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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People walking around the Eixample district of Barcelona are often stunned by the magnificent buildings and their fine decorative pieces. However, most of these can only be admired from the outside. If you’re interested in seeing some superb examples of the furniture, paintings, and decoration that filled these beautiful buildings, don’t miss the Museum of Catalan Modernism.
Located in the heart of Barcelona’s Eixample, the Museum of Catalan Modernism occupies the ground floor and basement of a building by one of Barcelona’s most prolific architects, Enric Sagnier. Sagnier built many of Barcelona’s public buildings, including the old Law Courts on Passeig Lluis Companys, the Customs House at the bottom of the Rambla, just across the road from the Gothic Shipyards and the church by Tibidabo funfair. If you’ve seen Woody Allen’s film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, you’ve
seen one of his many family dwellings, this particular one being built for Manuel Doncel and featuring Plateresque ornamentation.
Back to the Museum.
There is a collection of beautiful furniture and marquetry work by some of the period’s best cabinetmakers and designers: cabinets, sideboards and other pieces by Joan Busquets, chairs, office furniture and other pieces by Gaudí; religious and decorative marquetry by Gaspar Homar.
Eusebi Arnau was a leading sculptor when the Eixample was being built and his superb decorative vase made for the entrance hall of the Garriga I Nogués building (Diputació 250, also by Sagnier) is on display. There are also pieces in terracotta and marble by Enric Clarasó a member of the Quatre Gats and friend of Ramon Casas and Santiago Rusiñol.
There is a large selection of characteristically modernist polychrome terracotta busts by Lambert Escaler.
Josep Llimona, one of modernism’s greatest exponents is also well represented. With Gaudí he founded the Cercle Artistic de Sant Lluc (which is still active) to defend an ideal image of art and preserve a spirit of Christian commitment.
Finally, there are several charming stained glass screens and windows, the one called “Life” by Joaquim Mir is stunning in its vitality. So is the screen and doorway at the entrance.
Modernist painters are of course present, the languid ladies of Gaspar Camps, the elegant Parisian ladies of Joan Cardona, Ramon Casas’ studies of Barcelona characters, the military themes of ex-soldier Josep Cusachs and many more.

www.mmcat.cat
C/ Balmes, 48 08007 Barcelona
+34 932722896
Google map: bit.ly/HSvVc4

* 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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Take the lift to the roof-top terrace for smashing views over the harbour. Open from 11.00 till 01.30 at the weekends and till midnight during the week you can book a meal or just enjoy a drink and the view. There’s live music and cocktails too. It’s a great place to cool off and chill out.

Passeig Colóm, 12, 08002 Barcelona
+34 93 268 90 90
www.hduquesadecardona.com/
Google map: bit.ly/pwC1kz

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On the other side of the Cathedral, down Carrer de Montjuïc del Bisbe, which is to the right of the small square by the cloisters, you’ll find the Plaça Sant Felip Neri, a most beautiful square with trees and a fountain. The pock marks you can see in the stonework of the church were caused by a bomb dropped by the Italian Air force during the Civil War. All the people, mostly children, sheltering in the church crypt were killed by the concussion. The square is mostly made from buildings moved stone by stone when the Vía Laietana was opened. Across the square you’ll see the terrace of the Beautiful Hotel Neri where you can get a bite to eat and a drink from 10.00 till 23.00 and until midnight at weekends. If the square is not too busy, it’s a fine place to sit. Pop inside the hotel and wonder at the proportions of the stonework.

Sant Sever, 5, 08002 Barcelona
+34 93 304 0655
www.hotelneri.com
Google map: bit.ly/okgP2j

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If you go up the left hand side of the Cathedral you’ll very soon come to a tiny square opposite the original entrance, which is on the right-hand side. The square is called Sant Iu, as is the Cathedral entrance. To the left of the door you’ll see a relief carving of Catalonia’s first Count-King, Wilfred the Shaggy, killing a dragon with a great bough torn from a tree. However, that’s another story and you can read about it on my website, if you’re interested… High on the Cathedral wall to the left is the door the old Catalan Kings used to enter the Cathedral when their palace was just across the way and joined by a now defunct bridge.
Across the square from the Cathedral is the entrance to the Museu Marès. Inside this wonderful Gothic courtyard, tucked into a far corner among Roman columns and behind the orange trees and fountain is the Summer Café: a delightful spot to sit and restore depleted energies, write that postcard and get outside something long and cool.
Open from ten till ten, April to September.

