Barcelona can get cold in December but you can still enjoy some sunny and warm hours at noon time.
Enjoy eating a lunch on a terrace.
1 The weather
Enjoy some sunny hours of sunshine per day. You might have to wear a coat and a scarf but do not forget to wear a t-shirt under your coat. Sitting on a sunny terrace for lunch, you might like to wear the t shirt when the sun heats you up.
2 The museums
During the tourist season, museum are very crowded. It is difficult to truly enjoy the exhibitions with so many tourists around. If you want to have a great museum experience then December is a sure bet. You will not have to wait in line.
3. Less Tourists
4. Christmas markets
The main Chistmas market is located on the square in front of the Cathedral. You will find the famous Caganer in this market
Enjoy shopping in all the streets around.
2 Sundays shops are opened on December 23 rd and 30 th 2012
5. Activities
Exhibitions.
Photographs from The New York Times Magazine ‘ until December 2nd On Passeig de Gracia 107 en el Palau Robert
Over a hundred of the magazine’s published pictures, by photographers such as Sebastião Salgado, Nan Goldin and Lee Friedlander can now be seen in an exhibition at Palau Robert.
If any one publication has been a landmark in contemporary photography, it must be The New York Times Magazine. You can see this for yourselves at an exhibition entitled The New York Times Magazine. Photographs now on at the Palau Robert. It features over three hundred photographs, representing thirty years of the magazine’s history.
To be more specific, you will be able to see works by 35 master photographers, covering such different genres as photojournalism, fashion reporting and conceptual photography. Don’t miss the works of Nan Goldin, Lee Friedlander, Philip Lorca diCorcia, Jeff Koons, Sebastião Salgado, Annie Leibovitz and Andrés Serrano.
The secret of the Casa Mila, La Pedrera :
From 1st November to 28th February Wednesday-Saturday at 20:00 am and 21:00 pm
This intimate night-time tour gives you the chance to discover this iconic building’s hidden nooks and crannies, and stories: in short, its best-kept secrets.
“The Secret Pedrera” invites you to discover this iconic building from a new and fresh perspective. This night-time guided tour will show visitors how this Gaudí building is brought to life at dusk through the lives, habits and quaint stories of the residents who once inhabited this unique Modernista structure.
The calm and magic of the night will guide you through the nooks and crannies of La Pedrera on what is a highly intimate, different and sensual tour.
From 1 October to January 6 : Friday and Saturday, 25 December, 26 December and 1 January from 19:00 to 21:00 pm with music and color:
19 / 19.30 / 20 / 20.30 pm.
Christmas Spanish Traditions
December 22nd El Gordo lottery – Sorteo de Navidad El Gordo Spanish Christmas Lottery draw 2012
Palacio de Congresos de Madrid – Spain – Live on TV channel La 1 in Spain
Forty children aged 8 to 14 years old from the school “Colegio de San Ildefonso” in Segovia – called “Los niños de San Ildefonso” – pick out small wooden numbered balls out of two big golden drums which have 100,000 numbers. Then the children sing out the numbers one by one. The ceremony takes place at the “Palacio de Congresos de Madrid” and takes about three hours in total. It’s very sweet and Christmas in Spain just wouldn’t be the same without it. You can also see the lottery draw online here on if you are in Spain
December 25th Christmas day
New Year = Noche Vieja in Spanish or Cap d’any in Catalan
Other Spanish New Year traditions include wearing red underwear for luck and the most important New Year Tradtion of eating twelve grapes just before midnight. You can even buy tins with just 12 grapes. You eat one grape for each chime of the clock when it counts down to midnight and then you toast with Cava! On a practical note, the Barcelona Metro will be in operation all night on 31.12.2012.
El TIO A log, painted with a smiley face. The children beat the log (and throw him into the fire, if they have one) and sing songs enticing it to ‘shit some presents’. Spanish speakers among you should note that ‘Caga Tió’ does not mean ‘Shit Uncle’ – ‘tió’ is Catalan for ‘log’
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