Julio Redacción

The Fiesta Mayor de Barcelona is about to get underway with a whole week of celebrations and hundreds of activities ahead. La Mercè 2014 will transform the city with music, gunpowder and tradition in an especially important year.

Art and popular culture will fill Barcelona with the Fiestas de la Mercè 2014. With castellers (human towers) and correfocs, dance, fireworks and music, these days are always some of the best in the Catalan calendar.

There will be more than 600 activities and spectacles for all audiences, bringing the party to every street and square in the city. The celebrations will begin on Friday 19th and will end on Wednesday 24th September, the day of La Mercè.

Once more, the National Day of Catalonia (La Diada) is celebrated in Barcelona. This is a date that is always enthusiastically enjoyed, with of course an undoubtable political undertone, but also a symbology which goes beyond borders.

The city of Barcelona celebrates every year the National Day of Catalonia, offering a varied programme of activities, some of which are commemorative and some other, historical but all are part of this lively Catalan holiday. The celebration this year started on September 8th and will last until Sunday, September 13th, date on which Mercè Festival commences.

The commemoration of Barcelona’s fall against Bourbon troops during the War of the Spanish Succession opens old wounds, but is also a fundamental part of Catalan history. On September 11th, 1714, after 14 months of siege in the city, a phase of the history of Barcelona ended and a new era began.

Barceloneta is the product of the marine tradition of Barcelona and the new projects of a city on the Mediterranean. New buildings and fisherman’s houses, a luxurious port and beaches for which Barcelona is famous around the world.

When you think about the relationship of Barcelona and the Mediterranean, the Barceloneta district will no doubt come to mind. It’s a leisurely area which has been popular since about halfway through the eighteenth century, when fishermen decided to settle here due to its proximity to the sea.

The district does preserve some of the original charm, with its small streets and low houses which give off a calm and welcoming seaside atmosphere. These details make Barceloneta one of the areas with so much charm that even large-scale tourism can’t hide it.

This fishing village within the city also stands out for its magnificent beaches. All of them are easy to get to, well known and surrounded by places where you can get something to eat or drink, or even enjoy a whole dinner by the sea.

Away from the tourist circuits of the city, among the districts and alleyways set back from the centre, some charming hidden gems of Barcelona are hidden away. These are often unknown places, even among locals of the city.

Along with many well-known sites, Barcelona also has its hidden gems which also impress visitors and locals alike.

A cosmopolitan city, Barcelona also has an aspect of simplicity which charms and enchants. That feeling compels people to explore and get to know the city through its new corners, where you can always go for a stroll or disconnect from the bustle of the rest of the city.

There are squares, passages and cloysters from another era. Passing through them, you will be able to imagine an entirely different city which no longer exists, but whose essence still lives on in that area of this historical city.

With the 90th anniversary of the Barcelona Metro, the underground railway is preparing a series of events which will remind us of its past and show us its future.

The metropolitan railway of Barcelona links some of the best areas of Catalonia and recalls a large number of stories which have come to light thanks to this celebration.

With a network which stretches over 102.6km and 141 stations, the Barcelona metro is in a great state.

All kinds of activities will be offered for both users of the metro and those simply succumbing to their nostalgia, allowing anyone to find out a bit more. And it won’t just scratch the surface of the subject, but much more.

The 22@Barcelona area, the technological district of the city, is on the verge of carrying out a new project. It will be Barcelona’s inspiration as the model of a smart city and the developer of the «Internet of Things«.

The historical Ca l’Alier building, located in the centre of the 22@Barcelona district, formerly Poblenau, will be the epicentre of the future technology hub which Cisco Systems and Schneider Electric want to develop in the city.

Cisco’s new 1720m2 innovation centre will we the fifth of the global centres which the multinational enterprise owns around the world. Currently they have others in Songdo (South Korea) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and they are just about to add another two in Toronto (Canada) and in Germany.