A day at the beach: Sitges

In 1Global Translators, the majority of us are young interns who love travelling, so that what's better than taking the train and visiting some Catalan places during the weekend? After Tossa de Mar and Tarragona, last Saturday we went to Sitges, in order to sunbathe, dive into the (frozen) sea, lie on the beach and - of course - write an article, providing new Barcelonians with all the information they need in order to better exploit their stay in Barcelona!

Sitges

Sitges is a town about 35 kilometres southwest of Barcelona and it is famous as the 'Ibiza in miniature'. Moreover, it is known for the Film Festival - dedicated to fantasy and horror movies - and for the Carnival. 

The Carnival takes place between February and March and the festivity begins on Dijious Gras (Fat Thursday), with the arrival of Rei Carnestoltes, the main protagonist of the Carnival. 

Sitges' Carnival: Rei Carnestoltes

Sitges has been blessed by Nature with a great location, between the sea and the Garraf Massif, and has quickly become a touristic destination. Moreover, Sitges has become widely popular for LGTB community, since is one of the most gay-friendly places in the world. 

On the Sitges' official touristic website, they claim that Sitges benefits of 300 sunny days per year! In addition to this, Sitges offers you over 18 kilometers of coast with beach bar services, toy libraries, sun loungers, sunshades and umbrellas, sorts facilities, massage services, sailing schools, water activities and beaches awarded with ISO 14001, EMAS and Sicted certifications.

Sitges

Sitges is considered the Spanish Saint-Tropez, because its setting by the sea and the Parc Natural del Garraf: the property prices, in fact, reach those of the most expensive European cities. 

So, if you're having a studying or working experience in Barcelona, you definitely have to visit Sitges, defy the cold water and have the first swim in the sea even at the end of April! 


Carlotta Neuenschwander

Feria de Abril de Cataluña

Do you want to breathe the Seville's air in Barcelona?

Then you cannot miss the Feria de Abril (The April Fair) in Parque del Fòrum! It is the Catalan version of the Andalusian Fairs. The most famous one is held in Seville (that is why the fair is also called “Feria de Abril de Sevilla”).

The word Feria originates from the Latin term feria, feriae. With this word Romans marked the days with no civil activities devoted to religious cult. The first Feria dates back to 1847, thanks to the authorization of Queen Isabel II. During 1920s, this celebration reached its peak and became one of the symbols of the Andalusian culture.

The Feria in Barcelona does not have, as you can imagine, the same popularity as the Seville's original celebration, but it is certainly a great event and an occasion to discover the traditional Sevillanas dance and much more.
The Feria de Abril is divided in two different areas as per two different themes.
The first one is the amusement park area, with many attractions like candy floss, shooting galleries, ferris wheel and similar attractions.

The second and main theme is the “casetas” area. The term casetas, individual decorated marquee tents which are temporarily built on the fairground, means little houses in Spanish, and in each of them you can find different groups dancing Sevillanas, eating Spanish food – such as chorizo, patatas bravas, bocadillos – singing traditional songs aloud.

In my opinion, the most beautiful feature is the huge amount of colours, dresses and people – from children to the eldest of grandparents – that you can find in the Feria. You will be fascinated by sophisticated dresses, different sounds and people.

Regarding to apparel, men wear the traditional “traje de corto” (short jacket, tight trousers and boots) and women wear “faralaes” or “trajes de flamenca” which is a flamenco-style dress.

If you love folklore, to be in the middle of crowd, singing and dancing flamenco, next year you should visit the Feria de Abril. You will absorbed by the Andalusian atmosphere.

Por la carretera ~ Manu Chao and his concierto clandesti in El Hospitalet

José-Manuel Thomas Arthur Chao is a French-born artists of Spanish origin. He began his successfull career in the mid-1980s with his first group, the Hot Pants, but it is with Mano Negra, a "multiracial" band founded in 1987, that Manu Chao reached popularity. 

"Mano Negra started playing in a subway in Paris before the band started to be known and selling records. We started in a subway for a living. This is what made the musicians of Mano Negra. And so the people using the subway in Paris was very eclectic. There was people from a lot of different countries, different cultures. So we have to be able to play all kind of music to please all the people in a subway. So that was a perfect school to learn a lot of different style of music."