www.cafedestiu.com
Plaça Sant Iu 5, 08002 Barcelona
+34 93 268 25 98
Google map: bit.ly/roK0zk

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Café Flanders is on the corner of a pleasant square at the farther end of Gràcia, a square retaining much more local flavour than the other, more central ones. An ideal spot for relaxation and a quiet drink to regroup after shopping in Gràcia or visiting the nearby Park Güell. A fine selection of beers and wines. You can find them on Facebook.
As a curiosity, there’s a bronze statue of Rovira i Trias, one of Cerdà’s competitors in the tender for designing Barcelona’s Eixample; his plans, based on concentric developments around the old town, lie discarded at his feet.

Plaça Rovira i Trias, 1 Barcelona, 08024
+34 93 284 3070
Google map: bit.ly/pbXL76

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The undisputed classic of the Plaça del Sol, the Café del Sol is a must if you’re in the area. The whole square gets jam-packed with tables and chairs to the point of making hard to tell to which bar is which. It would be a shame to miss it outside peak hours though.

Plaça del Sol 16, 08012 Barcelona
+34 934 155 663
Google map: bit.ly/mXmLRo

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Located on the corner of the Plaça de la Virreina, the Bar Virreina has a great terrace with views of a modernist building by Gaudí’s assistant Francesc Berenguer and the church of Sant Joan, burned down during Barcelona’s Tragic Week in 1909. Berenguer who had built it, restored it; it was burned down again in 1936 and restored once more after the Civil War.
Back to business. The Bar Virreina has a good selection of imported beers and does a tasty sandwich.

www.virreinabar.com‎
Plaça Virreina, 1, 08024 Barcelona
+34932 379 880
Google map: bit.ly/rgsSxb

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Exhausted and thirsty after negotiating the crowded Rambles? Tired after traipsing around the shops on Portal del Àngel? Pop into this four-star hotel on the Plaça de Catalunya itself and relax in the shade of the apsis of Romanic Santa Ana Church. (That’s two secrets in one.) Incredible as it may seem, 30 seconds from Plaça de Catalunya is a Romanic church complete with beautiful cloisters; this hotel backs onto it and you can see parts of it from the terrace. Open all day so you can have breakfast, a set lunch and a la carte dinner, as well as drinks. Don’t miss it.

www.oliviahotels.es
Plaça Catalunya 19, 08002 Barcelona
+34 93 316 87 00

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A member of the same group as the Granados 83, the Claris offers cocktails and drinks on their rooftop terrace between 18.00 and 01.00. Lunch and dinner are also available. The Hotel Claris is located on the very busy Carrer Pau Claris and is a very handy refuge if you’re nearby and feeling the heat. Along with classic cocktails, El Terrat del Claris makes fine non-alcoholic cocktails for those who prefer them.

www.derbyhotels.com/en/hotel-claris/
Pau Claris, 150, Barcelona 08009. Spain
+34 93 487 62 62
Google map: bit.ly/qBo3Zl

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The Hotel Condes de Barcelona occupies two buildings, on both side of Carrer Mallorca on the corner of Passeig de Gràcia. The building on the lower side is home to Alaire, a rooftop terrace serving cocktails, drinks and snacks and open to the public. You get great views over Passeig de Gràcia, Casa Milà (La Pedrera) included, and a glimpse of the Sagrada Familia in the background.
It’s a very pleasant place for a snack during the day, though not cheap, and there is live music on Wednesdays and Sundays in summer.

www.condesdebarcelona.com
Passeig de Gràcia, 73-75. Planta 8ª, 08008 Barcelona
+34 93 445 32 26
Google map: bit.ly/qBo3Zl

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This roof-top retreat is a personal favourite. Relax by the small pool and enjoy a quiet restorative or snack. The bar opens from 18.00 till 01.00 during the week and till 02.00 at the weekends.

