CitySiesta Blog

Sitges Carnival 2010

In Barcelona, the carnival in Sitges is without a doubt one of the liveliest most colorful and certainly most anticipated events.

Sitges is a beautiful town situated about 35km south of Barcelona. It’s famous for its beaches, historical landmarks and nightlife. You can easily get there by train, bus or car.

For those of you who would like to know a little bit more about the Sitges Carnival and its various activities and events, here’s a small recap:

-The festivities began on Thursday with “Dijous Gras” with the spectacular arrival of the King “Carnestoltes”, accompanied by the Queen of the Carnival.

-Then, on Sunday and Tuesday, the floats and masked groups will parade along the main streets filled with curious visitors and locals. They are known as the Rúa de la Disbauxa and Rúa del Extermini respectively. The rúas are a display of aesthetic and artistic creativity. They are a true spectacle of costumes, makeup, pens, daring models of fantasy and unbelievable theatrical stages.

-Finally, the carnival ends with the burial of the Canestoltes on Wednesday.

All these elements and the peculiar idiosyncrasy of the people transform the Sitges Carnival into a feast for the senses!

For more information available on the Sitges Carnival, visit these useful links:

Barcelona tourist guide – Sitges
Ajuntament de Sitges

This past weekend we enjoyed the last few days of “warm” temperatures and finally said goodbye to clear skyes and bright shinny days.

Playa de la Barceloneta

This unusual rise of temperature during the last days of autumn season is commonly known as “Veranillo de San Martin” or “Indian Summer”. During this period, temperatures can go as high as almost 30C (in some areas of Southern Spain). Barcelona was rewarded with a great sunny weather of up to 25C, like a breath of fresh air…

Saturday and Sunday afternoon, tourists and locals decided to leave their coats and scarves at home and headed down to the beach to chill, take a nap, or have a Mojito and relax in one of the many “chiringuitos”.

So now we are back to normal, cool cloudy days are starting to settle in and winter is coming at full speed.

Just one simple advice, take a lot of Vitamin C, you wouldn´t want to welcome winter with a runny nose and a headache, like me.

Word Press Photo of the Year 2009 - Anthony Suau

This prestigious event is held every year since 1955 and the world´s most important event in the field of photojournalism.

From the November 11th to December 13th, all the winning phootographies will be displayed to the public at the Centro Cultural Contemporáneo de Barcelona (CCCB) . The contest is comprised of 10 categories: Contemporary Issues, Spot News, Daily Life, General News, Portraits, People in the News, Sports Action, Arts and Enterntainment, Sports Feature and Nature.

Each year, an international and diversified jury of 13 members, photographers, picture editors and representatives of press agencies, choose the winning photographies that will later go on a tour around the world, showcased in more than 100 cities in 45 countries.

The contest is open to all professional press photographers and there is no entry fee.
So basically any photographer, photo agenciy, newspaper or magazine from anywhere in the world can submit their best news-related pictures in the hopes of getting picked and become part of the exhibition for the following year.

For more information and exhibits on other cities visit the official World Press Photo website.

Festival of Contemporary Art 2009

Barcelona will once again become the scenary for the annual Festival of Contemporary Art of Barcelona, BAC!09.

The event will take place in December at the CCCB (Centro de Cultura Contemporanea de Barcelona) and this year it´s going to be even better than ever.

This year´s edition will be dedicated entirely to the production developed in the last few years by female artists from all over the world, in a variety of media: Video art, performance, photografy, illustration, graffiti and others.

To differentiate itself from other festivals with similar themes, BAC!09 promises to present a fresh, dynamic and mobilising display of the connection of genders to the world of art.

For those last-minute visitors who want to take part on the action, we recommend to browse thru the different apartment rental options we have available, close to the venue.

For more information, check the official BAC!09 website regularly to stay updated on the latest news and program details.