In fact, Manu Chao and his band are influenced by many different music genres, such as punk, rock, French chanson, Iberoamerican salsa, ska, reggae and Algerian raï, that create a unique music style appreciated in all the world. His songs and lyrics deal with immigration, love, social problems and often carry a left-wing message. Moreover Manu Chao sings in many different languages, such as Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, English, Galician and Arabic, even mixing them in the same song.

His experience with Mano Negra ended in 1995, and Manu Chao started his solo career in Madrid with a new group, the Radio Bemba Sound System. In this new phase José-Manuel wrote some of his most famous songs, like Clandestino (1998) or Me Gustas Tu (2001). 

He considers himself a citizen of the world, however he actually lives in Barcelona (even if he rarely stays in Spain), a city that perfectly matches with his way of living, full of live and energy. The people love him, and he loves his city, he even opened a bar in Barri Gotic, the Mariatchi, and he owns a disco in El Hospitalet where he often performs.

This weekend, in particular, he held two conciertos clandesti in his disco, the Salamandra. Why clandestine concerts? In Barcelona he often performs in secret concerts to avoid a huge request of tickets (and resulting disappointements), so only if you're a regular client of his bar, or if you are a true fan of him (if you are really lucky too!), you will found out about his shows. 

Yesterday, 5th of May, Manu Chao performed for more than two hours without any true break, more than 20 songs in his set list, and energy, really a lot of energy in every single song. This is, in fact, why Manu Chao is so appreciated by his fans, even at the age of 53 he seems a young, crazy boy on the stage, always singing and inciting the public that follows him singing every word and dancing at every song. Clandestino, El Viento, Desaparecido, all his best known songs, spaced out by Pinocchio and other crazy motifs, entertained a public of less than 1000 people in a quite familiar atmosphere. A lot of good music, but also social engagement characterized this concert, with a speech about the human rights crisis in Mexico, with the disappearence of 43 mexican people in mysterious circumstances: 

¡Vivos los llevaron, vivos los queremos! 

With his music kaleidoscope, you will feel lighter, happier, so if you are fishing in troubled waters, if you have some problems, and if you feel sad, just go to one of his concerts, and you will forget everything for the next three hours.

Pase lo que pase, sea lo que sea, próxima estación: Esperanza.

Barcelonian tips

When moving to a new country, there are some unconditional things to deal with, in order to live in peace. By reading this article, you'll become familiar with the Catalan regulation and organisms that aim to help you with it.

First of all, your situation depends on your country of origin. If you are a citizen of the European Union (EU), and/or if you are from a State that is member of the Schengen Area, it's gonna be easier for you to live in Barcelona. 

Indeed, as you may know, the Schengen Area, formed by 26 countries, abolished any form of border control. Moreover, if you are from the EU, you don't need a visa to move from a country to another.

    Full Schengen members (EU member states which have implemented the Schengen Agreement)

    Associated Schengen members (non-EU member states which have implemented the Schengen Agreement)

    EU member states which are bound to implement the Schengen Agreement but who have not done so yet)

    EU member states outside the Schengen Area

If you come from the rest of the world, you should ask for a visa in order to be allowed to take up residence in Barcelona, and in Spain in general.

Once you're in the city, you must think about paperwork. The very first thing to do, if you're here to work, is to ask for a NIE - Número de Identidad de Extranjero - compulsory to sign an employment contract. After that, you should get some information about "la tarjeta sanitaria", that is to say, the Spanish medical card. The first year that you own this card, you'll be able to read "acces catsalut primer nivel", meaning that you only have access to general practice. However, if you need a specific care, a committee regularly meets in order to define the real needs of each one. From the second year that you have the medical card, it's indicated "acces catsalut segon nivel", and you'll have free access to every kind of medecine.

Lots of organisms in Barcelona are here to help you to understand the functioning of Spain. The first one is the SAIER - Servei d'Atenció a Immigrants, Emigrants i Refugiats - located in Avinguda Paralel·lel, 202-204 (metro station: Espanya, L1, L3). It has existed since 1989 and its goal is to help imigrants and refugees who live in Barcelona. Then, the SOAPI - Servicio de Orientación y Acompañamiento para personas inmigradas - counts an office in each districte. It gives general information about rights and duties, administrative steps, the area knowledge, etc. The OACs - Oficines d'Atenció Ciutadana - also exists in every districte. It aims to facilitate the administrative steps.

