Session blurs the line between the public and private, placing an intimate demand on its hosts. However, Lefaure and Collet both emphatically agree that their project is no sacrifice. Lefaure explained: “Everybody in Barcelona is sharing flats with strangers… we’re doing the same.” Collet added: “And, we get to be a part of an artistic investigation.”

Not limited to the plastic arts, Home Session has invited Esther Freixa to present her solo Medea (a la carta) in the space. Freixa performs this work exclusively in private homes for audiences of 10 to 15 people. Her hosts choose two of the four Medea pieces, each representing a different approach to the Medea myth, which Freixa then adapts to her location. After every performance, she initiates a discussion where spectators share their experiences and critiques. These discussions, said Freixa, inspire the evolution of her pieces.

Freixa also believes that the intimate format of Medea benefits her audience because it engages them more closely with her performance. She explained: “In a conventional theatre, the stage creates a barrier between the audience and the dancer. I want to break that barrier.”

Luis de Arquer, a concert pianist, agrees with this paradigm. Classically trained, de Arquer left his career as a soundtrack composer and performer a few years ago and turned his 19th-century Gràcia home into a concert venue. With a maximum of 45 spectators, de Arquer calls his romantic-looking space, El Teatre Més Petit del Món. Every Saturday

18-20 Culture at home.indd 35

night at 9pm, he performs 50 to 75-minutes of his classical repertoire on an 18th-century grand piano, an instrument which has been around since the time of Beethoven. This special, ancient instrument, combined with the size of his venue, mimics the original settings for 18th-century concerts; he performs Beethoven’s music as Beethoven would have.

When de Arquer changed his career, he did so to both improve his experience as a performer and to bring an ideal venue for the solo piano to Barcelona. Like Freixa, he ap-

co-founded La Reial Companyia de Teatre de Catalunya. The troupe aspires “to offer an alternative to the current theatrical circuit, saturated with commercial productions and big public spaces [with restricted access] while maintaining a professional standard.” Since its inception in 2007, the Reial Companyia has performed throughout Spain, where there’s an evident and ever-growing popularity for this non-mainstream approach to theatre.

Centellas and Alsina cite local and historical inspiration for their project. Speaking of

Jérôme Lefaure and Olivier Collet

preciates the audience contact and the ability to repeat and improve upon his repertoire. “I get to perform every week, not once every few months in a huge anonymous theatre. I prefer this as an artist. It keeps my work fresh.” As a passionate musician, with a long family history of artists and musicians in and around Barcelona, he is thrilled to bring this singular musical experience to his native city.

Like de Arquer, Jordi Centellas and Laia Alsina are trained professionally, but have also chosen an unconventional path to showcase their talent. Both graduated a few years ago from the Institut del Teatre where they

General Franco’s rule and his subsequent oppression of cultural practices, they state that after Franco’s death in 1975, Catalan people celebrated the cultural liberation by creating a wealth of performance art and theatre. The Reial Companyia seeks to revitalise that special history and to inspire other actors to follow in their example. In particular, they want to engage today’s passive spectator through interaction, using stumble-upon or unconventional venues and by introducing themes that allude to topical social issues. Their latest production, Bunny Me! is a child-friendly format that addresses the economic crisis.

>>

23/9/10 14:10:35

20 CITY FOCUS

>>

Dressed in rabbit costumes, Centellas and Alsina sing and dance in vacant shop windows hoping for adoption. So far, they’re still looking for homes.

Espai Experimentem amb l’ART

After almost 20 years in Barcelona, Experimentem amb l’ART leads the city’s community-focused arts organisations with a taste for the unconventional. Founded in 1993, the association based in GrĂ cia, resides in a former convent which has been transformed to house a few dozen artists’ studios, an art ‘laboratory’ for visiting student groups, a newly renovated courtyard and administrative offices. Before finding its present home, Experimentem focused on bringing contemporary arts to small towns around Catalunya, sending artists to teach and work on projects in communities previously underexposed to theatre. Though understaffed and underfunded, Experimentem has maintained its educational vision and now includes programming that engages with their local neighbourhood. They want to

Díaz, Experimentem’s all-purpose coordina-

These and a handful of other artists, organ-

tor, explained that the centre plans to rebuild

isations, musicians and culture makers are

its facade to improve visitor access. This will

keeping Barcelona’s cultural agenda fresh. As

be particularly important in 2011, when Ex-

history reminds us, artists shape the under-

GrĂ cia arts groups to put on Nodes de GrĂ cia,

perimentem hosts a year of garden-as-art ex-

ground which subsequently becomes the cul-

a weekend of street performances, concerts

hibitions and events. Of note, the centre will,

tural norm. Today’s underground focuses on

and other cultural happenings.

with the help of artists and community mem-

the accessible, asking for an interaction that

bers, design and plant a vegetable garden.

begins with the home-grown.

activate the local audience through creative events and collaborations with other GrĂ cia arts organisations. For instance, in May this year Experimentem worked with four other

Experimentem continues to evolve. Charela

Some dates for your diary

More info:

Esther Freixa will perform at the l’Antic Teatre on October 6th, 18th and 27th October and November 3rd, 8th and 24th.

Home Session

Luis de Arquer performs every Saturday at 9pm. For bookings call: 93 284 9920

www.homesession.org

Esther Freixa

Espai Experimentem amb l’ART has an exhibition, ‘Disseccions OnĂ­riques’ from October 2nd to November 20th and they will also be hosting a concert Dispositiu de Tardor LEM (as part of the LEM festival) on October 22nd at 8pm Home sessions Invited One Day 4: AnĂ­bal Parada, October 7th, 8pm. Homesession (www.anibalparada. blogspot.com) Invited One Day 5: Mariokissme, October 24th, 7pm. At the home of the artist. (www.mariokissme.com) La reial companyia de teatre de Catalunya will perform Bunny Me! at Festival Cos Reus (in Reus) on October 23rd.

www.medealacarta.wordpress.com

El Teatre MĂŠs Petit del MĂłn www.elteatremespetitdelmon.com

La reial companyia de teatre de Catalunya www.lareial.net

Experimentem amb l’Art www.experimentem.org

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main pages - Oct 10 .indd 10

21/9/10 14:42:24

22 DISPATCHES

WHAT CRISIS? Despite the gloomy economic forecasts the crisis has been a positive thing for some.

By Carrie Frais. Illustration by Kat Cameron.

T

here are signs that Spain is finally crawling out of the worst recession the country has seen in recent years, but it’s not without its casualties. The number of people out of work continues to rise across the country and many believe it has yet to reach its peak. According to Eurostat, the European Commission’s statistic office, Spain has the highest unemployment rate in the 16 nation Euro zone and accounts for half of the job losses within that zone in the past two years. Specifically, according to Idescat (Institut d’Estadística de Catalunya), in Catalunya the number of foreigners in work has fallen by over 100,000 in the last couple of years, many of whom have been forced to return to their native countries as businesses go under. However, for some, the dark clouds of the recession have had a silver lining, presenting opportunities which may not have surfaced if the economic situation had been different.

built due to the crisis,” explained Bernard.

“I wanted a change but I would have stayed on longer to finish projects.” Bernard then tried to get work in industrial design but was unable to find any companies that were willing to take new people on. Keen to stay living in Barcelona, he found himself at a crossroads. It was a stroke of pure luck that gave him the new direction and the change he was looking for. He was contacted by a Belgian company, Vesparoute who wanted to set up a company operating tours of Barcelona using Vespa mopeds. It was then that

“I have found something I truly love doing, where I can use all my skills and creativity. I’ve never been happier in my life.”

Bernard Onghena, 44 Bernard, originally from Belgium, had been working as an architect for the firm BST Arquitectos in Barcelona until two years ago. However the company suffered financially and Bernard was let go. “The biggest projects we were working on were never

22-24. Crisis Stories.indd 34

Via-Vespa (www.via-vespa.com) was born.

“The crisis forced me, or I might say, helped me make the change I needed in my professional life and although it didn’t go in the direction I thought it would, I can say that

it has had a positive effect on my life...But maybe I should answer this in a few years!”

Patricia Zeigers, 43 Patricia moved to Barcelona four years ago after working in human resources for Nike in Holland. “I wanted a change of environment, change of lifestyle, a new challenge and an adventure.” Once here Patricia started teaching business English to professionals in multinational companies and through her contacts was soon in a position to take over the running of LANGAGE Advance Training, a business language school in the city. The recession however had an instant impact on business. “We immediately felt the effects. With no firm commitments from any clients continuing their language training the following year we decided to close the company in July 2009.” Not wanting to walk away defeated, Zeigers had the idea of using the space, created by the closure of the school, to set up Basecamp (www.biz-basecamp.com). The idea behind her new business was to connect the self-employed and small businesses in Barcelona and create a network of trusted professionals. “I combine people, ideas, businesses, space, systems and resources. I bring them together in unconventional and original ways.” Zeigers

21/9/10 13:09:24

DISPATCHES 23

“

has seen numerous people come through the doors affected by the crisis, many of whom had to rethink the way they work. She says some people become “frozen” and are unable to move forward whilst others profit from the downturn by changing their business plans.

