Life & Style

Barcelona, divided into ten districts which are then subdivided into 73 neighbourhoods, is rich with streets and squares with historical significance. Many of them honour world-famous figures, such as a square named after George Orwell which can be found in the Gothic Quarter, a square honouring John F. Kennedy in the district of Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, Christopher Columbus Avenue and monument near Les Rambles, John Lennon and Anne Frank squares both located in the Gràcia district, and a garden and a statue dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi in the neighbourhood of Poblenou. However, iconic Catalan figures such as surrealist artist Salvador Dalí do not have a street or square named after them.

For the first time ever, over 7.5 million tourists stayed in one of Barcelona’s hotels in 2013. More specifically, the Catalan capital welcomed 7.571,766 visitors in its hotel rooms last year, meaning a 1.77% increase on 2012, when Barcelona’s hotels accounted for 7.440,113 guests. 80% of visitors are foreigners, mainly from France, the UK and the US. Besides, this increase in the number of hotel guests  is not the only record achieved last year. Indeed, the number of overnight stays has also reached an unprecedented number, with almost 16.5 million overnight stays registered in 2013, a 3.4% growth on 2012 figures.   

The winners of the 19^th Global Mobile Awards were announced on Tuesday afternoon, in a ceremony held at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The prizes recognize the most innovative mobile products, apps, services and initiatives from all over the world. More than 175 international industry experts, analysts, journalists and academics were involved in the judging process.In the category of the Best Mobile Handsets and Devices, the HTC One scooped top award of the Best Smartphone, defeating other nominees such as Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Apple iPhone 5S.The Apple iPad Air was announced as Best Mobile Tablet. Nokia was a runaway winner having received awards in two different categories. The Catalan Government was also honoured for the educational mSchools project. The award ceremony was hosted by British comedian James Corden.

The ‘Allure of the Seas’, which is currently the largest cruise ship in the world, will operate from 2015 onwards from the Port of Barcelona. Next year, it will offer 25 different routes from or to the Catalan capital. For each trip, the ‘Allure of the Seas’, which belongs to Royal Caribbean, welcomes 6,318 passengers on board. Due to the considerable size of the boat - 361 meters long - passengers will access and exit the facilities through two terminals of Barcelona’s Harbour. Royal Caribbean stated that the 158,000 passengers expected to travel on all 25 routes will bring €17.5 million to Barcelona’s local economy each year. It will be the first time the ‘Allure of the Seas’, which currently operates in the Caribbean, will drop anchor in a European harbour.

PortAventura will be launching new attraction ‘Angkor: Adventure in the Lost Kingdom’ this year to coincide with the start of the 2014 season in early April. The new attraction will allow visitors to embark on a 300 meter boat trip through the Asian jungle, designed to simulate the historic Cambodian temple: Angkor Wat. The attraction is located in the China area of the park, near Shambhala, Europe´s highest rollercoaster. The new attraction is a replicate of the temple, which is said to be the largest religious structure in the world. Meanwhile, the park will host Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Kooza’ show during the summer months.

The project ‘Persecuted and Saved’ will tell the story of how 80,000 WW2 refugees escaped persecution and death through the Pyrenees mountains into Catalonia. The Israel Ambassador in Spain, Alon Bar, and the CEO of EL-AL - the main Israeli airline, Walter Wasercier, have already taken a key interest in the project, aiming to promote the history of the 20,000 Jews that used the mountains to escape from the Holocaust and obtain their freedom. The project is based in the Province of Lleida, in western Catalonia, around various historical sites, including refugee camps and mountain pathways used by fleeing refugees.

‘elBulli1846’, the ambitious initiative of acclaimed Chef Ferran Adrià, could well become a reality in March 2016 thanks to a €9 million investment made through the Catalan Chef’s foundation. The Catalan Government described such an initiative as “a national project”. ‘elBulli1846’ is named after the number of dishes created in the 3-Michelin-star El Bulli, which was awarded the world’s best restaurant on 5 occasions. Adrià’s new project is notably looking to establish a unique centre in the world for innovation, research, and training in the field of avant-garde cuisine. Besides, for 20 days a year, visitors will have access to ElBulli restaurant, with half of the available entrances awarded for free through a lottery. The centre will be located in the old restaurant’s venue in the Cap de Creus Natural Park (Costa Brava). 3,000 square metres will be added but built respecting the environment.

