Life & Style

Barcelona’s Magic Fountain of Montjuïc will stop working from this Tuesday until the 6^th of February for maintenance reasons and also to improve its lighting and sound features. During this period of time, new colour LEDs will be installed along with a recirculation pump and two webcams while the sound system will be improved. The Magic Fountain, which attracts 2.5 million visitors each year, closes after several busy weeks, during which it offered Christmas carols and traditional music to tourists. It also played a part in New Year’s Eve festivities or the celebration of the Three Wise Men’s arrival in Barcelona.

Masella has committed itself to night skiing and has now become the resort with the highest number of illuminated ski slopes in the Pyrenees. Last Friday, it lit for the first time 13 slopes, which have a combined length of 10 km and offer 420 meters of vertical drop to skiers. The Catalan Minister for Business and Employment, Felip Puig, who officially opened the slopes, stated that “more winter tourism offers will increase the number of skiers, develop jobs and that it is very important in these times of crisis”. It is important that “private and public companies improve their facilities and thus extend the tourist winter season”, he added. According to the Director of the resort, 500 skiers have already bought the night pass for the entire season.

The readers of the Wall Street Journal have deemed best photograph of the year a picture of the ‘Catalan Way towards independence’, a 400-kilometre-long human chain which crossed the whole of Catalonia on the 11^th of September 2013. 1.6 million Catalans took part in the demonstration, asking for independence from Spain. The winning photograph was taken by Raymond Roig and portrays participants on the heights of Pertús village (located near the French border, in the Pyrenees). It was chosen amongst the 364 pictures selected by ‘Wall Street Journal’ editors as the best photos of the year.

Following the closure of former 3-Michelin-stars ‘Can Fabes’ restaurant (50km north of Barcelona) in August 2013, 500 lots of kitchen tools, dinner services and pieces of furniture were auctioned off on Monday in Barcelona. After the death of its Chef Santi Santamaria in early 2011, the restaurant was temporarily run by his daughter until it closed down for financial reasons. The Santamaria family explained they did not want the equipment to stay packed in boxes and forgotten. On the contrary, they decided to organise an auction so that these objects could continue being used by professionals and cuisine connoisseurs alike.The Santamaria family has also presented three of the Chef’s most personal objects such as his aprons and three of his own paintings. Many renowned Catalan Chefs paid tribute to Santi Santamaria by attending the event.

Catalan ‘El Celler de Can Roca’, the ‘best restaurant in the world’ according to Restaurant magazine, will temporarily close its doors in August 2014 to take a tour in Mexico, Colombia and Peru. The Roca brothers – Joan (Main Chef), Josep (Sommelier) and Jordi (Dessert Chef) - have decided to take this ‘Roca & Roll World Tour 2014’ to “renew” the “illusion” and give “new impetus” to the “creative work” of everyone involved in the iconic three-Michelin-stars restaurant, located in Girona (North-eastern Catalonia). Thanks to this unique “adventure”, named ‘Haute cuisine with values’, Catalan cuisine reasserts its position in the highest culinary ranks at international level. This announcement occurred only a few weeks after Michelin stated that all the awarded restaurants in Catalonia had successfully retained their stars.

The Financial Vice-President Javier Faus says that the Board of Directors are studying options to build a new stadium or remodel the Camp Nou, which is Europe’s largest stadium by capacity with 99,700 seats. Faus stated “We want to secure patrimonial excellence for the next 100 years”. In addition, he explained that the FC Barcelona Board will only present building projects for referendum that are economically viable. Faus recognised that building a whole new stadium at Diagonal would be much more expensive than the rebuilding project at Les Corts. The first project would cost €600 million and the second, €300 million.

As many other cities around the globe, the Catalan capital will end the year with a vibrant street party for the first time ever. The tradition will start in 2013 and it is aiming to become a significant tourist attraction. New Year’s Eve celebrations will be “out of the ordinary”, stated the President of Barcelona’s Tourism Board, Joan Gaspart, during the presentation of the event. “Barcelona deserves, along with the numerous events it hosts each year, to hold something special for the last day of the year, just like many other cities in the world”, he added. The celebrations will be held at Maria Cristina Avenue, in front of Montjuïc’s Magic Fountain. Catalan theatre group ‘La Fura dels Baus’ will be in charge of the staging, featuring an impressive 15-meter-tall human figure.