She also notes that there are some have a plan and are sticking to it, with the confidence that the good times will return. For Zeigers, the economic downturn has been a wholly positive experience: “I enjoy being challenged. Also I have found something I

22-24. Crisis Stories.indd 35

truly love doing, where I can use all my skills and creativity. I’ve never been happier in my life.”

Claire Williams, 42 Claire came to Barcelona in 2002 after working in the media in the UK for many years: “I was bored and tired, worn out with the London rat race and working too much. My mortgage was too high and I had generally had enough.” When she arrived in 2002 she set up a short-term rental company

(www.bcn-bound.com) at a time when the Barcelona economy was booming. The business became an instant success. However, the poor economic climate has meant that Williams has seen here turnover drop as clients now haggle over prices. On a more positive note Williams said: “Tourists have continued to visit Barcelona and many property owners are forced to put their homes up for rent so I have indirectly profited from this turn of events.” It has not been enough to keep her here however. Next year, she hopes to

>>

21/9/10 13:09:38

24 DISPATCHES DISPATCHES

>>

AVERAGE NUMBER OF FOREIGNERS IN WORK

2006 = 530,100 AVERAGE NUMBER OF FOREIGNERS IN WORK

2007 = 601,600 AVERAGE NUMBER OF FOREIGNERS IN WORK

2008 = 619,200 AVERAGE NUMBER OF FOREIGNERS IN WORK

2009 = 518,300 (SOURCE IDESCAT)

>>

base her business and her family in Australia, a country which has managed to remain relatively untouched by the recession.

For Williams, the crisis has effectively been a catalyst for realising her dream of living there: “Having a small business here is made harder by the increase in IVA which went up to 20 percent in July, a knock-on effect of the recession. “I think this is a desperate measure by the government to try to stabilise the economy but it will cause misery for small business owners. IVA is just 10 percent in Australia!”

Gema Lopez, 42 Gema Lopez lost her job as a project manager after the company she worked for outsourced her job last year. Having worked 10 years for the firm, Lopez saw this is an opportunity to fulfill a dream of hers; to take a course in traditional Thai massage. She is also currently studying for an MBA at EADA in the hope that the extra qualification will

enable her to find a similar job to the one she

ists. When they both found themselves out

held previously. Ultimately she hopes to con-

of work due to the economic downturn they

tinue with her business career as well as of-

came up with the idea of opening a vintage

fering massages in her free time. “The crisis

shop here. “I was out of work for four months

has definitely been a positive thing for me. I

and Marina for two,” explained Jimenez. “We

know people that have fallen victim to the

simply were unable to find openings in our

financial situation but most of them haven’t changed their careers. I took the chance to do something completely different. I enrolled on a course in Thai massage at Wat Po school in Bangkok, one of the most respected schools.

It was a comprehensive course and it took me five weeks. I probably would not have had the time or even thought about doing it had my job not been outsourced. So far I am not

sector, so came up with the idea of La Lentejuela.” (www.lalentejuela.com) The shop in the Born sells second-hand vintage clothes, accessories and jewellery. They have also ensured that they do not lose their skills as make-up artists by offering courses. Despite the shop being open for only a few months, Jimenez and Olle feel positive about being in

using it to make a living but one never knows

control of their own destiny and admit their

which skills may be useful in the future.”

lives would have been different if it were not for the crisis: “We believe it forced us to seek

Marina Olle, 24 and Cyntia Jimenez, 30

new work options and do what we really wanted in the fashion and make-up world.

Marina and Cyntia met when they were both working as freelance make-up art-

Now we are prepared to take more risks and fight harder to achieve our dream.”

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metropolitan_sep_innovat_ok.indd 1 main pages - Oct 10 .indd 11

10/09/10 9:34 14/9/10 13:04:36

26 STREET LIFE

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here’s an air of quiet majesty about Passeig de Picasso, the wide tree-lined avenue that runs from Estació de França past Parc de la Ciutadella. Proudly part of the Ruta Modernista, the street boasts the

glorious Domènech i Montaner designed Museu de Ciències Naturals (currently closed for renovation) and the Hivernacle building, both of which are best seen from inside the park. The glass cube full of furniture emerging from a pool of water half way down the street is Antoni Tàpies’ Homenatge a Picasso (see our article on public art for more information, Pg 14).

The street is at its busiest during the summer when families and juggling hippies flock to the park but it’s at its most beautiful in the autumn when the trees change colour and the leaves crunch under foot. With little traffic and wide pavements, it’s the perfect place for a Sunday stroll or a friendly game of boules with your mates (the professional-looking seniors all play round the corner at Arc de Triomf so the courts on Picasso are usually free).

At the top end, train travellers grab a coffee or a Greek snack on Dionisos’ shady terrace (Avinguda Marquès De l’Argentera, 27) while tourists

rent family-sized bikes from Bikecelona (nº. 46). A bike with room for two adults and two kids will set you back e15 an hour and the entrance to the park is just across the street.

For music fans, Passeig de Picasso is all about Magic (nº. 40), an unpretentious, untouristy rock club that’s been packing them in since the Seventies. Framed pictures of punk bands line the walls and not a weekend goes by without the DJ playing The Ramones and The Stooges at least once. Just beware of the dancefloor; in the words of Bon Jovi, it’s slippery when wet.

Next door, estate agents Engel & Völkers (nº. 40) deal in dream houses and luxury living. If that is a little out of your price range, you can always pretend to be rich for an afternoon and pay to be pampered at Aire de Barcelona’s lovingly restored Arabic baths (nº. 22) e36 buys you a 90-minute session in the baths and a 15-minute massage treatment. Expect to start sweating as soon as you walk in.

When all that relaxing has made you hungry, head to iKibana (nº. 32) a restaurant that fuses Japanese and Brazilian flavours where you can watch a video link-up to the kitchen as you wait for your food.

Hivernacle

26-27. Street life.indd 6

Jardi de Xavier Benguerel

23/9/10 13:39:39

STREET LIFE 27

Jaime J Reno

bell (nº. 34)

Bikecelona (nº. 46) Homenatge a Picasso

Shopping the oldfashioned way

26-27. Street life.indd 7

Dans le Noir? (nº. 10) looks like any other restaurant from the outside. Inside it’s decidedly different. “More than a restaurant: a human and sensory experience” may sound like a marketing slogan but it’s true, for in Dans le Noir? you eat in complete darkness. Here, you can lick your plate Photo courtesy of Dans le Noir?

Back when the Comercial de Guarnicionería (nº. 14) opened for business in 1910, the Born’s rubbish was still being collected by horse and cart. A lot may have changed in Barcelona since then but this old-fangled shop, which smells of leather and old wood, remains the same.

Behind the counter, hundreds of dark drawers house belt buckles, clasps, eyelets and curtain hooks and out the back there’s a gigantic set of scales for weighing leather.

For those who grew up knowing nothing but shopping malls, it’s hard to imagine how they stay in business but the customers keep coming; from old ladies in search of a new rubber stop for their walking sticks to saddle makers and sailors. With a sigh, María Rosa Gonzalez adds: “We sometimes get weird fashion designers coming in too, who dress as if they’re from the nineteenth century and are searching for an old buckle for a new bag.”

The Renobell family at Jaime J Renobell (nº. 34) are relative newcomers to the street by comparison.

Their dried fruit and pulses business has only been going since 1944.

Originally they traded from a stall in the Born’s wholesale market but when that was closed in 1973, they moved into the street. Now customers can buy beans, spices, flour and tea by the scoop rather than the five kilo bag and there’s a decent selection of foreign products: anyone in search of Ovaltine, Maggi sauce or cheap Thai curry paste take note.

New ways of eating

clean and nobody need ever know, expect perhaps the kitchen staff.

After cocktails in the brightly lit lounge you’re led through a curtain by a blind guide, to a dining room so dark you can’t see your hand in front of your face. You don’t need to worry about not being able to read the menu: there isn’t one. The host checks you’re not allergic to anything and then leaves it up to the chef to rustle up something tasty.

The point being, without sight, your other senses kick in.

Owner Maité Sutto explains: “When you can’t see, you really focus on the taste and texture of what you’re eating and you have more intimate conversations with others.”

There’s a transfer of trust too as guests have to rely on their guides to find their table and learn how to avoid knocking over their drinks. Dans le Noir? also offer blind wine tastings, an intriguing concept when you consider that 95 percent of the restaurant’s ‘blind’ customers confuse the taste of white and red wine.