An investment fund from Qatar has bought the Hotel Renaissance, located in the Eixample neighbourhood of the Catalan capital. Inici del formulariAccording to La Vanguardianewspaper, the transaction was closed at the price of €78.5 million. The Marriott Group will continue running the establishment as the agreement provides for a long-term management, but the Qatari buyer will participate in the most strategic decisions. The hotel passed from having four-stars when it belonged to AC Hotels, to five stars, after being purchased by the Marriott Group. Its workforce expanded considerably to reach a hundred employees after its re-opening in March 2012. The hotel features 211 rooms and had an average occupancy of 67 % during its first opening year.

The Born Cultural Centre has been selected as the venue to host the latest edition of the 080 Barcelona Fashion Week, from the 27^th until the 31^st of January where the newest collections for Fall/Winter 2014-2015 will be showcased. In the show’s 13^th edition, more than thirty designers and brands are ready to participate from Albéniz to Zazo & Brull to already established names such as Custo Barcelona, Desigual, Mango, Sita Murt, TCN or Punto Blanco. The fashion show will take over different spaces inside the Born Cultural Centre leading to the closure of the cultural and historical centre, which has closed its doors to the public from the 25^th to the 1^st of February 2014.

12 Catalan campsites are now amongst the very best in Europe after receiving the award for ‘Best Camping 2014’, one of the highest existing distinctions for this type of tourist establishments. They were each awarded ‘5 stars’ and are listed in a guide published by Germany’s main Automobile Association (ADAC), read by millions of German and Dutch campers. Seven of the twelve campsites are located in the Province of Girona, on the Costa Brava (north-eastern Catalonia). Invited in the main CMT Tourism Fair in Stuttgart, the directors of the campsites have stated that these distinctions would be instrumental in attracting more campers from Germany, which has a significant number of potential customers.

In 2013, in terms of occupancy rates, the town of Lloret de Mar (Costa Brava, north-eastern Catalonia), is the second tourist destination in Catalonia, behind Barcelona, and the fifth in Spain. According to data published by the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE), Lloret de Mar registered 4,989,836 overnight stays during 2013. Foreign tourists were an overwhelming majority, accounting for 4,310,537 of these stays. Besides, between January and December, the town surpassed one million tourists, with a majority of foreign visitors, from France (203,400 people) , Germany (124,000), Russia (107,600) and the United Kingdom (84,800).

Barcelona’s Magic Fountain of Montjuïc will stop working from this Tuesday until the 6^th of February for maintenance reasons and also to improve its lighting and sound features. During this period of time, new colour LEDs will be installed along with a recirculation pump and two webcams while the sound system will be improved. The Magic Fountain, which attracts 2.5 million visitors each year, closes after several busy weeks, during which it offered Christmas carols and traditional music to tourists. It also played a part in New Year’s Eve festivities or the celebration of the Three Wise Men’s arrival in Barcelona.

Masella has committed itself to night skiing and has now become the resort with the highest number of illuminated ski slopes in the Pyrenees. Last Friday, it lit for the first time 13 slopes, which have a combined length of 10 km and offer 420 meters of vertical drop to skiers. The Catalan Minister for Business and Employment, Felip Puig, who officially opened the slopes, stated that “more winter tourism offers will increase the number of skiers, develop jobs and that it is very important in these times of crisis”. It is important that “private and public companies improve their facilities and thus extend the tourist winter season”, he added. According to the Director of the resort, 500 skiers have already bought the night pass for the entire season.

The readers of the Wall Street Journal have deemed best photograph of the year a picture of the ‘Catalan Way towards independence’, a 400-kilometre-long human chain which crossed the whole of Catalonia on the 11^th of September 2013. 1.6 million Catalans took part in the demonstration, asking for independence from Spain. The winning photograph was taken by Raymond Roig and portrays participants on the heights of Pertús village (located near the French border, in the Pyrenees). It was chosen amongst the 364 pictures selected by ‘Wall Street Journal’ editors as the best photos of the year.

Following the closure of former 3-Michelin-stars ‘Can Fabes’ restaurant (50km north of Barcelona) in August 2013, 500 lots of kitchen tools, dinner services and pieces of furniture were auctioned off on Monday in Barcelona. After the death of its Chef Santi Santamaria in early 2011, the restaurant was temporarily run by his daughter until it closed down for financial reasons. The Santamaria family explained they did not want the equipment to stay packed in boxes and forgotten. On the contrary, they decided to organise an auction so that these objects could continue being used by professionals and cuisine connoisseurs alike.The Santamaria family has also presented three of the Chef’s most personal objects such as his aprons and three of his own paintings. Many renowned Catalan Chefs paid tribute to Santi Santamaria by attending the event.