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•See also our "Ages ago" page (link above) for other annual events...

November 8-16
Saló Nautico
Barcelona's International Boat Show is one of the biggest and most interesting of its many trade fairs. See our review.

November 21-23
Salon del Hobby
Not one to miss if you've got kids... If they (or you) are into any of "model making, dioramas, miniatures, collecting, radio-control, educational games, dollhouses, electric railways, painting techniques, handicrafts" etc, the Hobby Fair is a thrilling day out.

You'll have to queue to get in, queue to play with the Scalextric, will probably lose the kids a couple of times and end up with a wretched headache but, come on Dad, the kids had fun!

December
Christmas in Barcelona
We have a few odd Christmas traditions here in Barcelona, as this page shows...

If you are visiting Barcelona and going to be decorating the house for Christmas - particularly if you have a crib (Nativity scene), don't miss the Feria de Santa Lucia, in the square in front of the Cathedral.

As for those odd traditions, note the traditional Catalan figure of the "caganer", the (ahem...) "shitter" (as illustrated, right).

December 19-20
Encuentro Práctico ELE
The "Encuentro práctico para profesores de ELE", now in its seventeenth year, is an annual congress for teachers of Spanish as a foreign language.

27 December 2008-4 January 2009
Barcelona's annual "Festival de la Infancia" trade fair (this year the 44th edition) is a great day out for kids - with basically anything you could wish the Three Kings (aka Santa) would bring you. For details, check the festival site.

2009
1 March 2009
Barcelona Marathon
After a public outcry when Barcelona town hall refused permission (I mean, I ask you, what town hall wants to promote sport, for goodness sake?!!!), the Barcelona Marathon is back, with a route taking in a number of Barcelona's big sights (Nou Camp, the Pedrera, the Sagrada Familia, the Torre Agbar...).

Pictured, right, Barcelona-Online editor Tom Walton leads the field mid-way through the 1986 edition... [Er... "appears to lead"? Ed.].

•We liked: The website's countdown to the big day
•Not so hot: Er... maybe I'll wait till tomorrow to start training.
•Languages: English, Spanish, Catalan and French.

18-22 March 2009
Teaching and Continuous Training
The "Teaching and Continuous Training" trade fair, formerly aka the "Saló de l'Ensenyament" and now known as "Estudia", is one of Barcelona's big local trade fairs.

April 23
Sant Jordi (St George's Day)
St George is the patron saint of Catalonia, and on the 23rd you will find people selling roses on literally every street corner, and bookstalls set up with roughly the same frequency.

As a gentleman you are supposed to give your lady a rose, the rose being said to have sprung from where the dragon's blood fell; as a lady you are supposed to give your knight-in-shining-armour a book. The book comes either (a) from the fact that April 23rd also happens to be the date of the deaths of both Shakespeare and Cervantes and (b) is thus World Book Day or (c) from the fact that it's a golden opportunity to flog some books.

It has become a little commercialised, but it's still a cute tradition and, to judge from the throngs on the Ramblas, a very popular one.

7-10 May
International Tourism Show of Catalonia
The big trade fair in Barcelona in April is the annual "Saló Internacional del Turisme a Catalunya".

10 May 2009
F1 Grand Prix Catalunya
Motor-racing comes to car-crazy Barcelona -- or just outside Barcelona, at any rate -- for the fourth race of the new season.

The motorcyle GP takes place at the same venue on June 8.

18-20 June 2009
Sonar Festival
The sixteenth edition of Barcelona's Advanced Music and Multimedia Art SONAR festival takes place in June, with this year's big attraction being... Er, we're struggling with that one, I'm afraid. We guess that if you are really into this sort of stuff then, um, er… great! Nice talking to you… (Cripes, what was that guy on about…?!)

•We liked: ...er, the MNAC?
•Not so hot: Terrible site design... Just what the dickens is on?
•Languages: English, Spanish, Catalan

2010
Barcelona World Race
The Barcelona World Race is a two-handed, non-stop round the world yacht race. Nine teams competed in the first event (2008) -- 25,000 miles in three months in (er, let me check...) an "IMOCA Open 60 monohull".

•See also our "Ages ago" page for other annual events...

What's on in Barcelona

>> Ages ago | Just missed it | On this month | Coming up