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This month 1st

Picasso had a life-long fascination with Edgar Degas and his art. This exhibition will seek to show, with works on loan from around the world, the ties that bound the two artists and to cast a new light on the emergence of modernism.

Work by both artists will be on show including a large number of paintings and sculptures.

Picasso davant Degas October 15th until January 16th, 2011 Museu Picasso www.museupicasso.bcn.cat

15th

Palestinean culture is reflected in this weekend-long film festival which also calls at Terrassa, Sant Feliu de Llobregat and València.

II Mostra de Cinema Palestí October 1st to 3rd Filmoteca de Catalunya - www.cinema.palestina.cat

22nd

15th Lanky metaller Steve Hughes turned to comedy after terrorising Australia with his thrash metal band, Slaughter Lord. Angry, warm and very funny, after refining his act at the Edinburgh Festival, Hughes stops off at The Giggling Guiri to make Barcelona squirm.

Steve Hughes October 22nd, 9.30pm Fahrenheit www.comedyinspain.com

Six dancers, one large white room.

Who put them there? What’s expected of them? How do they get on? Thomas Noone Dance company explore in this vibrant, highly physical piece at the end of the month.

Thomas Noone: The Room October 30th and 31st Mercat de les Flors www.mercatflors.org

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Cinema fans are in for a treat in October with a glut of festivals to choose from. Celebrating its tenth birthday, The Barcelona International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival deals with everything from coming of age to coming out.

Barcelona International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival October 15th to 24th Filmoteca de Catalunya and Verdi Park www.barcelonafilmfestival.org

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Live MGMT

W Brandon Flowers

who’s on

Four Tet

OUR pick of GIGS IN october Brandon Flowers: Apolo, 8th

OUR pick of GIGS IN OCTOBER

Fred Hersch: Auditorio CCIB (Fòrum), 10th a-ha: Sant Jordi Club, 15th Mystery Jets: Razzmatazz, 15th Trentemøller: Apolo, 19th Avenged Sevenfold: Razzmatazz, 20th Standstill: L’Auditori, 21st The Dillinger Escape Plan: Razzmatazz, 21st Casiotone for the Painfully Alone: Razzmatazz, 22nd Guns N’Roses: Pavelló Olimpic, 23rd Fields of the Nephilim: Bikini, 23rd John Hiatt, Bikini, 28th Jorge Drexler: Palau de la Música, 28th Los Planetas: Razzmatazz, 28th and 29th Sting: Palau Sant Jordi, 29th Michael Bublé: Palau Sant Jordi, 30th

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here has Manchester been hiding these two? A world away from Shaun Ryder’s baggy sweat pants and the Gallagher brothers’ council estate swagger, Hurts (aka Theo Hutchcraft and Adam Anderson) have only gone and brought back the Eighties. Not the nasty neon sweatbands and roller-skates Eighties you understand, but the crisp shirts, hair gel and shiny slip-on shoes you might expect of a band from London or France circa 1984. A synth-pop duo who sound like Tears for Fears, look like Bros and dress like Spandau Ballet, Hurts have been causing a stir with singles ‘Wonderful Life’ and ‘Better Than Love’; the videos for which are chock-a-block with anguished glances, cocktail frocks, sharp cheekbones and even sharper suits.

There might be more fillers than substance on their debut album Happiness but if it was a return to style and synthesisers you were after, this is it.--NY

Hurts

October 26th Bikini

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n a bid for independence and a misguided attempt to establish myself as a singular and bold individual, my 11-year-old self stated that I didn’t much care for Massive Attack after my (cooler than most) dad put Blue Lines in the tape machine of the car and asked if I liked it. The truth was I loved it— the sonorous vocals of Shara Nelson against the trippy, dubby electro beats on outstanding tracks like ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ and ‘Safe From Harm’ made me excited about music, proper grownup music, for the first time in my life.

This love for them continued and grew with their 1994 release, Protection. The darker, more intense sound of Mezzanine saw me through my late teens but like most love affairs, my Massive Attack romance waned a little and when they released 100th Window, I hardly noticed. So it was with fond recognition that I read the news that Robert ‘3D’ del Naja and Grant ‘Daddy G’ Marshall had released their fifth studio album, Heligoland. Tracks like the brooding ‘Splitting the Atom’ and ‘Paradise Circus’ suggest that they’re still doing things their peers just aren’t. Sadly though, nothing will compare to that initial excitement of the first car journey with just my dad and Blue Lines for company.--KM

Massive Attack

October 7th Sant Jordi Club

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ith the focus squarely on African music, L’Auditori hosts a series of international acts for their 15th World Music Festival.

First up on October 1st is Burkina Faso’s soulful crooner and our top tip, Victor Démé (pictured). Victor didn’t make his professional debut until the age of 46 but he was worth the wait. Imagine a West African version of Buena Vista Social Club and you’re about there.

Next up it’s the turn of Guinea Bissau’s Nino Galissa (Oct 8th). If you had to Wikipedia Guinea Bissau, don’t be embarrassed; a few ballads from this soulful lute-player and you’ll soon be planning that African trip. Bino Barros visits from Cape Verde on the 9th, bringing along his perfect smile and musically mature band who blend traditional folk with Brazilian, Caribbean, Portuguese and African influences.

From the Congo, Lokua Kanza (Oct 14th) promotes his new folk-inspired album Nkolo while last, and quite possibly least, is Don Bigg on October 16th.

The apparent hip hop prince of Morocco, Mr Big raps about the corruption, unemployment and teenage angst in his country. Like Moroccan pickled lemons, it’s not everyone’s thing.--LH

iven the recent popularity surrounding superhero films, you would be forgiven for thinking that Janelle Monáe has come straight out of a comic book. And not just because of the skin tight numbers she wears. At first glance, Monáe may look like any other R’n’B artist, but with an alter-ego called Cindi Mayweather who hangs out with androids, far-reaching musical influences and a strong concept behind each of her songs and videos, it’s fair to say that the young Monáe does things a bit differently.

Here for one night only, I’d hazard a guess she’ll be playing to a sell-out crowd; after all, it’s not every night you get to see an android in action.

Signed to Bad Boy Records, Monáe received a 2009 Grammy nomination for her single ‘Many Moons’ in the Best Urban/Alternative Performance category. The mistress of funk punk also supported No Doubt last summer and plans to create not only a graphic novel but also a film based on her latest album, ArchAndroid If her set is anything like her music videos, prepare to be moonwalking home after the show.--DC

Janelle Monáe

15è Festival de Músiques del Món

Apolo2 October 6th

L’Auditori October 1st to 16th

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h Manchester, so much to answer for. Barcelona just can’t seem to get enough of England’s rainiest city. With not one but two bars named after it, a glut of Manchester-based bands playing gigs here (see Hurts page 31) and the good grace to cheer New Order at Primavera Sound a few years back when they took to the stage with a hearty ‘Viva España!’; Mancunians are pretty much guaranteed a warm reception in Barcelona. This is all good news for Peter Hook, who pays homage to Joy Division’s debut album Unknown Pleasures at the Apolo this month.

It’s hard to overstate the influence Joy Division have had on modern music. They effectively pioneered the post-punk scene; adding rhythm, melody and a heavy dose of melancholy to the energy and anger of punk. Unknown Pleasures, released on Tony Wilson’s Factory records in 1979 was a stark, hypnotically brilliant debut, full of metallic drums, rumbling bass and Curtis’ deep monotone vocals. From it, the single ‘She’s Lost Control’ (allegedly about the singer’s worsening epilepsy) became a much-covered classic.

After Curtis’s suicide in 1980, the rest of the band went on to form New Order to great commercial success. But Joy Division’s cult status grew too and in the 30 years since the singer’s death, they’ve picked up legions of fans across the globe. Let’s hope Hook can do justice to the vocals and refrains from trying to emulate Curtis’ once distinctive ‘dead fly’ dance moves.--NY

Peter Hook - Unknown Pleasures Apolo October 10th For more live events, visit our website: www.barcelona-metropolitan.com

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ome music fans get slightly over-excited about In-Edit. Hidden away at the back of dingy gigs for most of the year, the sheer thrill of sitting in a cinema with like-minded folk and watching film after film about their favourite thing is all a bit too much.

Like an awkward teenager who becomes a rock star, In-Edit has become popular in recent years after humble beginnings. Now in its eighth year and with more screenings than ever before, this music documentary shindig has made it officially cool to be a music geek.

This year the festival will be tipping its hat to D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hededus, a film-making team responsible for the highly influential Don’t Look Back (which documents Bob Dylan going electric in 1965), Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (pictured) and Monterey Pop. Not content with defining music documentaries in the Sixties, the pair went on to focus their lens at Depeche Mode, a band met with muted interest in their native country but wild hysteria everywhere else. Depeche Mode 101 is the result.