www.derbyhotels.com/en/hotel-granados-83
Carrer Enric Granados, 83, Barcelona 08008
+34 93 492 96 70
Google map: bit.ly/nbbHUp

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This is a modern hotel on Carrer Roselló between Aribau and Enric Granados. To the side of the hotel are gates leading to one of L’Eixample’s interior patios. This little area is known as the Jardins Joan Brossa after the contemporary poet.
Part of the gardens is given over to the hotel restaurant and bar terrace. You can enjoy a meal or drink here in peace and quiet surrounded by greenery and the curious interior architecture of L’Eixample.
If the gates to the jardins happen to be closed –after about eight in the evening– just walk through the hotel and out the back doors onto the terrace.
However, avoid this place at all costs around five in the afternoon in term time. It quickly becomes a hell-hole of screaming brats who, freed from the tyranny of their teachers, burn off their accumulated frustrations and blast your tranquility to jagged bits.

Rosselló, 191, 08036 Barcelona
+34 93 238 63 55
www.eveniahotels.com/hotelrossello
Google map: bit.ly/qN1EpO

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Santa Maria del Pi embodies all the strength, solidity and creativity of the Catalan spirit. The huge single nave transmits a sensation of spirituality, space and mass all at once and its sheer width is striking.
Even the chapels between the buttresses contribute to the expanse instead of chopping it up as they do in some other churches.
The rose window, set in its cliff-like wall of stone, is said to be the largest in the world; seen from inside the church when the afternoon sun falls on it from over the buildings, it is spectacular.
Beneath the rose window and above the door is another outstanding feature and evidence of the great vision and skill of the Catalan architects and builders of the middle ages: the shallow stone arch supporting the choir. It spans the entire width of the church and its rise is so little as to make the arch itself seem an impossibility. It looks far too flat to stand, let alone bear the weight of the choir. Yet its shape is so harmonious and effortlessly elegant it leaves you breathless with admiration.
Building began in 1319 and was completed in 1391 meaning the church was one of the many Gothic buildings started during a period of prosperity but completed during the successive ravages of epidemics, plague and violent unrest.
The tower, finished off flat like most Gothic towers in Barcelona, (Why is the one in the Plaça del Rei different? That story is yet to come…) was probably finished around 1461. Designed by master architect Bartomeu Mas, work began in 1376. It is said that the master builder, desperate to find funds to complete the church, made a pact with the Devil. But the Devil only agreed to provide him with the materials required in exchange for the builder’s soul, to be delivered when the 100th step of the tower was laid. “Right-ho”, said the builder and promptly built up to the 99th and then went on to finish the rest of the church. This took so long he died of old age before getting round to laying the 100th step thus cheating the devil of his dues.

C/ Cardenal Casañas, 16, 08002 Barcelona, Spain
+34 933 18 47 43
www.labasilica.es
Google map: bit.ly/kvEPPm

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This fine shop selling knives, cutlery and razors of all kinds is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Ramón Roca learned his trade in Germany and France, came back to Barcelona to open his shop in the plaça de Sant Josep Oriol. Ramón was one of the few craftsmen of his day capable of making fine blades and scalpels to the standards demanded by surgeons and he brought a special anvil from Paris to make them on. You can still see it in the shop in la Plaça del Pi, which dates from 1916.
Nowadays Ganiveteria Roca has a range of over 9,000 cutting tools of all kinds.
One of the things I like to buy for my friends who enjoy cooking is one of Roca’s own branded knives. Made of fine, non-stainless steel the knives hold a keen edge and their rounded wooden handles give them a pleasant feel. They look good too. I bought mine in 1978 and providing I continue to keep it clean and sharp it should last for ever.
Personal preferences apart, Roca has fist class knives from the world’s most prestigious manufacturers of Japan, Finland, France, Germany, Switzerland… collectors will always find something of interest and so will yachtsmen and outdoor enthusiasts. The new range of ceramic knives is attracting a lot of attention.
Catalunya’s finest and most well-known chefs are regular customers at Roca.
There are scissors for every conceivable application, even ones with double eye rings for people who work with the disabled, spring-loaded scissors for people suffering from arthritis and an astonishingly wide range of nail cutters.
The traditional cut-throat razor and its accessories are still one of the best sellers.
Roca is in the building that housed the shopkeepers guild and was probably the first to be decorated in the sgraffito style. The façade bears the date 1613.

