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SPRING

What’s On in Spain: Top ten things to do in March 2018

Spring is just around the corner, and every region of the country is celebrating with festivals, exhibitions, marathons, and soccer matches. The Local put together a list of the best things to do in Spain this month.

Published: 28 February 2018 16:44 CET
What's On in Spain: Top ten things to do in March 2018

Semana Santa (Holy Week), Spain (March 25th – April 1st)


An effigy of the Christ of the “La O” brotherhood is carried during an Easter procession in Sevilla Photo: AFP

You’ve never seen the Passion of Christ celebrated quite like they do in Spain. Holy Week is one of Spain’s most authentic and elaborate celebrations, with each region of the country commemorating Easter week in it’s own way. If you’re looking for extravagant processions on the streets and colourful displays of religious fervour head to Seville for the week. If a traditional commemoration of the holiday is more up your alley, head to Castille and Leon where eight of the region’s cities have been declared sites of International Tourism for their holy week celebrations.

Parallel Visionaries Art Exhibition, University of Jaen (March 21st-24th)

Photo: Equipo Cronica “Homage to Picasso” (1967)

You don’t have to traverse Spain to see the art of Spain’s modern masters—the University of Jaen will feature a group exhibition of some of Spain’s most important artists including Pablo Picasso, Juan Antonio Guirado, Antoni Tapies, and Joan Miro. The exhibition will revolve around creation and humanity, with art as a reflection of a world ridden with conflict and social crises. It is free for students and seniors, with a regular entrance fee of €15. 

Sant Medir Festival, Barcelona (March 3rd)

Photo: [Photo: Etienne Le Cocq/Wikimedia Commons

If you can’t wait until Halloween to collect bucket loads of candy, check out the Feast of Sant Medir, known for a big musical parade where sweets and toffees are tossed to the crowds from large parade floats. The festival commemorates Saint Medir, who planted broad beans that miraculously grew overnight. Originally, the commemoration more accurately included the throwing of beans—but we like the candy better.

The Fallas of Valencia, Valencia (March 15th-19th)

A ninot representing US President Donald Trump burns on the last night of the Fallas Festival in Valencia, in 2017. Photo: AFP

The people of Valencia literally light up the city to celebrate the coming of Spring every March. The celebration begins on the night of the 15th, where artists work all night to erect large monuments that will fill the streets and compete for a winning prize. Once a winner is chosen, the monuments are paraded through the city until the last day of the festival in which all of the sculptures go up in flames. This strange expression of tradition, art, and the cycle of birth and rebirth one of the world’s most impressive firework displays, held on the Night of Fire on March 18th.

Manolo Blahnik: The Art of Shoes, Madrid (Ends March 18th)

If a pair of Manolos is out of your price range, don’t worry—you can look at 212 of the designer’s most emblematic shoe designs for free until March 8th The exhibition, organized by Vogue Spain and presented at the National Museum of Decorative Arts, traces the evolution of a man who blurs the line between fashion and art, including 80 of his original drawings and a whole archive of photographs.

Festival de Jerez: Flamenco Festival (February 23rd – March 10th)

Dust off your flamenco shoes and get ready to channel your inner dancing girl emoji—the Festival of Jerez brings together the most famous flamenco artists of Spain to teach and participate in courses, as well stage performances. The best part? The festival encourages participation from flamenco novices with flamenco dance classes for beginners and seniors.

Auschwitz Exhibition, Madrid (Continues until June 6th)

Photo: auschwitz.net

You can still visit the Auscwitz exposition until early June where, for the first time in history, more than 600 original objects from Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazi’s largest and deadliest concentration camp, are displayed in a travelling exibition with its first stop in Madrid.

Microtheatre in Madrid's La Latina, Every Sunday in March

What better way to spend Sunday afternoon than having a giggle while learning something about Spain, all in a bite-size production of less than half an hour?

Fracaso de Picasso is a surrealist sketch show in Spanish every Sunday in March at 19:00, 19:30 & 20:00 at the Esconditeatro, c/Estudios, 2 – La Latina.

Barcelona Marathon, (March 11th)

Runners in action at the Barcelona Marathon. Photo: AFP

Why stroll from one Gaudi masterpiece to another when you can run through them? Barcelona’s Zurich Marathon in the fourth most popular marathon in Europe and features a flat course through the city center, as well as smaller races that are free of cost and for children, and Europe’s most important Sports exposition for running, trail, and triathlon with more than 150 exhibitors. Registration closes March 5th.

Champions League: FC Barcelona Vs. Chelsea, Barcelona (March 14th)


Photo: AFP

If you haven’t been to Camp Nou yet, now is the time to do it. Two of Europe’s best soccer teams, FC Barcelona and Chelsea, will compete to see who will go through to the next round of the Champion League. Chelsea took the title last year, but Barcelona has the home advantage—will you be in the stands cheering on the some of the world’s best athletes?