As ever, you can genre hop to your heart’s content with a satisfying international mix of films both old and new. From the UK, look for High on Hope, Piers Sanderson’s film about the acid house scene in the early Nineties or the Clint Eastwood-produced Johnny Mercer: The Dream’s On Me which celebrates the man who wrote songs for the likes of Fred Astaire and Judy Garland. Meanwhile Soul Train: The Hippest Trip in America is a veritable feast of flares and afros while Barcelona Era Una Fiesta shows the Catalans wearing flowers in their hair and spitting their discontent in underground punk venues.

New for this year is a Halloween film marathon showing historic concert footage from British bands and a designated drinking den for post-film chin-stroking. Also, to save on shoe leather, the cinema screens and box office are much closer together this year so there’s no running to catch the start of the animated life and times of Jóse González or that kooky looking documentary about The Magnetic Fields.--NY

In-Edit Beefeater

October 28th to November 7th www.in-edit.beefeater.es

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on’t you find that checking the ‘what’s on’ pages in the local papers these days can be a disheartening activity? All those sequels and television series rehashed for the big screen showing at the cinema,

various plays returning to the stage after travelling the world for a few years and seemingly endless musicals based on ‘hit’ pop songs. Where’s the novelty? Where’s the risk-taking? What about those of us who like our creative experiences to be a little more challenging?

Well, this month, we can get our fix at the latest edition of the Festival TNT (standing for Terrassa Noves Tendències or Terrassa New Trends), which is dedicated to dance and multidisciplinary arts. For a start, it takes place in the town of Terrassa, about half an hour to the north of Barcelona. Now, at some point we’ve all cried off from going to a show just because it was a bit tricky to get to on the Metro, so the first part of the adventure is getting out there.

You can either take the train (both Renfe and the FGC run services between Barcelona and Terrassa) or drive (the quickest route is through the Túnels de Vallvidrera, although you will have to pay a toll of about €3 either way).

This year, TNT features five shows premiering in Spain, thus providing guaranteed novelty factor. Sudden Death of a Dancer is the work of Austrian Daniel Aschwanden—it describes a series of deaths in a public space and is performed by a group of actors who are all volunteers and have no previous experience on stage. Claim Your Place I + P (pictured) is a video-performance installation that explores concepts of space while in (des) Variaciones Goldberg, Spanish actress Rossy de Palma takes to a stage formed of 2,000 kilogrammes of salt. Another unusual venue has been chosen by German choreographer Juschka Weigel, who will dance the second of his TNT shows, Tears in Ass, in the window of the shop Milar Paloma. Arguably the only blip on the originality radar is Èdip Rey del Pop, yet another production dedicated to Michael Jackson.--HP

Festival TNT

September 30th to October 6th

www.tnt.cat.

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Arts Otho Lloyd: Anys trenta / Años trenta. MNAC © Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya. MNAC. Foto: Calveras / Mèrida/ Sagristà

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’ve heard that there’s an old Frenchman whose arm is worth e1 million.

Legend has it that one day over drinks at a bar, Pablo Picasso gave him a tattoo. Assuming this pretty neat story is true, this lucky man was a living art gallery with a Picasso constantly at the ready. And on a more intimate level, the tattoo was his permanent accessory—a lovely adornment, a conversation piece, something the man could privately cherish. The obvious irony is that this permanent piece was inherently temporary, its life cycle capped by that of a man.

Picasso eventually designed more adornments, albeit less permanent and less temporary. In the late Fifties and Sixties, he collaborated with jewellery designer Francois Hugo on a limited edition line of commercial jewellery. Some of these creations will be on display later this month at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya in their exhibition Joie d’artista: Del modernisme a les primeres avantguardes. Not limited to Picasso, the exhibition features a long list of artists from the 20th century; heavy hitters famous for creations destined for the gallery rather than the wrist or the earlobe.

Although Joie d’artista focuses primarily on the joie, the curators have included a few paintings, sculptures, photos, textiles and objects to add context to the jewels—perhaps to indicate how George Braque mimicked a painted line in gems or how a Hans Arp sculpture quite easily rests on a neck when miniaturised and goldplated.

In fact, considering the style and content of these artists, a move to jewellery making is no big stretch. Among the included artists, several were famous for sculpture (Auguste Rodin, Pau Gargallo, Alberto Giacometti, Alexander Calder), a medium not too far a cry from jewellery. The listed painters, aside from Picasso and Salvador Dalí, unify with big bright geometric shapes, landscapes or portraits heavy on the bold, light on the fine detail. Which is to say, I expect the jewels of Max Ernst, Ferdinand Léger and Giorgio de Chirico to look like pretty, smaller versions of a fairly concrete style. I do expect Dalí’s jewellery to surprise. Perhaps the least pin-down-able of the Joie d’artista artists, he’s also the most likely to turn the ugly into the beautiful.--SB Joia d’artista MNAC October 27th until February 13th, 2011

A

new exhibition celebrates the life’s work of one of Spain’s most influential photographers; Paco Gómez. Francisco ‘Paco’ Gómez Martínez, was born in Pamplona in 1918 and became a member of the Real Sociedad Fotográfia in 1956. His work can now be found hanging in the renowned Museo Reina Sofía gallery in Madrid and other large galleries across Spain.

Gómez was a core member of the ‘La Palangana’ group, alongside photographers Gerardo Vielba, Juan Dolcet, Leonardo Cantero, Fernando Gordillo and Gabriel Cualladó and it was within that group where he met other influential photographers such as Ramon Masats. Amongst them they helped to develop a purer style of photography which reacted against the favoured style of the time, pictorialism. The movement moved radically away from the whimsical nature of pictorialism and attempted to capture daily life; it showed a concern for social issues and drew its influences from the neorealism artistic wave, evident in Italian cinema and the paintings of Charles Ginner and Harold Gilman.

Silence and austerity are constant themes running through Gómez’s work and can be witnessed in his most prominent subjects; post-war Spain, empty spaces, interiors and architectural structures. One such work that follows this tenent is his ‘Tranvia en el paseo de Extremadura.’ This image shows a desolate landscape with a single passing train carriage travelling through the back of the shot, leaving behind the barren land.

Many of the images are in black and white; the stark contrasts of light and dark suitably reflecting the shell-shocked emotions of a post-war Spain. But from the early Eighties, Gòmez’s work moves with the times and he starts to move towards colour. He still manages to convey the same austere eye for an image keeping the very simple lines and forms ever present.

This homage to the photographer includes 75 pieces and presents an artist’s life which traversed the majority of the 20th century. It shows not only the key aspects of Spanish history, but also the crucial developments of modern photography. A vital exhibition for any photography lover.--PD Orden y desorden. Fotos de Paco Gómez La Fundació Foto Colectania October 6th until January 29th, 2011

ON 35

Quick pic(k)s some of the Art shows on now in barcelona

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2 4

3

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1. TV/ARTS/TV Arts Santa Mònica October 15th to December 5th www.artssantamonica.cat

3. Luis Gordillo Fundació Suñol October 22nd to January 29th www.fundaciosunol.org

2. Animal Animal Animal Galería H2O October 14th to November 13th www.h2o.es

4. Javier Mariscal La Pedrera exhibition hall Until January 30th www.obrasocial.caixacatalunya.com

Find FULL DETAILS OF current exhibitions on our website WWW.barcelona-metropolitan.com

36 GASTRONOMY

A bountiful sea

Tara Stevens discovers some treasures from the deep at this unpretentious seafood restaurant

By Tara Stevens. Photo by Lee Woolcock.

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ontalbán “Casa José” is, to be frank, a bit nondescript. Frosted glass bricks serve as rudimentary windows, a slither of a door reveals curiously few signs of life for a place that is invariably rammed. Once inside however, it exudes the nautical charm of decades past. It’s a simple room furnished with well-scrubbed tables, wood-panelled walls and a handful of cheerful pictures of the big blue. The stainless steel bar, chill cabinet and kitchen—no more than eight foot long, perhaps three foot deep—is laden with spanking fresh, Galician seafood and fish.

My friend and I sit down and grin. How could we not have known about this place? On later enquiry, I learn from a Catalan friend that people flocked here 10 years ago when it was known for its no nonsense seafood fests, but times and budgets have moved on, along with punters’ discovery of sushi and the designer restaurant experience.

But I for one am happy these places still exist, not least because it’s remarkably fairly priced.

“Turbio or albariño?” asks our waitress smiling broadly. Most of the room is on the albariño so we follow suit and find an excellent example of the grape: fresh and lively with just enough ozone to bring out the natural saltiness of the food and indeed of the place itself.

Unfortunately I can’t remember the name of it, but since there’s only one, you can’t go far wrong.