FC Barcelona Foundation, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympafrica Foundation signed an agreement on Wednesday to extend the ‘FutbolNet’ pilot project in 34 African countries. 100,000 African children will benefit from the project each year. The agreement extends the initiative until at least 2016, after an initial pilot experience that run from April to June 2013. It is the first time that the IOC has ever signed an alliance with a sports club’s foundation. The Olympafrica FutbolNet Cup is a series of football tournaments with values based on the methodology used by the FC Barcelona Foundation.

The 2014 Catalonia Wine Guide has given top marks to the 'Teixar' 2010 (Domènech vineyard-D.O Montsant, Southern Catalonia) and to the cava Brut Gran Reserva 2000 (Enoteca Gramona La Plana, Greater Barcelona), with a 9.77 out of 10 for each of them . These two wines are the very best in Catalonia, according to this year’s guide, which was released along with a new application for smart phones, ‘Guide App'. The guide now offers a variety of information and different concepts accessible via augmented reality technology. With these innovative changes, the guide is looking to introduce Catalan wines to a wider audience, by appealing to young people.

5 Major Catalan ski resorts launch their season this weekend, on the 23^rd and the 24^th of November: La Molina, Vall de Núria, Vallter, Masella and Baqueira Beret. Thanks to the weather of these past few days, the resorts have been able to advance their opening a week earlier than initially planned. Indeed, the snowfalls have been exceptional for this time of year, ranging between 30 and 100 centimetres. Vallter was the luckiest resort with a snow thickness varying between 90 and 100 centimetres. They will be launching their new season with a party and a new range of mountain activities for all snow sports fans. The final four Catalan resorts are expected to open within the next 10 days.

Catalan cuisine continues to grow in the highest culinary ranks with 5 new restaurants winning their ever-first star and no establishment losing any already awarded star, with the only exception of Can Fabes, which shut down business. This way, the total number of Michelin stars spread across Catalan restaurants reaches 63. The newly acclaimed establishments are ‘41º’ and ‘Tickets’ in Barcelona, run by Albert Adrià, brother of world famous Chef Ferran Adrià, as well as ‘Malena’ (Gimenells, Western Catalonia), ‘L'O’ (Sant Fruitós de Bages, Central Catalonia) and ‘Les Moles’ (Ulldecona, Ebro Delta). However none of the already-starred restaurants of Catalonia received a second or even a third Michelin star, but all have successfully maintained theirs, notably ‘Best restaurant’ in the world ‘El Celler de Can Roca’. The evening was not a perfect one as Jordi Cruz’s ‘Àbac’ failed to receive the third star it was aspiring to.

The International Golf Travel Market (IGTM) fair takes place this week in PortAventura, located near Salou and Tarragona, at the Catalan Costa Daurada. By hosting this event, the world’s most important fair in the sector, the Province of Tarragona, and more specifically the Costa Daurada, aims at becoming a favourite destination for golf fans from all over the world. The fair is attended by 350 companies from 65 different countries and 1,400 professionals. The seven golf clubs in the Costa Daurada see the fair as a perfect opportunity to multiply by 3 the number of international tourists within the next two years, reaching up to 100,000 visitors. This type of tourism has a high purchasing power and an all year round season.

The National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC) has opened two terraces to its visitors who will enjoy never-seen-before panoramic views over Barcelona city and Montjuïc Mountain. This intervention was part of the investment policy of the museum to increase its revenues. Visitors will pay an entrance fee to access the roof of the ‘Palau Nacional’ while the new available space will also be rented out for concerts and other events. Director of the MNAC Pep Serra explained this initiative would help diversify the uses of the museum and give people a new “reason” to go up to Montjuïc for a visit.

Catalonia is participating in the ‘World Travel Market’ fair in London, with the objective of turning the country into a destination of reference for British tourists, and more precisely of becoming their main destination in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean. Catalonia’s stand focuses on sectors that are usually appealing to British visitors, for instance gastronomy, culture and golfing. Great-Britain has become the second largest tourist market for Catalonia after France. In the first 9 months of the year, 1.4 million tourists from the UK have visited Catalonia, generating €1 billion. The Catalan Government is expecting this trend to consolidate in the years to come.

International tourism keeps growing in Catalonia. The money that each international visitor spends in Catalonia increased by 4.9% in the first 9 months of 2013 and reached €905 per person on average. Furthermore, between January and September, foreigners visiting Catalonia spent 11.9% more than they did in the same period of 2012. According to data released by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, Catalonia has been the main destination in Spain measured by total spending volume during the first 9 months of the year. It is followed by the Balearic Islands, which registered revenue of €9.59 billion (7.5% more than 2012 figures). Valencia (also called Valencian Country) was the fifth Autonomous Community, with €4.24 billion.