New wine route through Empordà and Catalunya Nord to be opened in 2012

The wine route of the Catalan Pyrenees. This is going to be the name of the new touristic location that will be released in 2012. The idea of developing a wine route now has a specific date, as introduced officially by the Minister for Innovation, Universities and Enterprise, Josep Huguet. The project will be started this year and has the aim to link the two territories through their wine resource, heritage and historical landscape.

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The price and employment of 4 and 5 star hotels in Barcelona will fall to 26%

As an effect of the recession of the touristic activities in big cities all over the world, the price and employment of the 4 and 5 star hotels in Barcelona will fall about 26% on average, according to Jones Lang, consultant of the LaSalle Hotels. The negative trend of the year 2008 will intensify even more and the hotel market will have to absorb about 3.600 rooms in the Catalan capital, of which 47% will be 5 star establishments.

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Montjüic Castle: make peace, not war.

Barcelona yesterday wrote another chapter in its history and finally closed the military museum opened by the dictator Franco 47 yars ago, in the Castle of Montjuïc, from where the city of Barcelona were bombed so many times in the past. Music and chocolate made a festive note to a crowded but not massive act. Yerterday was the last of three days of open doors of the castle and hundreds of people, including tourists, citizens of Barcelona and other towns in Catalonia, did not want to miss this appointment with the history of the city and the country.

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Carsharing services grow fast in Barcelona

The number of subscribers to the multi-car service has increased by 326% in the past two years. The crisis seems to be the main cause of the CarSharing boom, a kind of Bicing for cars that has won fans since its kick-off, in 2004. The service is available in Barcelona, Sabadell, Granollers and Sant Cugat del Valles, but they are thinking on extending it to other populations. This formula is fairly standard in some countries. In Switzerland, for example, is visible in all the cities and now has about 70,000 users.

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Reus' airport will have a new railway station with a TGV direct link

Spanish minister José Blanco announced a new railway station in the south of the airport of Reus, linked with the great central station of Tarragona, with a planned investment of 62 million. The station will be located between the runways at the airport and the road T-11, along with access to the AP-7.

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A yellow wave to welcome the Tour de France in Barcelona

A human yellow wave will accompany the Tour de France in Barcelona, in the last 13 miles to the sixth stage, which will start in Girona. This is one of the many initiatives included in the program of activities prepared by the City Council, seeking a successful citizen participation. "We want Barcelona to always remember the Tour" said the mayor, Jordi Hereu.
To create the effect of a wave yellow, the colour of the Tour, the Council will provide cardboards and flags among the fans. "We want the cyclist to realize that they arrived in the city," added the delegate of Sports Pere Alcober. Yellow will also be on public transport during the Tour's days.

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The building of the new marine zoo starts in Barcelona

The bulldozers began yesterday to draw the surplus lands of the place on which the future marine zoo will be rised in Barcelona. It was the starting step of a reform of the City Zoo, that should allow to shift part of the zoo's collection from the Parc de la CiutadellaThe City Council is planning to spend in 2009 15 off the total 200 million Euros to create a new marine zoo and update the current one.

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Seventy years against the Catalan culture

Seventy years ago Franco's troops occupied Catalonia and began a dark period for the Catalan culture and language. This was remembered yesterday more than 500 people who attended the event sponsored by the Commissió de la Dignitat, the Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana (AELC) and the Associació d'Actors i Directors de Llengua Catalana (AADPC).

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Catalan public libraries hit new record: 20 million users

Never such as access to knowledge was so widespread. Public libraries are becoming not only centres or access to knowledge and culture (through consultation and lending of books and audiovisuals, and free internet access), but also hotspots of social gathering of different generations of Catalans and newcomers. In Catalonia, the 333 public libraries jumped last year for the first time the barrier of 20 million users. The Catalan minister of Culture, Joan Manuel Tresserras, admitted yesterday that the economic crisis may be one of the reasons behind the increasing number if users, but also insisted on the "improvement and modernization" of these facilities.

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New green points in Barcelona

This month, Barcelona will have five more green point in the districts of Les Corts (Jardins Bacardí) Nou Barris (the square of Basses de la Peira) Sarria-Sant Gervasi (in Frederic Soler square), Eixample (Jardins Montserrat) and Robbie Keane (Dante-Lletres street). The green points are facilities for small reusable, recyclable materials or special waste collection. These new green points will be added to the existing network of the city, which already has 12 collection sites.