As I work my way down the chalked-up board I get carried away; “We’ll have that, and those, oh and those.” Our hostess gently raises her hand: “Señora” she says softly, “Es bastante.” More gold stars for those who know to tell you when to stop I say.

When I realise that each dish is somewhat large, will be individually cooked and brought in precision-timed courses, I couldn’t be happier. No fried chipirones congealing in greasy pools while you frantically suck down navajas before they turn rubbery. No flaccid, grilled sardines, or clammy patatas bravas. Casa José is nothing if not meticulous in its cooking standards.

We start with a Frisbee-sized dish of purple-lipped clams that pop with flavours of the sea and vine from the splash of wine they’ve been steamed in. Some good, crusty pan Gallego comes on the side. It is only when we have finished these and mopped up all the juices that a platter of thick, creamy navajas come off the grill, sweetly blackened on the outside, tender as butter in the middle.

Chef José keeps one eye on the cooking, the other on his guests, his eyes darting from one table to another to see when the next course should be started or another sent out. He pops his head over the bar to see where we are before shaking out a heap of crisp and juicy butterflied boquerones, contrasting cleverly with a wooden trencher of the meltingly tender pulpo that comes next, sprinkled in smoky pimentón from the Vera valley, and layered over waxy Galician potatoes.

The best, like all good things, was saved for last. Gambas de Palamos are the only marisco in Casa José’s repertoire that don’t arrive on the daily shipment from Galicia. These are cooked on a protective layer of sea salt, piled in drifts into the pan with the prawns lain on top. “It protects them from the heat of the pan,” José told me afterwards when I asked about it. “Stops them from overcooking.”

Hot on the outside, almost raw in the middle, the technique achieves the concentrated flavours that molecular gastronauts spend years perfecting in their “labs”. And it’s non-negotiable. Like the fiercest French chefs who serve their steaks rare or not at all, seafood at José’s is his way or no way. And that, I think you’ll find, my friends, is just how it should be.

Montalbán—Casa José Margarit 31 Tel. 93 442 3143 Open Tues-Sat 1.30pm-4pm & 9pm-midnight Approx €35 for 3-5 shared plates of seafood and bottle of wine

Read the food and drink blog on our website for the latest gourmet news and reviews: www.barcelona-metropolitan.com

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GASTRONOMY 37

RECIPE Quince Mostarda

By Tara Stevens.

Mostarda is an Italian dish of candied fruit and mustard syrup.

This version was inspired by the Venetian mostarda vicentina, which is more of a chutney and makes good use of the quinces that are in season now. I think it works particularly well with aged sheep’s and goat’s cheeses giving the pungent dairy a pleasant kick of sweet and spicy. It also makes a change from membrillo, which unless you buy a particularly good one can be cloying.

Ingredients • 1kg quince (or cooking apples if you prefer), peeled, cored and chopped into 2cm pieces • 500ml grape juice • 500g sugar • 2 sticks cinnamon • 3 lemons, peel and juice (peel, removed the pith and pips, cut peel into thin slivers, then squeeze out the juice) • 3 tbsp Dijon mustard • 1 tbsp mustard seeds Method Stew the quince in the grape juice, sugar, and cinnamon until tender (adding a bit of water if it starts to dry out). Add the lemon peel, lemon juice, mustard and mustard seeds and cook until it has a jammy consistency. Decant into sterilised jars while still hot and seal. The mostarda will keep for several months in a cool, dark place (it makes great Christmas presents). If you prefer a smoother texture, leave it to cool slightly before jarring and blend. Also goes well with cold meat cuts.

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38 GASTRONOMY

Lunch with...

In a new feature, Tara Stevens has a lunch date with some of the city’s most dedicated foodies, this month: Tahir Shah, author and adventurer

Photo by Lee Woolcock

O

h. My. God.” gushed Tahir Shah—in town promoting his bestselling book The Caliph’s House, which tells the story of his family’s move from London to Morocco and recently came out

in Catalan—while throwing back his third glass of La Guita Manzanilla in about as many minutes. “I’m totally obsessed with this stuff. I have a stock of it at home, which I hoard. I’m totally miserly about giving even a tiny glass to anyone. It has to be served very, very cold with a little jamón and maybe one olive.”

Shah is given to obsessions and the Manzanilla thing is one we share, though it has to be said I’m slightly more generous with mine (Shah lives in the dry lands of Morocco after all). But there is something about the appetite sharpening powers of good Manzanilla that makes it, to my mind, just about the most perfect aperitif on earth.

To go with it I’d suggested paella as part of my ongoing research into finding the best arroz in the city. Shah being Shah declared he’d only eat paella in Valencia “where it’s from” so we’d gone to Quimet y Quimet in Poble Sec instead.

“This place feels to me a bit like liquid compressed in a syringe,” Shah explained, gesticulating dangerously with a toothpick speared with succulent preserved vegetables which Quim created as a little taster-menu of his legendary montaditos. “It’s a total distillation of the raw sense of Barcelona. High intensity Barcelona if you like,” Shah mused, calling for another glass to go with the piled high open-sandwiches before us. Soft cream-cheese topped with a plump pink prawn (the only shellfish Shah will eat), a dollop of mullet roe and some truffled honey. Mojama (aircured tuna) on a rough salsa verde sweetened with a half teaspoon of to-

“

mato ‘caviar,’ a wedge of coarse pork pate topped with candied chestnuts and a glob of unctuous Torta de Casar cheese to finish.

“This,” Shah declared, throwing his arms wide as if to embrace the entire place and all the people in it, “Is why we love to eat. It’s not to survive.

It’s because it makes us feel alive in that very real and tingly sense.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself. And that’s why Quimet Quimet is getting five stars. Happy eating!

Quimet Quimet Poeta Cabanyes 25, Poble Sec Tel. 93 442 3142 Mon-Fri noon-4pm, 7pm-10pm.

Sat noon-4pm, Sun closed.

5 stars

Tahir’s top tip Tahir recommends the hip designer dining room at ABaC because he likes: “places that make me feel fabulous.” Glamorous food? Tick. Beautiful people? Tick. Sexy surrounds? Tick. One for date night. Av. Tibidabo 1, Tel. 93 319 6600, www.abacbarcelona.com

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Food&Drink

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If you’re a sports fan, make use of their wide-screen TV, showing European football and all the action from the NFL and the NBA. From 11pm join the go-go dancers as they perform to the best house, R’n’B and Latino music. €

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L4 Barceloneta

SALA BE COOL BARCELONETA

MARGARITA BLUE BARRI GÒTIC Located in the heart of old Barcelona, Margarita Blue has become a classic in the city’s bar scene. Delight in the dishes from the ‘‘Mexiterranean” kitchen, such as a variety of tacos, amazing guacamole, fresh carpaccio and tomates verdes fritos or take pleasure in a drink or cocktail whilst appreciating new music and spectacular shows that alternate between theatre and performance art.

Come and enjoy the Barcelona Metropolitan networking event and meet new people. Tuesday 12th October from 7:30pm with live music from Laia Porta and friends at 9.00pm. €

C/Josep Anselm Clave 6 | Drassanes | Tel. 93 412 5489 | www.margaritablue.com Mon-Fri 1.30pm-4pm, 8pm-2.30am, Sat-Sun 6pm-2.30am | RV

Food & drink_Oct 10indd.indd 44

BeCool offers a great mix of Electronic, Indie & Rock music from Thursday to Saturday with a regular line up of live concerts by local & international artists.

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Main Room: Electro & Techno. Sala Redrum: Indie Electro Rock. €

Joan Llongueras, 5 I

L5 Hospital clinic I Tel. 93 362 0413

NIT BORBO BARCELONETA A fantastic bar located on Passeig de Borbó heading down towards the beach with lots of comfortable seating inside ideal for groups of friends. You can also relax with your favourite cocktails on the terrace which has great views of Port Vell. €

Passeig de Borbó 51 I

Barceloneta

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22.09.2010 13:15:25

FOOD & DRINK 41 Catalan

Food&Drink

GRAN PARIS EIXAMPLE E Discover the serene setting of Restaurant Gran Paris where the chefs invite you to sample luxurious Catalan cuisine. From the traditional, simple dish of bacalao (Catalan cod) to the more complex dish, there is more than enough choice to satisfy your taste buds for the Mediterranean.

The three separate rooms allow for a comfortable ambience suitable both for lavish meetings or family gatherings.

Open 7 days a week, 365 days a year. â‚Źâ‚Ź

to advertise in this section, please call 93 4514486 or email ads@barcelona-metropolitan.com SAND BAR EIXAMPLE E Looking for somewhere new to watch the match or hear good music? Try the Sandbar.

