In February, this years 3GSM congress was for the first time held in Barcelona, Spain. My company sent me to see potential partners. But I also took some time to have a look around the city...

But at first, let's have a look around the Fira de Barcelona, the fairgrounds. It was quite crowded, as you can see here, on the main alley right before Hall 8.

Another photo of the attractive fairgrounds with its two venetian towers marking the main entrance. Barcelona definitely provides more space than Cannes, where the congress was held in the previous years.

Some of the best known brands were also present at the congress. Here we see the (former) colleagues of Siemens COM MN, enjoying the afternoon sun under the Siemens flags.

Barcelona is situated at the Mediterrean Sea, and the wind was blowing strongly, as you can see from these 3GSM flags. But the weather was beautiful - especially for February, where there was still snow in Munich!

The Palau Nacional overlooks the fairgrounds and in fact the whole city. Today it contains the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC).

I hope I will be able to return to 3GSM in 2007! The fair was quite positive, and the services on the fairgrounds are good (except, maybe, for the WLAN coverage - definitely some room for improvement on this one).

I wondered whether I should try to catch a taxi at the busy Placa d'Espanya - but the queues were long, and I was not really in the mood for just waiting...

...and so I hopped on a hop-on hop-off bus (the blue line) that happened to drive by the Placa d'Espanya. The temperature was still around 19 degrees, and an hour or two just visiting the city would be great. I was using the "Official Barcelona Tour" by the TMB.