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Vueling airlines to fire 100 workers

Vueling announced the supression of the aircraft maintenance department, firing more than 100 people after the merger with the other low-cost airline Clickair. Maintenance duties will be transferret to Iberia, the main shareholder of the new merged company.
The aircraft maintenance department employed about 90 people in Barcelona, 15 in Madrid and 6 in Sevilla.

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The cheaper the better

Two shirts for 30 euros, an apron for 8 or a shirt for 15 are some of the reduced prices displayed yesterday at the street fair promoted by Cor Eixample, the association of merchants and professionals of the right side of the Eixample. An exhibition that took out the Rector Oliveras street with huge offers from 25 shopkeepers, as a way to fight against the crisis that seems to be affecting everyone. Elisabet Prat, Cor Eixample manager, said that the customers are 'very happy': 'Many have said that we should do this more often. »

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Barcelona is hungry

Soup kitchens and parishes that distribute food to needy people are facing a huge increase in the demand. The Food Bank Organization, which supply food products to over 500 organizations, warns that the beneficiaries increased 25% this year, an unprecedented leap. In addition, the profile of the users of the dining and charitable organizations is changing. Months ago, they were mostly immigrants. Now, they are more middle-aged natives, who have lost their jobs as a result of the crisis and not have enough income to cover their basic needs.
(Photo: Oriol Duran. A long queue in Pompeia parish)

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Ryanair says NO to Barcelona's airport

Ryanair has no intention to open an operational base at Barcelona's El Prat airport, because of the high taxes imposed by the spanish airports authority, Aena. said yesterday in a press conference the chairman of Ryanair , Michael O'Leary. Based on Ryanair's own data, Barcelona could lose this year to 6 million passengers due to the crisis, a situation that the presence of the low-cost company would help to avoid. O'Leary confirmed the strong commitment with Girona and Reus airports and the strong role of the company in this situation. "We love the crisis," he said.

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Fundació Dalí, against Hollywood films about the genius

In front of the accumulation of film projects on the life of Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí warned the US film industry that "there are red lines that must be respected", in words of the manager of the foundation, Joan Manuel Sevillano. The foundation has authorized only the single film already filmed and ready to be unveiled, Little Ashes, in which Paul Morrison explores the relationship between the writer Federico Garcia Lorca and Dali. "There are things in the film we do not like, but the foundation is not a censor, and at least you can see the intention to be minimally rigorous", something that the foundation does not appreciate in projects like the one led by Al Pacino and Antonio Banderas. Yesterday, the foundation presented the report of 2008 and three new acquisitions.

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Barcelona will adapt all its bus stops for disabled people

In Barcelona there are 2,135 bus stops, of which only 335, ie 16%, are adapted for people with reduced mobility. Having achieved a bus fleet 100% accessible, the removal of architectural barriers at the bus stops is one of the major matters pending in the City of Barcelona. For this reason the Council has decided to dedicate 3.7 million euros from the State funds for local investment. The action must be completed by the end of the year, which means 39 adapted stops each week.

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Tarraagona wants to improve its Roman heritage

The tourism competitiveness' plan for Roman Tarraco is starting the engine. Four months before its official launch, the ambitious initiative was presented, with the support of the Spanish State and the Generalitat. The Catalan government will fund 4.2 million euros over the next three years to the project, to will create a ring of towns with Roman heritage -Tarragona, Constantí, Altafulla and Roda de Berà, and consolidate the area as a main destination of cultural tourism in the Mediterranean. Among the proposals, there is the creation of a Tourist Center to reinforce the Roman Tarraco heritage worldwide.

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Barcelona, city of entrepreneurs

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) believes that Barcelona is a world reference as an example of the fast economic transformation of a declining industrial city, which has managed to become "a dynamic economy with a world-class reputation.". The international organization puts the Catalan capital as a model to follow in the first in a series of meetings that will bring to Toronto, Cape Town, London and Glasgow, among others, in order to open a process of reflection on the local role and the role of local authorities in speeding up the economic recovery of cities. In October, they will be back in Barcelona to present the conclusions of the tour.
The organization presented yesterday in Barcelona a study that analyzed the policies of the city in the promotion of entrepreneurship and noted that the city has no outstanding weaknesses, but the need to increase the scale of their actions. Greg Clark, who is chairman of the Local Development Forum of the OECD, explained yesterday that Barcelona has managed to successfully develop its economy, but now another approach is needed. The focus should be put in the diversification of sectors (as has been done so far, where in fields such as fashion, design and food), now perhaps in areas where innovation and creativity are leaders.