Owned by a British couple, the sports and music bar opened in June 2010. Serving delicious Thai and European cuisine they have plans to hold comedy, jazz and live music nights. Happy Hour 5pm-7pm. â‚Ź Â Join them on facebook, www.facebook.com/sandbarbcn and stay in touch with their website, www.sandbarbcn.com

C/ Muntaner 182 I 08036 Barcelona Hospital Clínic, FGC Provença Tel: 93 363 5252 / 93 363 5253 I Fax: 93 321 3479 restaurant@granparis.com I www.granparis.com Every day 1-3.30 pm and 8.30-11.30pm

Hungarian Delicatessen

C/Paris, 38 | Entença-Hospital Clinic | Tel. 934 190 512 | www.sandbarbcn.com | Open every day 12pm-3am

BARRAVAL RAVAL Located in the heart of the Raval quarter, Barraval offers great Mediterranean and Catalan cuisine alongside a trendy atmosphere and great cocktails. Taste our ‘Tapas and Platillos’ menu. You can also stop at the bar for a great cocktail and listen to soul, jazz, Latin and R&B music played by resident DJs. Private rooms are available for groups, parties and special events. Every Wednesday we have ‘After Office’ - enjoy a special complimentary chef’s dish when ordering a drink. Weekend Lunch Special: Paella Menu for â‚Ź15. â‚Źâ‚Ź C/Hospital, 104 (Rambla del Raval) Liceu / Sant Antoni | Tel. 93 329 8277/ 609 221 400 | Wed-Sat 7.30pm-2.30am, Sat-Sun open at 1pm for lunch RV

CARA BELA BARCELONETA

PAPRIKA GOURMET EIXAMPLE D Paprika Gourmet, Barcelona’s first Hungarian delicatessen is a treasury of culinary experiences, the shop window a quintessence of Hungarian cuisine. It is conveniently located a block away from the Sagrada Familia. It offers a wide range of salamis, cheeses, jams, honeys and chocolates all in a warm, welcoming environment. In the morning you can have an appetising breakfast with coffee and during the day you can enjoy the delicious “tapas a la hĂşngaraâ€? with a glass of wine. Be our guest and taste the world of Paprika Gourmet! â‚Ź

Cara Bela has one of the sunniest terraces on Port Vell with fantastic views of the Barcelona Head Sculpture by Roy Lichtenstein. They offer great sandwiches and tapas as well as freshly squeezed fruit juices and smoothies. â‚Ź

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Pas de Soto Muralla, 3 I

Barceloneta I Tel. 69 715 2215 I Mon-Sun 10am -2am

Sagrada Familia | Tel. 93 433 5709 | www.paprikagourmet.com | Mon-Sat 7am-9pm

French – Catalan

CafÊ – Ice Cream Shop ART I SA BARRI GÒTIC

PETIT PARIS EIXAMPLE E

Natural and organic delicatessen, cafĂŠ and ice cream shop.

Lose yourself in Paris in the heart of Barcelona. Petit Paris offers a romantic setting like a black and white movie. This restaurant offers a unique twist with its menu, which combines both French and Catalan cuisine. The house specialities are foie gras, langoustines served with espardenyes and potatoes and crepes suzette. Open 7 days a week, 365 days a year. â‚Źâ‚Ź

‡ )DQWDVWLF VHOHFWLRQ RI WKH PRVW typical Catalan products, made in the most traditional and natural way. ‡ 3HUIHFW DV D WUHDW IRU \RXUVHOI RU D gift for a loved one. ‡ &KRRVH IURP D VHOHFWLRQ RI different crêpes, sandwiches, cakes and natural ice-cream for a truly original experience. ₏

C/Colom 2 (Plaça Real) | Liceu | Tel. 93 186 3623 www.artisa.es | Every Day 10am-10pm

Food  &  drink_Oct  10indd.indd    45

C/Lepant 311 | Closed Sun

C/ París196 | Diagonal, FGC Provença Tel. 93 218 2678 | Every day 1-3.30 pm and 8.3011.30pm

22.09.2010 Â Â Â 13:15:27

42 FOOD & DRINK Indian - Hindu GOVINDA (VEGETARIAN) BARRI GÒTIC A restaurant veteran for 24 years, Govinda specialises in vegetarian Indian cuisine.

The international menu features talis, a salad bar, natural juices, lassis, pizzas and crêpes. It offers a vegan-friendly, non-alcoholic and authentically decorated environment with lunch and weekend menus. €

Food&Drink

to advertise in this section, please call 93 4514486 or email ads@barcelona-metropolitan.com

Indonesian - Thai BATIK SAGRADA FAMILIA Close to Sagrada Familia you will find a small and very special restaurant with authentic Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai and Singaporean cuisine. Enjoy one of the house recommendations “Satay” or “Nasi Goreng”. Menu del dia runs Mon-Fri for €9.50 and €11.50.

Reservations are strongly recommended Fri & Sat nights. €

Pl. Villa de Madrid 4-5 | Catalunya | Tel. 93 318 7729 www.amalteaygovinda.com | Tue-Sat 1pm-4pm, 8.30pm-12am, Sun-Mon 1pm-4pm

C/Valencia 454 I Sagrada Familia I Tel. 93 231 6015 / 677 594 533 www.restaurantbatik.com I Mon-Sat 1pm -3.45pm, Tues-Sat 8.30pm-11.30pm Closed Sun and Mon Evening

Mexican

VEG WORLD GRÀCIA

VINDA JAUME 1

Discover a world of sensations in a relaxed and homely atmosphere. Try vegetarian delicacies from all over the world such as delicious bread home-made in a Tandoori oven and south Indian dishes like MASALA DOSA and IDLY. Daily continental and Indian menus, €9.50 inc. Free soup and salad buffet. €

Vinda is a fantastic Mexican bar and restaurant that is famous for its amazing margaritas, daiquiris and mojitos.

Located in the heart of the Gothic quarter, they offer an incredible selection of Mexican dishes and tapas that will put you in the mood for an unforgettable night out on the town. Ask the cocktail barman for recommendations! €

C/ Regomir , 4 I Jaume 1 Tel. 93 319 8956 Mon-Sun 6pm -2am I Vindabar@gmail.com

C/Bruniquer 26 | Plaça Joanic Tel. 93 210 7056 | Tues-Sun 1pm-4pm, 8pm-11.30pm

MOTI MAHAL RAVAL

International

Conveniently located between the Rambla de Raval and Paral-lel, Moti Mahal offers an extensive menu of Indian cuisine, including madras and tika dishes, sheek kebabs, traditional soups breads and biryanis. A large variety of vegetarian dishes are also available. House specialities are the clay ovencooked tandoori dishes and the tofu paneer pakora. Menu of the day is on offer Mon- Fri for €9.25. €

C/Sant Pau 103 | Paral.lel | Tel. 93 329 3252 www.motimahalbcn.com | Every day 12pm-4pm, 8pm-12am Closed Tues Lunch | RV

Indian - Modern SHANTI LES CORTS Shanti (which means peace in Sanskrit) have selected a rich and varied menu comprised of traditional dishes that offer an authentic Indian experience to even the most discerning palettes. Using classic recipes their dishes respect tradition but come with modern presentation.

Try their tasting menu for only €24.90 (+IVA). €€

HARD ROCK CAFE CIUTAT VELLA Hard Rock Cafe Barcelona offers an inspired, creative ambience with incredible rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia on display. Come and taste authentic American food. Their berbecue entrees slow cooked in the cafe’s hardwood smokers are delicious. Visit the bar to try a premium cocktail and check out the live music and special events on offer. Don’t forget to stop at the Rock Shop for fine, classic, cotton T-shirts or a collectable Hard Rock pin.

This month, Hard Rock Cafe Barcelona is inviting you to join them for their charity concert on October 25th at 8pm. The concert is part of the PINKTOBER initiative, raising awareness for breast cancer and will star Suzanne Vega. On the night pink bracelets and t-shirts will be sold. Tickets are available at www.ticketmaster.com. Make sure you don’t miss an entertainment filled night.

