The capital’s cool yule

Madrid's streets have been decked out for the holidays, and the best way to appreciate the many different decorations is to spend one euro and hop on the double-decker Christmas Bus, which begins its route at Plaza Colón and drives by the city's best-decorated spots.

For those more inclined to taking exercise, City Hall has installed a giant 800-square-metre ice rink next to Príncipe Pío, by the Manzanares river. Access is free and rental skates are available for those who, like most Madrileños, do not own a pair of their own. Besides free public skating, there are also "Icecapades"-type shows scheduled throughout the holiday season, beginning on 21 December with a special gala performance by national figure skating champions, and followed by a pirates-on-ice show and a hockey exhibition.

More ice - 250,000 kilos of it - is on display at Plaza AZCA, where a giant tent houses the work of a team of 60 international artists who specialise in ice sculptures. Each two-tonne piece depicts either a Christmas scene or a famous Madrid landmark, including Puerta de Alcalá and the statue of Cibeles. The show also boasts "the biggest nativity scene in the world." Visitors are advised to dress warmly, as the indoor temperature is just 8ºC.

Nativity scenes ("belenes" in Spanish) are one of the highlights of the Christmas offerings, and the city displays some truly valuable ones such as the 18th-century "Belén napolitano," carved out of ivory, which is kept behind security glass at the San Andrés Church. Another award-winning belén is that at Cruzados de la Fe Church on Calle Atocha, which dates back to the 17th century. There is also a belén with Baroque figures made in Quito, Ecuador. In all, there are 28 belenes scattered around the city.

Most Madrileños set up their own belén at home, and many purchase the miniature people and animals they need at the open-air market in Plaza Mayor, where more than 100 stands sell everything from fake snow and plastic lambs to costumes – 28 December is Spain's April Fools' Day, when Plaza Mayor becomes the city's main source of wigs and party hats.

Christmas would not be complete without music, and the Centro Cultural de la Villa once again hosts the Gospel & Negro Spiritual Festival, which has become a popular event over the past decade.

The season's programme will officially end on 5 January with the Cabalgata de Reyes, a parade featuring the Three Kings of Orient running down the Castellana to the Plaza de Cibeles. Don't let the children miss this one.

Barcelona seeks seasonal essence

The two most spectacular public events in Barcelona's Christmas calendar are its nativity scene, or pessebre, and the procession of the Three Kings.

On show until 7 January, the pessebre has this year been designed by gardening students at the M. Rubió I Tuduri secondary school. Their creation, drawing on landscaping techniques is entitled Essència (Essence) and represents cities - orderly and rational - and nature - free and spontaneous. Here, birth symbolises the fraternity between cities and the Earth, which in turn symbolises communities living together in harmony and respect - the essence of Christmas.

The second instalment of festivities after the New Year, Reyes, will be celebrated by the Catalan capital on 5 January in spectacular marine fashion as the Three Kings arrive from the Orient at 5pm at Plaça del Portal de la Pau on board the schooner Santa Eulàlia to be greeted by the mayor and people of Barcelona. After welcoming speeches from the balcony of the Port Authority building, their majesties will be transported by vintage car to the procession assembly point via Passeig de Colom, Passeig d'Isabel II and Avinguda del Marqués de L'Argentera. The procession will finish alongside the choreographed water spectacle of Montjuïc's Magic Fountain.

If crowds and families are not your bag, you might opt for a sophisticated chill-out at Icebarcelona, whose ultra-cool interior is kept at a temperature of -8ºC (warm clothes and gloves are provided). The bar - dubbed Barcelona's "hottest cold spot" - is in fact located next to the beach in the city's Olympic Port. As its name suggests, everything inside - from the bar, furniture and glasses, to the sculptures - is made of ice. Open until 2.30am, customers can only stay for a maximum of 45 minutes, presumably due to the sub-zero environment. But this begs the question, what about the poor barman?

Barcelona's Municipal Institute of Parks and Gardens insists on Christmas being a green affair with the exhibition Guarneix-me (at Illa Diagonal Commercial Center, Av, Diagonal, 565) which displays Mediterranean trees which have been decorated with recycled materials by local primary school and special needs children.

Meanwhile, the city's Christmas tree collection campaign (7-14 January) will ensure that your tree doesn't go to waste - provided you leave it at one of the 218 collection points - but is recycled and turned into compost for fertilizing the city's green spaces.

[December 2007]

[Copyright EL PAÍS, SL./ SUSANA URRA 2007]

Subject: Spanish holidays