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Protests at the day of the elections in Barcelona

Although the police banned the protests for the day of the local election in Spain they still continue. People are angry on government’s measures to fight with the economic crisis in the country. These measures favor the business and the rich companies by cutting from the social welfare and people’s social benefits such as healthcare, public service, retirement etc.

In Barcelona the main stage of the protests is Placa Catalunya. Mostly young people are gathered here to protest the politicians who do not care of the. There are set camps in the middle of the square and posters all around with messages criticizing the government and demanding social centric approach for the crisis solution. The protesters were organized in a community way providing cleaning, cooking and other basic services for long stay at the site.

Indeed, it is the time when the government of Spain and also other governments around the world start listening to their people but not the banks. Instead of making laws that will make the people poorer and banks richer they should shut down the blood sucking banks and ill-fated companies and return people’s rights and freedom of political and economic control.

Do not open accounts in La Caixa

If you come to Barcelona, Spain and you need to open a bank account – do not open account in La Caixa. This bank has very high commissions and also exchange rates between Euro and other currencies.

Before a while when I arrived in Barcelona I made a mistake which left unnoticed for 4 years. My mistake was to open a bank account at the nearest bank to my office. In Barcelona La Caixa always is the closest bank – they have a branch almost at every corner. However they have very very high commissions. For example:

Operation
La Caixa*
Other banks (Ing Direct)
Debit Card
15 Euros/year
0 Euros
Credit Card
40 Euros/year
 
Withdraw money from ATM
 
0 Euros in 4B network
-          La Caixa
0 Euros
 
-          Servired
1,5% (min 0.80 Euros)
 
-          Other (in Spain)
4.25% (min 3.50 Euros)
 
-          EU
4.25% (min 3.50 Euros)
2 Euros
Money Transfer
 
 
-          La Caixa
0 Euros
0 Euros (if < 50k)
-          Other banks in Spain
0.25% (min 2.75 Euros)
0 Euros (if < 50k)
-          EU
0.25% (min 2.75 Euros)
0 Euros (if < 50k)
-          Non EU
0.6% (min 15 Euros)
36 Euros (but not sure)
Receive Transfer
 
 
-          From EU
 0 Euros
0 Euros
-          From Non-EU
12 Euros
0 Euros
Exchange rate
About 4% less than in www.oanda.com
Don’t know

*http://multimedia.lacaixa.es/lacaixa/ondemand/portal/tarifasycomisiones/2100i00d.pdf

Low cost flights to Lviv

Unfortunately there are not many low cost flights from western Europe to Ukriaine. Usually you may end up paying a regular flight fare at the range of 400 Euros or more. But if you search for a bit more around you might be able to combine multiple low cost flights.

Soon I had to go from Barcelona to Lviv. Here is how I managed to fly low cost. 

1. RyanAir from Barcelona to Venice-Treviso – 32 Euros

2. WizzAir flight from Venice-Treviso to Lviv – 61 Euros

3. RyanAir flight from Venice-Treviso to Girona (Barcelona) – 10 Euros

Total: 103 Euros :)

WizzAir, flies to Lviv and Kiev from Venice-Treviso. You can try to combine your trip in similar way with other low cost airlines. But be careful to be at least 2-3 hours between the flights in case the first flight has some delay.

Also, Lviv is a very very nice city with very nice people. I strongly recommend you to visit it. There are some photos I took from Lviv which you can see at my flickr.

feradz - View my 'Lviv' set on Flickriver