C/Agustina Saragossa 3-5 (in front of CC L’Illa) Maria Cristina - Tram 1,2,3 L’Illa Tel. 93 252 3115 | www.shanti.es Mon-Sat 1pm4pm, 8pm-11.45pm Closed Sun | RV

Food & drink_Oct 10indd.indd 46

Plaça Catalunya 21 | Catalunya | Tel. 93 270 2305 | www.hardrock.com/barcelona | Restaurant: SunThurs 11am-2am, Fri, Sat and hol eves 11am-3am | Rock Shop: Sun-Thurs 10am-1.30am, Fri, Sat and hol eves 10am-2am

22.09.2010 13:15:29

FOOD & DRINK 43 ANDÚ JAUME 1 Andú offers an escape from Barcelona’s mayhem, without sacrificing the fun. The cool music and relaxed vibe draws a diverse and bohemian crowd making it a warm and spirited bar full of animated locals enjoying a great wine list and classic Spanish tapas, including fantastic Catalan cheeses and hams. € C/ del Correo Viejo I Mon-Sun 6pm -2.30am

Jaume 1 I Tel. 646 553 930

Food&Drink

to advertise in this section, please call 93 4514486 or email ads@barcelona-metropolitan.com

Napelese THAI THAI EIXAMPLE

ANNAPURNA EIXAMPLE E

Thai Thai restaurant invites you to taste and enjoy traditional Thai food with tropical ingredients from Thailand prepared by Thai chefs. They specialise in all kinds of Thai curries. Thai Thai has created a delicious tasting menu for only €24 and a fresh menu of the day is on offer for €9.50 during the week. €

The name of a series of peaks in the Himalayas, Annapurna is a great place to enjoy Nepalese culinary delights. it serves tasty and aromatic dishes such as grilled meats cooked in a Nepalese tandoor oven as well as a variety of top quality vegetarian dishes.

Try Nepal’s most famous dish, Dal-bhat or drop in for their midday fixed lunch menu during the week for only €9,75. € €

C/Diputació 91 | C/Princep Jordi, 6 | 8pm-12am | RV

C/ Paris 161 I Hospital Clinic I Tel. 934 102 947 www.annapurna-restaurant.com I Mon-Sat 12-4pm and 8pm-12am, Clsd Sun I RV

Take-away

Urgell | Tel. 620 938 059 | www.thaithai.es España | Tel. 663 126 398 Every day 1pm-4pm,

Vegetarian PIM PAM BURGER BORN

AMALTEA EIXAMPLE E

Quality is of utmost importance making it the best burger and frankfurter take-away in town. Special hamburgers, chicken burgers, bratwurst, frankfurters, home made chips and stroganoff are also available and are all prepared on the premises. €

Visit Amaltea vegetarian restaurant, where tasty and healthy meals are served in a welcoming environment. Dishes include cereals, pulses and vegetables, with homemade puddings. The cuisine is creatively international with care taken to ensure all ingredients are fresh and dishes are well balanced. Menu of the day €10.50, night and weekend menu €15. €

C/Sabateret 4 I Jaume I Tel. 93 315 2093 burger@pimpamplats.com I www.pimpamplats.com Every day 1pm-12am

Thai

C/Diputació 164 | Urgell | Tel. 93 454 8613 www.amalteaygovinda.com | Mon-Sat 1pm-4pm, Mon-Sat 8.30pm-11.30pm, Closed Sun

Vietnamese

THAI GRACIA GRÀCIA

BUNBO VIETNAM BARRI GÒTIC

Expect authentic ingredients all imported from Thailand and cooked by experienced Thai chefs.

The pad thai and green and yellow curries have excellent subtle flavours. Simply delicious! The special tasting menu for €21 is a huge hit and allows you to try all the exotic dishes Thai Gracia has to offer. An affordable €11 menu del dia is available during the week. The warm hospitality and attention to detail to every dish at Thai Gracia will keep you coming back for more. €€

Satisfy your craving for fresh, healthy Vietnamese food just steps away from the Gothic cathedral. Sit under the leafy trees of the quiet terrace or inside the restaurant which is entirely decorated with bright colourful pieces straight from Saigon. Start with delicious fresh summer rolls, crispy Asian pork lettuce cups, followed by traditional Pho or Bun noodle dishes.

Accompany your meal with a fresh and exotic cocktail like the sakirinha (caipirinha made with sake). The menu of the day is an affordable €10 inside and €11 on the shady terrace.

The kitchen is open non-stop all day. €

C/ Córcega 381 | Metro Verdaguer / Girona | Tel. 93 459 3591 | www.restaurante-thai-gracia.com Every day 1pm -4pm 8pm-12am | RV

Food & drink_Oct 10indd.indd 47

C/Sagristans 3 |

Urquinaona | Tel. 93 301 1378 | www.bunbovietnam.com | 1pm-1am Every day

22.09.2010 13:15:30

Hairdressers

Marketplace 4 Services Directory To advertise in this section, call: 93 451 44 86 or email: ads@barcelona-metropolitan.com

Beauty Health & Wellbeing

Home Services

Education Services Business Employment

Fashion

44-49 Oct.indd 44

Hairdressers Fashion Bodywork/Massage Dentists Doctors Veterinarian Chiropractors Pharmacy Psychologists / Psychotherapists Rehabilitation Centres HypnoBirthing Interior Design Plumbing Construction Handyman Relocation Real Estate & Accommodation Transport / Storage / Removals Language Schools Teacher Training Activities Translation Course Piano Lessons Computers Television Services Tax Services Legal Practices Financial Services Insurance Job Opportunities

44 44 44 45 45 45 46 46 46-47 47 47 47 48 48 48 49 48 49 49-51 51 51 51 52 52 52-53 53 53-55 55 55 55-56

Bodywork / Massage

23/9/10 14:35:51

Beauty | Health | Wellbeing 45 Dentists

Doctors

English Dentist Dr. Nicholas Jones BDSLDSRCS Col. No 4090

FREE CHECK-UPS

General & Cosmetic dentistry Orthodontics Implants & Tooth whitening Smile makeovers Diagonal 281 (Sagrada familia L5/Monumental L2) Tel. 93 265 80 70 / Mob. 607 332 335 Open Monday to Saturday

nickteeth@hotmail.com www.nickteeth.com

English Doctor Dr. Steven Joseph

Member of the Royal College of General Practioners U.K Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists U.K

General Practice · Mental Health Extensive range of primary care services Access to all medical specialists/investigations

medical centre

44-49 Oct.indd 45

L

Tel 93 330 2412 • Mobile 627 669 524 Email: googol@hotmail.es www.googolmedicalcentre.com

Leila Catherine Onbargi, M.D.

OBSTETRICS and GYNECOLOGY

Col nº 38291

BSc, MBBS, DRCOG, MRCGP, MRCPsych (London)

GOOG

Veterinarian

Gran Via Carles III nº-37-39 08028 Barcelona Les Corts

Centro Medico Teknon American Board Certified C/Vilana, 12 • consulta 161 Barcelona • Tel: 93 393 3161 Email: dr.onbargi@gmail.com www.teknon.es/consultorio/onbargi Fellow, American College OB/GYN Diplomate American Board of OB/GYN

ENGLISH • SPANISH • FRENCH

23/9/10 14:36:09

46 Beauty | Health | Wellbeing Chiropractors

Pharmacy

Chinese Medicine

Psychologists / Psychotherapists

English Speaking and Trained Counsellor and Psychotherapist Help and Support with; • Lack of Energy or Low Self-Esteem • Improving Family and Personal Relationships • Feelings of Anger, Loneliness and Isolation, or Anxiety • Expat Issues and Adapting to, or Preparing for, Change • Achieving a Particular Goal or Finding a New Direction • Changing Unhelpful or Destructive Habits or Patterns of Behaviour

Free Initial 20 minute Introductory Meeting

Jonathan Lane Hooker

Psychotherapist, Counsellor, Coach and Guide Tel: 93 590 7654 • Mob: 639 579 646 • jonathan.hooker@yahoo.com

44-49 Oct.indd 46

23/9/10 14:36:26

Beauty | Health | Wellbeing 47 Psychologists / Psychotherapists

Nick Cross Reg. psychologist no. 17158

(Col·legi Oficial de Psicòlegs de Catalunya)

Psychologist Psychotherapist Psychodynamically-oriented psychotherapy can provide effective treatment for: • anxiety & fears • depression • problems adjusting • relational difficulties • loss • trauma • neuroses

Tel. 644 193 825 e.mail ncross@copc.es

HypnoBirthing

Interior Design GRAHAM COLLINS PROPERTY CONSULTANCY INTER IOR DESIGN & DECOR ATION Puzzled by the property market ?

Need a renovator that speaks your language ?

Want that designed look on an Ikea budget ?

C / CONSULAT DEL MAR 35, 3er BARCELONA t: 0034 678 75 75 11 e: grahamcollins@talk21.com

44-49 Oct.indd 47

23/9/10 14:36:38

48 Beauty | Health | Wellbeing | Home Services Plumbing

Construction

Handyman

Real Estate & Accommodation

44-49 Oct.indd 48

23/9/10 14:36:52

Home Services 49 Relocation

Transport / Storage / Removals

Transport / Storage / Removals

Language Schools

44-49 Oct.indd 49

23/9/10 14:37:04

50 Education Language Schools SPANISH COURSES

ACELE

Catalan Association of Spanish Language Schools

Your guarantee of high quality service (*) abcCollege www.abccollege.es

Centro Humboldt www.centrohumboldt.com

Enforex www.enforex.com

BCN Languages www.bcnlanguages.com

Don Quijote www.donquijote.org

IH Barcelona www.ihes.com/bcn

(*) All ACELE schools have been accredited by the Cervantes Institute and/or CEELE.

