A sample of things to do in Barcelona for 5 euros and under

There are always cheap things to do in Barcelona, including some that are free. For example, the web site BarcelonaGratis.com provides up to date listings of free activities, including exhibitions, concerts, festivals, cinema, sports, children's events, etc. (By the way, the site is only available in Spanish.) It also maintains a list of the days of the month when local museums offer free admission. (Most museums in Barcelona are free on the first Sunday of each month, but a few are free on other days. Check the list for details.)

And believe it or not, it is still possible to find a full meal for 5 euros -- at least one day a week, that is! I noticed recently that Charleston's, one of the restaurants on Paseo Joan De Borbon, now has a 5 euro lunch menu on Fridays; the rest of the week it's 8.50, which is still a good price. As I mentioned in an earlier post, don't let the name Charleston's fool you, as it's Spanish food that's on offer there -- although, no paella.

Charleston's
Paseo Joan de Borbo, 2
Barceloneta
Barcelona
Open from 7h to 22h daily

For more examples of free and low cost things to do in BCN, below is a list of things to do on the weekend I am writing this. It's taken from an article in today's La Vanguardia newspaper called: 10 Citas culturales por menos de 5 euros. (10 cultural events for less than 5 euros.) Here's my translation of the listings in the article:

-Free-

Raval Culture Festival
a hundred or so neighborhood organizations offer a constellation of activities all weekend long. Concerts ranging from gospel to Pakistani music, hip-hop to Brazilian batucada. Photography expositions, too. Sunday Nov. 15th at 16.30h a series of videos made by residents on the topic of the Raval neighborhood will be shown at the CCCB. Through Sunday. http://www.totraval.org/

Joan Petit in concert
Mallorcan singer / musician Joan Petit in concert at Heliogabal Musical Bar. Petit, who worked with the British group The Wedding Present in 2006, is on the verge of releasing his first CD. Saturday the 14th at 22h. www.myspace.com/welovepetit ,

Macba Collection
Macba exhibits 17 works of minimalist artists, their influencers and some they've influenced, including Buren, Wharol, Flavin, Mangol, Bell, Sonnier, Haacke, Saws, Matta-Clarck. The video artist John Baldessari adds a brushstroke of humor to the exposition space through his video "Baldessari Singing". http://www.macba.es/

Transglossador Slam Festival
The art of improvisation to music is not the unique providence of Rap and Hip-hop. Artists such as Abd The Malik can slam to a Brel song. The third Transglossador Slam Festival offers slam workshops, as well as performances and improvisations of various of groups, such as De Caláis and Rapsodes. Saturday from 18,30. http://www.farinera.org/

La Felpa
BTOY Exposition
Ilia Mayer and Andrea Michaelsson, two art illustrators, with exhibitions at the BAC (Barcelona Art Contemporaneo) show their their work in Gracia's La Felpa on Saturday from of 12.30 to 21.30. http://www.thisisbtoy.com/

-4 euros-

American Modern at the Joan Miró Museum
A showing of works by more than one hundred 20th century American artists, including George Bellows, John Singer Sargent, Arthur Davies, Marsden Hartley, Joseph Cornell, Thomas Hart Benton, John Sloan, Edward Hopper, Milton Avery, Mark Rothko, Willem of Kooning, Cy Twombly, Richard Diebenkorn, Martin Puryear and Robert Mangold.

-4.10 euros–

Palau de La Virreina
De facto: Joan Fontcuberta 1982-2008 -- photography as documentation.
A sample of 50 of the photographers images at the Palau of the Virreina. The photos are somewhere between documentary and fiction, with humanist and philosophical inspiration. Until February 8. www.bcn.cat/virreinacentredelaimatge/castella/home.htm

-4.50 euros-

Ciné Mélies
Several movies showing in the original language with Spanish subtitles. One movie now playing is L'Heure d'été (Las horas del Verano / Summer Hours), directed by Olivier Assayas; starring Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling, and Jeanne Balibar, who won the best actress award at this past September's San Sebastian Film Festival. http://www.cinesmelies.net/

CCCB Independent Film Festival
More than 78 movies from 33 countries. http://alternativa.cccb.org/2008/ct/