About specific needs, you should take note that the PIADs - Puntos de Informació y Atenció a las Donas - are here to help women when it comes to discrimination or violence. There's one of them in each districte. The "oficinas d'habitatge" aim to help people to buy or rent social accomodations in each districte. Barcelona Activa, located in Carrer de Llacuna, 162-164, is an organism that may help you to set up your company in Barcelona. Finally, the "oficina d'atenció del consorci d'educació de Barcelona", located in Plaça d'Urquinaona, 6, helps families to put their children into the educational system.

Some interesting phone numbers:

- emergency phone number: 112

- Police: 092

- Firemen: 080

- ER: 061

By the way, you may wonder what a "districte" is. Actually, Barcelona is divided in 10 districtes that are administratives areas, in order to facilitate steps. In these districtes, you can find barris, that are neighbourhoods.

Barcelona's districtes

Barcelona's barris

I really hope that this is gonna facilitate your arrival in that beautiful-sunny-hot city! =)

Noisy nights

You may have chosen Barcelona for your holidays, internship, studies or new job thinking that you'll be able to party hard at night all year long. That's true: one of the first thing I was told by my flatmate was that the city counts more than 5.000 bars and pubs. It has also more than 30 discos.

But the thing that you probably didn't think about was that there's actually laws against the noise, even in a city like Barcelona.

We, interns in 1GlobalTranslators, are all used to partying together, and the 3 last home parties we participated actually ended with the police's arrival. The fact is that, you won't have any trouble til more or less 2 in the morning, but after that, you should really pay attention to the noise.

The fine for too much noise is 75 euros (the police doesn't come first to warn you guys, they charge immediately), and the price gets higher depending on the number of people. Thus, we all were once in a massive home party. The police came and asked everybody to go out, counting each person leaving the flat: we were more than 80. And the really bad surprise was that when there is actually more than 50 people in a "piso", the "multa" price is 200 euros! Don't trust that they won't come to the poorest neighbourhood because one of the 3 parties was in Raval, the most legendary "barri".

Other piece of advice: be really careful when you drink alcohol in the street because if the police sees you, you may be charged 13 euros.

Now that you're aware of the sentenced you risk, have good night in Barcelona city!

La tentación de Existir: a Black and White Retrospective

The “Fundació Foto Colectania” is a private foundation inaugurated in 2002 in the district of Gracía, Barcelona, whose objective is to diffuse photography and collections through exhibitions and activities such as seminaries and conferences. 

The exhibition "La tentación de existir" (The Temptation of Existing) compares two essential works of two Sweden authors of the second half of the Twentieth Century: Les amies de Place Blanche of Christer Strömholm and Café Lehmitz of Anders Petersen. They are two photographers which have the same way to understand the world around them. In the works of  Strömholm and Petersen, the teacher and his pupil, is present a Nordic melancholy  and a strong empathy for the people portrayed. 

Christer Strömholm (1918-2002) is known for his intimate black and white street photography portrait series. For him photography was not aimed to describe the reality. His idea was that the work of the photographer starts from himself because the image is in his head and not in front the camera.
In the late 1950s and early 60s, he lived in Paris and he created his most famous book, Les amies de Place Blanche, portraits of glamorous transsexuals in the red-light district around Pigalle. He described it as a book "about insecurity, about humiliation, about the quest for self-identity and the right to live".

La tentación de existir: Les amies de Place Blanche

The black-and-white photographs, shot at night capture a lost Paris, subterranean yet lively, at a time when General de Gaulle was intent on creating an ultra-conservative France with strict Roman Catholic values. The "night birds", as he called them, worked the streets around Place Blanche hoping to raise money to travel to Casablanca for the expensive operation that would complete their gender transformation.
Strömholm like his subjects, worked into the early hours, sharing with them their early afternoon breakfasts, watching them put on make-up and clothes, going down with them to the streets as they solicited for clients. This was a sort of insider reportage based on trust and friendship. 
More than once he affirmed that “Working with photography is a way of life. When I looked to my photos I see that each one is a self-portrait, a part of my life”

La tentación de existir: Les amies de Place Blanche

The transsexuals of Place Blanche led a hard life and often struggled to survive, but in the photographs, what is visible is a sense a camaraderie between the "girls" and between the photographer and his subject. Besides, Strömholm's surprisingly intimate portraits form a magnificent and vibrant tribute to these girls. His photo-essay raises profound issues about sexuality and gender. The subjects' exaggerated self-image shows their often unrealizable dreams and desires. A book of longing and desire, a true classic of postwar European photography.