Did we miss something exciting taking place this month? Making plans to head the the Flamenco Festival in Jerez or the Champions League match in Barcelona? Make sure to tag us in your Instagram photos with the #TheLocalSpain!

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TRAVEL NEWS

Traffic jams and sold-out trains: the latest on Easter travel in Sweden

Easter is probably the busiest time of the year for travel within Sweden. Here's the latest on how to travel safely and where you might face delayed trains or ugly traffic jams.

Published: 7 April 2022 16:30 CEST
Updated: 14 April 2022 13:54 CEST
Traffic jams and sold-out trains: the latest on Easter travel in Sweden

Travelling by rail

If you haven’t already booked your ticket, you may find it difficult to get a seat on some popular routes. 

“Some routes are already fully booked. This is particularly the case between the major cities,” Anders Edgren, a press officer for the national train company SJ, told state broadcaster SVT.

A screenshot of SJ’s booking site for Good Friday shows most morning trains between Malmö and Stockholm are already sold out.
 
Edgren said on Thursday morning that there were still a few seats left between Stockholm and Gothenburg and Stockholm and Sundsvall but that they were selling out fast. 
 
 
“What we’re trying to do is to double-up trains, which is to stick together two trains, and if we manage to do that we might be able to release some more tickets.” 

Sweden’s national rail company SJ often schedules engineering work for national holidays, as fewer people are travelling to work, and this easter there will be engineering work at around 20 sites across the country, meaning more than 1,000 trains will be partly or totally replaced with buses during the Easter break. 

The worst areas are on the routes between Gothenburg and Malmö, between Västerås and Stockholm, and between Karlstad and Växjö. Work on the new Västkustbanan will mean replacement buses between Helsingborg and Gothenburg throughout the Easter holidays. 

SJ has made a map showing all the routes where you can expect interruptions: 

Traffic interruptions over Easter: 

Karlstad C to Kristinehamn: 10pm April 14th to 5am April 19th 

Gothenburg going north and south: 10.35pm April 14th to 2pm April 18th

Varberg to Heberg: 2pm April 14th to 2pm April 19th 14

Ängelholm Helsingborg: 12am April 4th to April 25th 4.15am 

Frövi to Kumla: 10pm April 14th to 5am April 19th 

Skymossen to Motala: 12am April 14th to 5am April 19th

Stockholm Central platforms 3 to 7: 10pm April 14th to 10pm April 21st 

Huvudsta – Barkarby: 1.10am April 14th to 4.30am April 19th 

Travelling by car 

In its guide to travelling by car over Easter, the Swedish Transport Agency warns that weather conditions at this time of year can vary enormously as you drive north.  You may find, for instance, that you need winter snow tyres by the time you reach your destination, even seemed almost summery when you set out. You should also make sure you have clothing for all seasons. 

Here is the agency’s maps of roads which it expects to see heavy Easter traffic. 

A map showing which roads are expected to be busy over the Easter period. Photo: Swedish Transport Agency
These include: 

The E22 between Kalmar and Norrköping, the E4 between Norrköping and Stockholm, and then from Stockholm all the way up to Sundsvall.  The roads leading towards the ski areas around Sälen and Östersund also tend to get crowded. None of the roads in Skåne are expected to see heavy traffic. 

The Swedish Transport Agency has imposed a ban on overtaking on the E4 between Gävle och Tönnebro, on the 14th and 14th of April for travel in a northerly direction, and on the 17th and 18th of April travelling south. 

The agency also recommends choosing roads with central reservations and speed cameras, as these are safer, even if this might mean a slower journey. Here is the agency’s map of roads with central reservations.

Flights

If you’re coming to Sweden by air, you should be aware that companies have been cancelling a high number of flights in recent days, because many of their staff have Covid.

EasyJet and British Airways cancelled more than 80 scheduled flights on Thursday, blaming staff sickness. 

Airports

If your flight is running as scheduled, be aware of issues at several UK airports.

Airports including Heathrow, Manchester and Birmingham have been hit by disruption because of staff shortages caused by Covid, affecting everything from airport security to luggage handlers. Passengers risked missing their flights because of lengthy delays, according to reports in the UK press. 

Passport queues at Heathrow Terminal 2, from where SAS flies to Stockholm, were ‘stretching to 90 minutes’ on Maundy Thursday, The Independent reported. 

Passengers have been advised to make sure they are at the airport as early as possible to allow for delays, and unions have warned that the disruption could last for some time.

In the case of Manchester, the advice last week was to arrive three hours early.

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