Today marks the end of La Mercè, Barcelona’s most famous festival. The celebrations honor the Mare de Déu de la Mercè, the Virgin of Grace, who is said to have delivered the city from a plague of locusts in 1687. Festivities include parades of papier maché “giants,” booming gun salutes (not for those who overly value their ear drums), acrobatic human tower building, fireworks, and more. It’s tons of fun as well as a photographic delight. And there wasn’t a locust in sight, so the Virgin of Grace still seems to be keeping up her end of the bargain. 🙂

Starting today, Catalonia Tourism has invited ContemporaryNomad.com on a whirlwind blog tour of Catalonia and its spectacular capital, Barcelona. With milder fall temperatures and the annual La Mercè Festival featuring a parade of giant papier maché puppets, the timing couldn’t be better. The itinerary includes a long list of exciting activities highlighting the best of what Catalonia has to offer visitors.

Catalonia is perhaps most famous for its art, architecture, and innovative spirit, all embodied by Barcelona’s wildly cutting-edge Torre Agbar shown in the lead picture above.  But there’s much more. Catalonia is about food, nature, quaint villages, adventure, coastal scenery, and a uniquely creative Catalan vibe.

Follow along live during the tour via Google+, Facebook or Twitter and check back for posts featuring one of Spain’s coolest regions.

#catalunyaexperience

Regular visitors to our site will be noticing some subtle changes over coming months to the way we will be presenting and archiving content at ContemporaryNomad.com. These changes reflect the evolving nature of travel blogging as an art form… and as a business.

What??? Oh, no!!!

Never fear, there will be plenty of travel, adventure, art, tips, architecture, wildlife, opinion – Thomas is screaming, “Food, food, don’t forget the food!” – AND, of course, food. But change is in the air!

Look for new social media components including our unifying #cndestinations hashtag, increased Google+ activity to complement our Facebook presence, and more. And while we are taking an evolutionary step forward into more social blogging, we fully intend to retain the soul and the standards of seasoned, old-world travel experts.

Spain is excellent hunting ground for those on a quest to find the world’s best urban art. Spanish street art can easily match anything back in Berlin. While exploring the area behind the bus station, we discovered these magnificent murals. To get a sense of the scale look for Thomas in each photo Continue…

Beyond the delicious tapas, Seville is also a feast for the eyes. And it’s not just futuristic architecture, the remarkable city is full of distinctly Andalusian detail. The dizzyingly elaborate tile work and ornately carved roofs of the city’s Alcázar bring the rich Islamic past to life. That past extends to the crenelated and carved splendor of the Torre del Ora, the Giralda and the impressive remnants of the once grand city walls.

And not to be outdone by cities such as neighboring Cordoba, Seville has its fair share of Continue…

We take a break from our previously scheduled post to wish Thomas a very !!!Happy Birthday!!! Here’s to another year full of exotic destinations and thrilling adventures… if your rickety old bones can handle it, that is. 😉