The Bicing

When the Bicing service system opened in 2007 I hurried up to sign up. By that time, my bike had been stolen several times on the streets of the city, so I really thought it was the best idea that the municipality could have in order to promote healthy, clean and non-expensive transportation. The Bicing was close to collapse shortly after it opened, when the many bikes were broken and not all anchors seemed to work properly, but I have always been a regular user.

It has only (or already, depending on your perspective) been six years and I can't deny that the Bicing has become an image of Barcelona. Leaving aside complaints from pedestrians because of the incivility of some cyclists and complaints of Bicing users about the lack of good bike paths, one must admit that the public bike system has become a "thing of Barcelona", as those that I try to highlight in this blog.

Skaters at MACBA

Acording to what I have heard, the ideal city for skateboarders would be one with good weather and long hours of sunshine, compact, with a some slope and many items of urban furniture. Does this description sound familiar?
In this great city for the skaters, the perfect square would be quite broad, in order to move freely in it, but also with slopes, stairs, railings, curbs and benches. Oh, and if it is possible, also with a prominent architectural element to make good pictures!
Clearly, the skaters dreams have come true in the Plaça dels Angels of Barcelona, which is located next to the MACBA (Museu d'Art Contemporani - Contemporary Art Museum), to the point that it has become a meeting point and a world reference for skating enthusiasts.
Besides the coexistence problems that may have arisen due to the presence of the skaters, they have clearly transformed the square into a unique one, different from the rest, with its own character. And that's the point, right?

Sarrià Stadium

When I was a kid, I had a friend whose family was really keen on football. Sometimes, problems arose because his father was a big fan of Espanyol, while the mother was an inveterate "culer". Moreover, at that time it wasn't very usual for the women to be football fanatics, so the situation was curious.
The point is that, sometimes, my friend's father took us to see the Espanyol match at the Sarrià Stadium. I was not really very interested in football, but I recall having a good time everytime I went there. I had no idea that the Stadium was set in a place with a long history: it  was opened in 1923, on the road leading to the village of Sarrià, which was later annexed to the city of Barcelona. Its cost was over 170,000 pesetas, and the Sarrià was the place where the first goal in the history of the league was scored. In the 1982 World Cup Sarrià received the powerful selections of Italy, Argentina and Brazil.
Now, every time I walk around that area I can not help thinking of those football games I saw there. At the Sarrià Stadium.

Cobi (the best mascot)

We recently celebrated the 20th anniversary (yes, twenty years already!) of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Barcelona. Those of us who are old enough have a big amount of mental pictures and memories of those two weeks that changed Barcelona.

And we all have in mind which was the mascot of those Olympic Games, Cobi. We must admit that there were very few who loved him from the beginning. Perhaps we were not prepared to love that groundbreaking, cubist-inspired, Catalan shepherd, who apparently had no volume and had his nose on the side of his face.

But gradually we were able to overcome the cold welcome (to say it in nice words) welcome and get to love him, to the point that he became one of the most popular mascots in the history of the Olympics. Then came Petra, Jordi, Olivia and Forçut, who formed the Cobi troupe.

The Race of the Noses

La Cursa del Nassos (literally, The Race of the Noses) is also a tradition of the streets of Barcelona.

Actually, the tradition is going out to the streets and looking for the Man of the Noses, the man who has as many noses as days are in the year, and who can only be seen in Barcelona on 31 December.

But running through the streets of Barcelona with more than 10,000 other runners is a great way to say goodbye to the current year. I have not done it, but I've seen the race go by and encouraged the runners.

And still another tradition of this day: the good intentions for the new year. Mine is to run the Race of the Noses 2012!

Happy New Year everyone! And do not worry, there is a play in the theater in Barcelona that wisely says: next year will be better!

À la ville de...

Those of us who are old enough remember the 1992 Olympic Games and what they meant to Barcelona.

Those who are still a bit older can also remember that day 25 years ago, when Juan Antonio Samaranch opened an envelope and said in French "à la ville de ... ... (short dramatic pause dramatically) .... Barcelona! "

It is probably one of those moments that all who live in the city can remember, a day when Barcelona began a new path. Everyone has his own story that day, and I have mine:
as a 10 year-old, I was not aware of the meaning of all that, but I remember that the news ran fast at the school. Everyone was shouting, shooting soccer balls up in the air and running endlessly.


In the middle of all that inexplicable joy, there was a moment when I became aware of the importance of the day. And what made me realize that was something that happened for the first time in my life: our teacher gave us free time and we were allowed to read comics in class!

It was precisely then, reading a Tintin comic in class, when I realized the historical moment that we were living.

La Carretera de les Aigües

.... or rather, the view from La Carretera de les Aigües (literally, the road of the Water)!

In Barcelona we have a green treasure. Actually it's not only ours, but we share it with other municipalities around, and its name is Collserola. And yes, those who say that the park suffers many attacks are quite right, but it is still a privilege to have a space like this, which can be reached by public transportation. As they say, it is one of the largest metropolitan parks in the world.

The Carretera de les Aigües is the secret that the people from Barcelona keep in this green park. A walk along its route helps restore your spirit. At least it happens to me. And when I sit in one of the benches along its route, I admire the esplanade of Barcelona and I think .... Wow! No matter if the day is sunny and the visibility is good or the atmosphere is dirty, foggy, and cloudy...it always happens to me... Wow!