The Grec Festival

By Oriol Sentis

The Grec Festival takes place in a lot of venues in the city: Plaza del Rei, Teatre Liure, Mercat de les Flors, Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, L'Auditori, Teatre Villarroel, Teatre Romea, Sala Muntaner or Beckett. In these places, you can see plays every year and also family shows circus and dance. The goal is to offer cultural shows and innovative proposals to all audiences.

Cesc Gelabert will be responsible for opening the XXXV Festival Grec in Barcelona with the opening show “La muntanya al voltant teu” on 17th June. The Grec 2011 will be marked by national and international dance performances. When the Grec Festival begins Barcelona will have the weather of a Mediterranean summer. This is the beauty of the Festival Grec.

SANT MEDIR

By Ivon Zavala

It is celebrated on the 3rd of March. This day people go to the neighborhood of Gracia. Children and old people go up the floats and they throw a lot of candies. You can see some horses too, but be careful, because if you are behind them, they can kick you. The band of music also plays lively melodies.

After Sant Medir, the streets have a lot of rubbish, but it's okay, because the garbage collector can clean all in a day. I love this day, it's so funny that every year I go there.

El Corte Inglés race

By Helena López Fortuny

On April 3rd the 33rd annual El Corte Inglés race took place in Barcelona. Yet again, the race proved as the most popular one of its kind in Europe. The race attracted 58,847 competitors, including athletes, families, groups of friends and, of course, people of all ages. The race started at 9.30am in Passeig de Gràcia. From there, the competitors ran a distance of 10,766 Km along the main streets of the Condal city.

The El Corte Inglés race not only passed the mark of 55,000 competitors, it also increased the number of people running with a microchip (6,083 athletes, 1,057 more than last year).

The winners in the men’s category were:

1. Mohamed Benhmbarka, for the fourth consecutive year, with a time of 33:12

2. Otmane Btaimi, with a time of 33:18

3. Samir Ait Bouychamane, with a time of 33:56

The winners in the women’s category were:

1. Meritxell Calduch, with a time of 38:58

2. Hassna Bahom, with a time of 39:58

3. Inna Lebedieva, with a time of 41:00

"La Festa al Cel"

By Antonio Martínez

"La Festa al Cel" is an exhibition of airplanes. Last year it was presented in Barcelona on October 14th, but the normal day of the event is October 2nd or 3rd.

All types of airplanes come to Barcelona from other cities solely for this exhibition.

The planes fly by twice, once at high altitude and great speed, the other at low altitude and low speed.

One can find airplanes from different periods, from the time of the war [qué guerra?] to the latest models and technologies.

This year the best airplane that visited Barcelona for "La Festa al Cel" was the A380-800.

Sant Ponç
By Carla Bustamante, Carla Gimeno, Lorena Pelarda

La Fira de Sant Ponç is a tradition celebrated in Barcelona every year. It takes place in the neighbourhood of Raval, where, year after year, on this day (11th May) natural products, medicinal herbs, candied fruits and honey are sold to commemorate Sant Ponç, the saint patron of the herbalists and bee-keepers. You will be able to find almost 100 little shops along El Carrer Hospital.

This festivity had its origins centuries ago and in the 16th century it was christianized and celebrated in Sant Ponç day. It was a custom that the herbalists sold herbs to the people in spring, because the popular medicine attributed to certain plants, gathered on this station of the year, curative properties. This custom started La Fira de Sant Ponç, which first was located in La Plaça de Sant Miquel, later in El Carrer de Sant Cugat, and finally near the church of L' Hospital de la Santa Creu.