Plaça del Pi 3, 08002 Barcelona
+39 933021241
www.ganiveteriaroca.cat/
Google map: bit.ly/lO9zmv

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In other words, the street market for artisan food producers. There’s something for everybody here:
- Honey- a great variety of honeys, my current favourite is the orange blossom honey with its subtle citrus tang and fine nose. In winter when its cold and wet, I like to settle down of an evening with a glass of hot milk liberally dosed with thyme honey and brandy – great before bed when you have a touch of cold, or even if you don’t.
- Handmade honeycomb candles and moulded beeswax
- Marmalades and jams made from fresh local fruits
- Dried wild and cultivated mushrooms and truffles from the foothills of the Pyrenees. Monbolet specialises in wild and cultivated mushrooms and also prepares pre-mixed, ready-to-cook rice and pasta dishes flavoured with several kinds of wild mushrooms. If you fancy trying your hand at making a Catalan fricandó –a braised steak stew– buy some moixernons, tiny button mushrooms.
- Goat and cow’s milk cheeses. Cheese lovers are spoiled for choice. I’ve tried lots of these and every one has been first class, some are drier and stronger, some more softer and smoother, but all first-rate. My all-time favourite is the creamy goats’ cheese called Formatge mantegós de cabra.
- Wines. Ecologically produced wines and sparkling wines from the Tenes valley.
- Pastries and biscuits. Typically Catalan pastries and biscuits all made using ecologically produced flour: deliciously crunchy and crumbly carquinyolis, made with eggs, sugar and almonds; chocolate, orange and almond biscuits; savoury cookies made with olive oil, eggs, herbs and spices; wholemeal and fibre rich biscuits…

- Dairy produce. Fresh cottage cheese, yoghurts, kefir, honey, marmalades, crème caramel from Can Corder, pioneer in high-quality, kilometre 0 dairy production.
- Herbs. Single herbs and mixtures to alleviate all conditions. Galangal to stimulate appetite, camomile to help digestion, herb mixtures for calming burns, easing pain; artichoke and bitter herbs for detoxing your liver, thyme for clearing your chest.

Fira d’ Artisans
Plaça del Pi
The first and third Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays of each month.
11.00 – 14.30 and 17.00 – 21.30
Google map: bit.ly/j3LF4b

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Jover is a haberdasher’s shop established in 1897. The shop is very popular with young people looking for interesting items to personalise their wardrobe. French ladies in particular also flock into Jover, delighting in the colours, textures and design of the ribbons, tapes, braids and other materials on display. The shop itself is very pretty and the assistants seem to know exactly which drawer or box to open to satisfy each request. Worth a peek at least.

Cardenal Cassanyes 14, 08002 Barcelona
+39 933 178 993
Google map: bit.ly/l7mAga

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The first stop for vegetarians and others overwhelmed by an excess of Iberian ham, fuet –cured Catalan sausage– and all the other delicious local food that can be a little resource-intensive is Juicy Jones: great for Vegan salads and a variety of juices. Service is good, prices are too, and most people I know who’ve been there are keen to go back. The guacamole is very popular and the noodles and veg done in the wok are a great favourite. Try calling before going if you want a sit-down lunch, the place is quite small.

Cardenal Cassanyes 7, 08002 Barcelona
+39 93 302 43 30
Google map: bit.ly/jXp88r

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One of Barcelona’s several traditional candle shops and located at number 5 since 1826. There are the traditional votary candles, fancy ones for baptisms and communions, candles you have personalised with your loved-ones names, anti-mosquito candles and modern designs to tempt the traveller. Gallisa also sells religious figurines and the traditional Christmas statuettes.

Cardenal Casañas, 5, 08002, Barcelona
+39(0)93 302 69 87
www.gallissa.com/
+39 93 302 69 87

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