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Barcelona, a virtual city

Barcelona will be a virtual city in a year, literally. The City Council yesterday presented the draft of the Barcelona 3D project, which will allow to visit the Catalan capital with a click, thanks to a digital reconstruction in three dimensions to be consulted from the municipal website. The Council is developing the project thanks to an agreement with the Fundació Barcelona Media. In a first phase, which must be completed within a year, 120,000 buildings in the city will be digitally rendered. 250 buildings will receive special treatment, to make them accesible with extra details, even froom the inside. In a second phase, for which there is no timetable, the street furniture will be added. (Picture: A virtual image of a street of El Born neighborhood)

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El Corte Ingles to open in Tarragona in 2010

"El Corte Ingles" obtained permission to build a new mall on a car park lot from the City Council of Tarragona. The company and the council continue to negotiate the final project of the building, because right now there are still differences of opinion. The company has extended the deadline and expects to open in the first half of 2010. (Photo: the place where the new mall will be builded)

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El Punt newspaper celebrates its 30th anniversary with an all-new website

"Independent, Catalan, local and democratic", was El Punt's motto 30 years ago, and it still is. In a world where information is increasingly global and universal, the leading newspaper in Catalan believes that local information is what readers want. El Punt celebrates the anniversary updating and improving its digital edition featuring one web page for each of the municipalities in Catalonia. On paper, El Punt already has seven daily editions around Catalonia, and two weekly editions in French Catalonia and Valencia. Since today, its digital edition is already in every city and town of Catalonia.

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The new Passeig de Sant Joan in Barcelona to eliminate two lanes of traffic

The new Passeig de San Juan will have two fewer lanes of traffic for cars -one in each direction, widen the pavements are 4.5 meters, and will become a real boulevard. This is the project presented yesterday by the district of Eixample. Now begins a process of consultation with residents and organizations. Works are set to begin before the end of this year. The first works will be between the Arc de Triomphe and Tetuan square. The reform will cost 3.5 million euros and will be ready at the end of 2010.

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Susi is depressed

The elephant Susi has no interaction with anything around it. Hardly moves. Doesn't eat anything thrown by the visitors to the zoo, either a rubber ball or a cut of ham. According to experts, these symptoms reveal that Susi is in depression, anxiety and boredom.
Susi, who was born in the wild in Africa 36 years ago, lives since 2002 in the zoo of Barcelona in an area of just over 1,000 m² and since last year is alone. His only companion, the elephant Alice, died in February 2008. Alice was the dominant female. An important role for elephants, because their social organization is matriarchal.
To be in a healthy environment, Susi should live with other elephants in a semi-open space of at least 20,000 sq. m., according to the recommendations of the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
The association Libera has begun collecting signatures for releasing Susi from Barcelona's Zoo. The Born Free Foundation joined the campaign to save Susi. Elephants in zoos are living fewer years, have few children and are affected by psychological disorders, as explained yesterday the biologist and spokesman for Born Free Foundation Daniel Turner.

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Ciutat Vella district in Barcelona has closed 474 illegal tourist apartments in 10 months

In the last ten months, the District of Ciutat Vella in Barcelona closed 474 tourist apartments operating illegally. This means 33% of all 1,396 apartments for tourists existing in Ciutat Vella (Old Quartet). 683 apartments were legalized. Rita Gonzalez, Councilor of the Ciutat Vella, said that the regulatory actions will not stop here. (Photo: Oriol Duran).

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Barcelona starts today the demolition of the fascist monument to Primo de Rivera

Today begins the demolition of the monument to José Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the Falange fascist movement, at the confluence of the avenue Diagonal with Josep Tarradellas. This is one of the last remaining vestiges of the fascist regime in Barcelona. The monument was inaugurated in 1964, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Falange Española. During the early years of democracy it became a normal concentration of local fascists. In 1981 fascist symbols were dropped, but the structure was mantained.

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