50-55 Oct.indd 50

23/9/10 14:01:12

Education 51 Language Schools

Why not learn a new language this autumn or brush up on an existing one?

Oxford House offers a variety of languages, including Spanish, Catalan and French For more info visit our website:

www.oxfordhousebcn.com or come by to see us.

C/Girona 83, ppal. (C/Aragó)

Teacher Training

50-55 Oct.indd 51

Activities

Girona • Tel: 93 458 01 11 • info@oxfordtefl.com

Translation Course

23/9/10 14:01:25

52 Education

| Services

Piano Lessons

Computers

Television Services

50-55 Oct.indd 52

23/9/10 14:01:46

Services

| Business 53

Television Services

Spain accounting Sept 2010.pdf

19/8/10

17:52:03

Tax Services

Legal Practices

50-55 Oct.indd 53

23/9/10 14:01:56

54 Business Legal Practices

50-55 Oct.indd 54

23/9/10 14:02:06

Business 55 Insurance

Financial Services

50-55 Oct.indd 55

Job Opportunities

23/9/10 14:02:21

56 Employment Job Opportunities

Agents/Distributors wanted: MEGACALL Fast expanding Telecoms business specialising in the S.M.E (PYMES) market are now recruiting sales agents. Regular monthly income.

Full training given and full office back up.

Send your CV to admin@megacall.es or call 952667511 for more details

56-57 Oct.indd 56

23/9/10 14:39:23

Employment 57

56-57 Oct.indd 57

23/9/10 14:39:31

58 BACK PAGE

ROMANCE IN THE STONES

A

“

h, Paris!” So romantic.” With its bridges

between any of the above. In fact, teenagers are

and parks and bistros. Its boulevards

probably not the best judge of a Romantic City

No, in addition to looking romantic, a city

built to control the masses, and its lu-

competition, as their main criteria will be, one:

needs places for romance to blossom. And that

minescent limestone. And somewhere between

the presence of other teenagers, and two: their

means secluded nooks, hidden crannies and as-

Haussmann’s urban approach to crowd control

willingness to snog back. Not that teenagers are

sorted other bowers and arbours. Basically any-

and Robert Doisneau’s photograph of two stran-

entirely wrong. Except perhaps the supermarket

where a courting or non-courting couple over-

gers smooching in front of the Hotel de Ville,

bit.

taken by passion can kiss in peace.

under new terrorist legislation.

Paris has gained a reputation for being the most

The difference between these perspectives is

Of course to get to that point, the city needs

romantic city in Europe, possibly the world, a

the degree of participation involved, from the

a whole raft of auxiliary romantic elements: a

reputation that only suffered a minor dent with

purely voyeuristic approach of the film-maker

ready supply of oysters, asparagus or other sup-

the arrival of the Gestapo in 1940.

or photographer, to the purely sensory experi-

posed aphrodisiacs. A similar supply of alcohol,

ence of the teenager.

for when the asparagus fails. A decent transport

But there’s romantic and there’s romantic. Paris on a snow-filled, wind-swept spring

So what are the elements required of a truly

system so your romantic tryst doesn’t suffer

evening is no more romantic and possibly no

romantic city? It’s true that it has to look roman-

from Venice syndrome. Plus a warm climate, so

warmer, than Moscow. It’s hard to be romantic

tic, which is where Paris gets its head start. But

you don’t freeze to death while consummating

when you’re fighting frostbite.

that isn’t enough. Venice looks great but has a

the happy event.

So what are the requirements for ‘Most Ro-

reputation for smelling awful and you always

All of which point to Barcelona as a possible

mantic City in the World?’ Of course, a lot will

get lost. Fine if you’re on a date (the getting lost,

candidate. Plenty of aphrodisiacs, little risk of

depend on your point of view. If you’re a film-

not the smell). Annoying if you’re on the way to

frostbite, a variety of off-road snogging loca-

maker, you want achingly beautiful shots of sun-

a date. Doubly annoying if you’re on the way

tions and—when all the other elements fall into

rises, sunsets and urban perspectives, preferably

back from a date to your hotel, whether you’re

place and you have nowhere else to go—easy ac-

over water. If you’re visiting with a Significant

with your date (rushing back to the hotel for

cess to the beach. What it needs now is a decent

Other, you probably want charming restaurants

post-date tryst) or alone (rushing back to the

PR campaign to persuade the rest of Europe.

full of character and candlelight, followed by a

hotel for post-date minibar).

Not one of those cheesy, design-led tourist board

brief but moon-filled walk back to your hotel. If

Bits of London look great, too. But the bits

initiatives featuring wide-angle photography,

you’re a teenager, you just want somewhere you

that look great are generally scourged by howl-

trendy fonts and an oblique statement of the

can snog in peace. Though if you’re a teenager,

ing traffic or screaming wind. The bits that are

obvious. Paris still uses Monet, Rodin and Dois-

given half a chance, you can snog in peace pretty

sheltered from wind and traffic are usually load-

neau to champion its cause, so Barcelona is go-

much anywhere except in the presence of your

ing bays or car parks and these generally aren’t

ing to need to rethink its strategy if it wants to

parents; on trains, on buses, street corners, in the

very romantic.

wrestle this particular crown.

middle of streets, in shop doorways, in super-

New York looks great, but any form of ro-

market aisles, at check-out queues, and en route

mance including holding hands is now outlawed

-- Roger de Flower

HOROSCOPE

by Nuria Picola

Aries

This month you should keep an eye on your finances, it is not a good time to make either rash decisions or buy things of great importance. Free yourself from the things which have expired in your life.

Taurus

You’re undergoing a period of energetic recovery and feel like fighting for what you want.

Very interesting things will happen to those things you’re fighting for.

In your professional life you’ll get the recognition you deserve.

Gemini This month you will need

to have more fun when working, try to be more creative professionally and you will feel more fulfilled. You’ll see many foreigners in connection with your work.

Your health will improve.

Cancer Right now what will bring you success is personal pleasures and kindness to others. In addition, this month you’ll enjoy the ability to manage collaborations with others. It is a good time for love.

Leo You should still be focusing your attention on your family and do everything possible to fix whatever domestic situation in any way you wish. If you are looking for work, there are good opportunities right now.

Virgo If you want to raise your energy levels, focus on your family and friends, they will bring you emotional satisfaction, making you feel very good. Financially you could experience some difficulties this month.

Libra Congratulations! You are at the height of your happiness this year. However overdoing something doesn’t get you far in life, you could pay for it dearly later.

Friendships find you this month not vice versa.

Scorpio This month love is being questioned; it can provoke doubt and insecurities in your romantic relationships. It’s a time to do things slowly and not rush them.

Leave everything to develop at its own pace.

Sagittarius

Capricorn You are advancing as usual, slowly but surely towards your objective and you should focus your attention to your professional life, where friendships and social contacts will help you.

Aquarius

Pisces You don’t have plans for future investments so take care in economic fields. If you are studying, remember that you should take your time when soaking up any new knowledge.

You may feel like withdrawing or cutting yourself off by sleeping, it seems more interesting than being awake. You may also have the urge to meditate or pray if you are religious.

You may have a spiritual encounter with someone whom you talk to or meditate with, which will help you greatly.

Organise your day, one day at a time and you’ll use less energy.

www.nuriapicola.com

scoop

By Ben Rowdon

58 Back page....indd 90

23/9/10 13:42:20

main pages - Oct 10 .indd 17

14/9/10 11:44:27

APARTMENTS FOR RENT IN BARCELONA Newly built apartments

HIGH QUALITY.

- Next to Born

New Build, Plaza Pau Vila.

Apartments of 1 bedroom (1 bathroom) and of 2 bedrooms (2 bathrooms).

Fully-fitted kitchen with washing machine, dryer, fridge, dishwasher, microwave, oven and extractor hood.

Heating and air con.

Parking space and storage room.

Community charges included.

From: 1.200€

SARRIA NEW BUILD

VILLA OLIMPICA

ZONA GLORIAS

Many apartments available 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, fitted kitchen. Heating and air con. Parking and storage room. 1 min from beach.

Many apartments available 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, fitted kitchen. Heating and air con. Pool. Parking and storage room. 1 min from beach.

Variety of apartments available furnished or unfurnished. 1 and 2 bedrooms.

Heating and air conditioning.

Swimming pool. Parking available.

Prices from €1300

Prices from €1100

Prices from €825

PºBonanova - V.Augusta

gestin full page Oct 2010.indd 1

Pº Taulat – Bac Roda

c/ Independencia

14/9/10 10:40:06