On the 13 – 15 July designers, entrepreneurs, cool hunters, buyers meet at the Brandery, Barcelona’s urban fashion show.
Aside from the rich and varied professional programme is Brandtown, where fashion brands interact directly with their public.
The programme is interesting and varied:
Brandstands where major brands like Custo, Replay and Superdry present their products to the public with fun, games and activities.

Exhibitions: Fashion & Art, Fashion & Fetish a mix of creativity, transgression and elegance in which artists, painters and graffiti artists will perform live to fill the show with avant-garde art, music and design.
New Talent Contest in which young designers from fashion schools get the chance to present their designs and win awards for creativity.
Brand Factory a multidisciplinary space for designer articles, handcrafts, and sophisticated or singular techniques.

Workshops. This is the fun part where you coaches and stylists can turn you into a catwalk model. Or you might like to learn moulage, fitting cloth directly onto a dressmaker’s dummy. Or perhaps design your own knitted cotton garment from a T-shirt roll. Or create a look-book from cuttings. Or create accessories, rag-dolls, ephemeral jewellery. Or…

Workshops are free when you book your Brandtown ticket.
For information on the workshops and how to book them see: media.firabcn.es/content/S094012/doc/doc_tbs2012_ws_en.pdf

There are also concerts and music with Human League, Stand Up Against Heart Crime and several other bands and DJs including Shelby Grey and DJ2D2.

www.thebrandery.com/
The main event is at the Fira de Barcelona in Plaça Espanya.
For information on the workshops and how to book them see: media.firabcn.es/content/S094012/doc/doc_tbs2012_ws_en.pdf
Google map: bit.ly/LMxkVi

* PeterGuest is our Been there local for Barcelona. You can read his profile here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/barcelona-local-peter-guest.jsp and follow his tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/PeterGuest. Meet more of our locals here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/trails/been-there-locals.jsp

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Barcelona’s summer festival of theatre, dance, music and more starts on Saturday 30th
June and goes on till the end of July. As the website proudly announces, The Grec 2012 Festival of Barcelona is about to begin! It will start with a great party, open to all, with free admission, featuring the fusion rhythms of Canteca de Macao and La Troba Kung-Fú and “Pedalejant cap al cel”, a show by the Antwerp-based aerial and visual theatre company Theater Tol.
Then, starting the very next day, July 1, the city will host a huge programme of theatre, dance, circus, the finest music and many other activities, right through to July 31st.
The inaugural party takes place on Passeig Lluis Companys, that’s the big wide avenue just above the Parc de la Ciutadella.
I saw the visual theatre company Theater Tol quite a few years ago in another summer
festival and if this year’s show is anything like the one I saw, it will be visually stunning and breathtakingly beautiful.

Sala Montjuic.
One of the popular on going events of the festival is the Sala Montjuic. Held in the dry moat at Montjuic Castle near where Catalonia’s last Republican President was murdered by the fascists after the civil war, the summer evenings are given over to the more peaceful pursuits of outdoor cinema and concerts. At least on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. All films are in their original version with Spanish subtitles,
although the odd one might be dubbed in Catalan and begin after dark, at 22.00.
Concerts begin at 21.00. Tickets cost 5 euros and you can get them online. The box office opens at 20.30. You can rent chairs for 3 euros. With a pre-prepared picnic it’s a very pleasant, cool way to spend an evening.
A great way of getting there is to take the Funicular from Parallel, then the cable car,
with all Barcelona spread out below you, to the top.
Otherwise there are special buses, you can use your T-10 pass, from Plaça Espanya.
One will take you back after the film or concert.

www.salamontjuic.org/?lg=2.
www.grec.bcn.cat

* PeterGuest is our Been there local for Barcelona. You can read his profile here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/barcelona-local-peter-guest.jsp and follow his tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/PeterGuest. Meet more of our locals here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/trails/been-there-locals.jsp

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This amazing festival and fiesta is a cacophony of light and sound for a week as Barcelona celebrates its Patron saint. A run of fire, dragons, giants, fireworks and the study of Cava are accompanied by numerous free music festivals.