La tentación de existir: Les amies de Place Blanche

Anders Petersen, a Swedish photographer born in 1944, had been Christer Stromholm’s pupil for one year, between 1966 and 1967. Then, in 1967, he started a project called Café Lehmitz, which takes its name from the bar in Hamburg (Germany) where Petersen used to photograph the late-night regulars - prostitutes, transvestites, drunks, lovers and drug addicts. 

La tentación de existir: Café Lehmitz

The photographs are not intended to judge, they are really close to the soul and the mood of the people depicted, they offer a glance of reality. About the experience in Café Lehmitz, he says:

"The people at the Café Lehmitz had a presence and a sincerity that I myself lacked. It was okay to be desperate, to be tender, to sit all alone or share the company of others. There was a great warmth and tolerance in this destitute setting."

The book - published in 1978 by Schirmer/Mosel in Germany – became a milestone of European photography; one of its photos was used by the American songwriter Tom Waits for the cover of his 1985’s album, Rain Dogs. 

La tentación de existir: Café Lehmitz

On Erik Kim’s – a street photographer – blog, we can find the list of the 10 things Anders Petersen may teach you about street photography:

1. Shoot with your heart, not your brain: “I am more using my heart and stomach and I go for that, it keeps me going”, he says. “I don’t use the upper-half so much when I am shooting – it is more after when I am shooting when I am looking at my contact sheets, and then I try to analyze and put things together”.
2. Create photographs with more questions than answers
3. Use a simple camera
4. Style isn’t something aesthetic: Petersen’s style is more related to the approach – empathic and human – he as with the people he photographs than with aesthetics.
5. Be a maniac, obsessive, photograph a lot of subjects.
6. Get close to people
7. Photography is a self-portrait of yourself
8. Focus on content, not form
9. Photography is about solutions, not problems: as Petersen declares, “photography offers a lot of opportunities. For me, the camera is like an entrance to the private lives of other people. And if you are curious like me, it is a fantastic tool”.
10. Keep an innocent eye, watching things as if it is the first time you do that. 

The exhibition was inspiring: both the artists are original and they allow subjects usually unpopular or discriminated to find their legitimate space in the history of photography. 

Federica and Carlotta

El Raval, the true essence of Barcelona

Barcelona is a multicultural city, having absorbed elements of a lot of cultures from all over the world. It is characterized by a wide range of different locations, you can have a good time at the sea, have a walk through the mountains, appreciate modern areas, or visit the old city centre. 

However, if you really want to enjoy the true atmosphere of this incredible city, the only thing you have to do is to get lost in the Ciutat Vella, a magic neighborhood full of small streets, hidden bars and shops, and secret places to discover. Ciutat Vella is divided in four main areas: the most famous Barri Gotic, Barceloneta, Sant Pere and last but not least, the Raval.

El Raval in particular is one of the most attractive and fascinating neighborhood in Barcelona, one of the most authentic and genuine. It was born as an expansion of the medieval defensive walls of the city, surrounded by Poble Sec district, Sant Antoni district and Barri Gotic. It hosts 50000 inhabitants from all the world in just 1,1 square kilometres. 
Originally it was home to giant vegetable patches grown to meet the needs of the city, then with the Industrial Revolution they were transformed into factories, but it is only in the 20th century that the Raval became more and more populated. The south area of the neighborhood became the real "red light district" of Barcelona, characterized by overcrowding, prostitution and drug trafficking, and the situation didn't change until the government decided to start designing an urban renewal plan in preparation for the 1992 Summer Olympics Games. New houses and streets were built, as well as new parks and squares. In addition, they built the famous Rambla del Raval in the hearth of the district, characterized by the enormous cat sculpture designed by Fernando Botero.

Today Raval is a neighborhood full of life, where art and night life meet in colourful streets. It is home of many theatres, cultural centres, galleries, academies and museums like the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) or the Barcelona Centre of Contemporary Culture (CCCB), that allow new artists and intellectuals to emerge. Moreover, its lounges, nightclubs, bars and lots of live music will entertain you all night long for sure!

There are even some classics gems such as the Bar Marsella or the London pub, where the likes of Hemingway, Picasso or Dalì often went to drink a cup of absynth or beer. Finally, the Boqueria indoor market, the vintage shops in Ribera Baixa and the Filmoteca de Catalunya are some of the many treasures that reside in this fascinating neighborhood.