-5 euros-

Mostra de Teatre del Raval (Raval Theatre Presents)
The Raval Theatre itself is the epicenter of this festival, with 15 plays selected for presentation. This weekend a play by children for adults premieres: "Un día, una hora..." is based on numerous stories told by children to Argentine Javier Villafañe in 1980s. Until December 7. http://www.mostradeteatredebarcelona.com/

Disfrutadlo amig@s,

Carloz

Spain’s Saturday News Highlights: The pájaros are coming! Will the Ratistas, too? Well, golf won’t be coming to Girona

Originally posted by Carloz on 30 June, 2007 at http://myspainblog.wordpress.com/

Singer-songwriters Joaquín Sabina (Andalusia 1949) and Joan Manuel Serrat (Catalonia 1943) started their Dos Pájaros de un Tiro (Two Birds in One Shot) Tour to a standing-room only crowd in Zaragoza last night. For the next six months the singers, who were icons of the transition to democracy in the 70’s and 80s, will perform more than 60 concerts throughout Spain and Latin America.

Both were exiles during Franco’s rule — Sabina living in London and Serrat in Mexico. Until now Sabina and Serrat were not a duo, but two indivdual stars with their own styles and hits. For the tour they are performing each others songs jointly and individually. The two will reach Madrid in September (three concerts scheduled, two already sold out) and Barcelona in October (two concerts, one already sold out). The final concert of the tour will be in Montevideo, Uruguay on December 20th.

Here’s the tour’s official web site: http://www.dospajarosdeuntiro.es/

More re Rato: Speculation continues about IMF chief Ricardo Rato’s early resignation and planned return to Spain this autumn. There was talk in the media today of Rato followers making preparations to convince him to return to Spain’s political life as well. El Pais pointed out that Popular Party leader Mariano Rajoy doesn’t have one “Ratista” on his team.

Conservationists applaud decison to halt two housing construction plans in Catalonia: The Planning Commission of Girona Province has rejected a proposal to build 1,000 new homes on 85 hectares in a woooded area situated between the developments of Lloret Blau and Lloret Verd in Lloret de Mar. The Commission also denied permission to construct 370 new homes and a golf course in Garrigoles, where only 155 people currently live. In their campiagn against the golf course, conservationsists crossed out the name of Garrigoles on the sign at the entrance to the town and hung one with “Garrigolf” next to it!

Responses

By: Colin on July 1st, 2007 at 2:35 am

Too many golf courses in Spain as it is - though having said that I guess they bring money into the country and provide jobs for people.

By: Carloz on July 1st, 2007 at 12:35 pm

Yes, too many golf courses — and way too many houses!! As the European Parliament declared recently, the huge construction projects do not respond to real needs of the people of Spain! (See: http://myspainblog.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/in-fridays-news/) What Spain needs more of is sustainable development and efforts to diversify its job market. While I think it’s basically a good thing that Spain has such a great tourism industry, there really needs to be a push to develop jobs in areas other than leisure and tourism.

In Today’s News: Summertime, Solsticio and Luz

A las 20.06: verano (At 8:06pm: summer): ADN2 had a photo of Stonhenge at sunrise on it’s cover, in honor of the summer solstice. I think of photo of a sunrise over the sea would have been more appropriate for Barcelona. At the end of my last class this evening, my student pointed out that we began the lesson in springtime and ended in summer. Hmmm.

Summer solstice celebrations in Barcelona: Barcelona has it’s own unique way to observe the change of season — Sain John’s Night. (La Noche de San Juan in Spanish and La Nit de Sant Joan in Catalan.) And what a night it is - fireworks, night swims, bonfires on the beach, and of course MUSIC! I’ll write more about this special event in another post later.

Luz - a survivor! Spanish singer Luz Casal has officially thanked her fans for their well wishes and support during her treatment for breast cancer. The disease, which was detected in January of this year, forced her to cancel a world tour. Luz’ voice was one of the early ones that lured me to Spanish music. “Piensa en Mi” and “Un Año de Amor” are classics! Here’s a link to the English version of her web site: http://www.luzcasal.es/home_en.html

Copied from original http://myspainblog.wordpress.com/ posting by Carloz on 21 June, 2007

Thursday for this English teacher in Spain - Music before class!

This article has been updated and can be found on my Newsvine column.
Here's a link to the article: A Thursday For This English Teacher in Spain