There is more information at www.barcelonaflats.co.uk/whats-on-guide-la-merce-festival.htm

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I never realised Catalonia was different from Spain. It has its own language, culture and traditions and some of the most incredible festivals I have ever seen. One of the most authentic I saw was in the Pyrenees Mountains in July. 150 locals ran down the mountain side carrying enormous flaming logs to ward off evil nature spirits. From the valley we saw a red snaking line, and when the log bearers reached the village music started and everything went haywire! There are so many other awesome festivals, with human castles, devil fire runs and giants. Definitely try to see one as these are authentic real life rituals, some of which are 1000 years old. Pagan traditions are definitely alive in Catalonia, so if you're a Travel Troll like me - head out of Barcelona into the rural Catalan villages.

There is a company that organizes small group trips to Catalan festivals for English and Spanish speakers: www.cultourabcn.com

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Anti-Sonar is an alternative to Sonar which runs in Barcelona at the same time. It's free and much more fun.

Whereas Sonar attracts a moneyed, trendy, international crowd, Anti-Sonar is an anarchic impromptu festival for the scruffier inhabitants of Barcelona who can't afford or simply resent the festival and the hordes of techno tourists that take over the city for the weekend. Don't expect any big name DJs. Expect unrelenting hard techno, and bring your own water, beer, absinthe, and suncream, as you'll be dancing through into the morning.

Usually located on the outskirts of the city near to the Sonar by Night festival site, follow the crowds or ask around

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Merce is the city's patron saint and this festival falls around her feast day in late September. Though its roots are religious, it's a celebration of all that's best about Catalan and Spanish culture.

The most thrilling event is the Fire Run, a Catalan tradition held on the Friday night of the weekend festivities. The people of the city pour into the streets, while mischievous devils dressed in red come running along, brandishing tall poles that spew forth fireworks.

The aim is for the people to defend the city from the invading devils - amid the hilarious chaos, you find yourself gathering with others to ambush a devil, then jump up and down a few times chanting something (I was doing that "rhubarb rhubarb" thing), and finally pinning the devil down on the ground. Then everyone gets up and does it all over again - many times. The closer you get to the devils, the less chance you have of getting hit by the fireworks. Meanwhile, duelling bands of drummers come in waves down the street playing very dance-able Brazilian-style beats.

The quality of entertainment at Merce is outstanding. Among the performers playing free concerts last year were Ben Lee (at a small, out-of-the-way square) and a trio of Spain's most prominent flamenco musicians.

All over Barcelona
www.bcn.es/merce/

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It's a festival in mid-September in homage to the patron saint of Barcelona. There are several traditional Catalan cultural features, including Sardanes (dancing in circles), Castellers (human castles) and parades of Gigants (papier mache dolls two storeys high). Apart from that, there is usually a parallel cultural programme involving live music on stages in the city and/or club events. Apart from celebrating La Virgen de La Merce, it is the first major event after most Catalans come back into town after the traditional exodus to the coast or the mountains in August, a hellishly hot month when locals usually leave the city to tourists who don't know better.

September in Barcelona - all over the place

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Electronic media and music festival in Barcelona every June. It has two elements, Sonar by day is centred on MACBA and is a perfect way to spend time in between eating and drinking. Sonar by night is not for the faint-hearted, situated out in the suburbs, its an all-night party on a grand scale.

www.sonar.es

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Ten-storey-high castles made from humans are built upwards into the blue hot skies. A little five year old shimmies up the concentrated mass of bodies, straddles the top section and raises one hand in the air while a massive burst of cheering and applause breaks free from the Catalan crowd. This is one of the stunning traditions celebrated regularly in Catalonia. The company, culTOURa, runs tours to these events from Barcelona centre.

tel: (+34) 93 473 1731; email: info@cultourabcn.com;
www.cultourabcn.com

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