While August may have been the wrong time to go to Barca, I’m glad I did it and will be back (for a start I have several more days of stuff I want to see/do).

The city is eclectic and exciting, and while I kept away from the touristy area of La Ramblas, it’s friendly and much English is spoken. Continue reading →

Well that did not go to plan.

The plan …
1. If enough time look round Casa Asia, if not skip on to next step.
2. Go to post office and post cards
3. Go to Casa Mila and pay to go inside – look at the top floors (the Gaudi stuff)
4. Buy souveniers
5. Get food Continue reading →

So it’s come to my final full day and my reserved table at Set Portes.  It gave me an ideal time to wander round Barri Gotic, location of Santa Maria del Pi, the Catheral, Roman walls, various museums, and many narrow shopping streets. Continue reading →

So I checked the guides, I checked the reviews, and I even checked their website – no mention at all of being closed, yet the shutters were firmly down on Stush & Teng.

I decided to follow instinct, and look for where there were lots of locals.  One street closer to Passeig De Gracia, still on the njon-touristy side, and I found Bopan (Forners Artesans), an outdoor cafe full of Spanish speakers.  Walk off route at night and you’ll find lots of places like this – serving simple meals (lots of pizza I’ve noticed) with beer, wine and coffee, and so I settled down in a rather comfortable chair to a emal of a rather nice hamburger and a couple of bottles of the local beer – Moritz.  The food was nice and I was happy, sipping my beer post meal while reading a book, however this place closed before eleven so I wandered back and tried a small bar/tapas bar round the corner from the hotel,  Another comfortable half hour spent with a draft mortiz (draft beer = canna, bottled beer = cerveza).

And now it’s time to plan tomorrrow – the catherdral, postcard and souvenire shopping, plus myone reserved table – at Portes Set for a paella (Thursday morning is when the trawlers come in and so fish is at it’s frehest).

Today was edutainement day in Barcelona.  My original plans to wander up to Montjuic were thrown out as there was nothing there I really wanted to see, so instead I started the day with a trip to the Maritime Museum.  This museum is based in the original Royal Dockyards, and so the civil gothi architecture is all real.  It was a quiet place and quite quick to pass through, partly due to renovations going on meaning some exhibits and areas were closed.  To be honest, aside from the architecture, there’s one real reason to come here and one real reason alone – the full size replica of the 16th century war galley.  I was going to grab lunch here as the cafe is well regarded, however it’s temporarilly closed – not for a summer break, but more for a refit from the looks of things, so I set off once more and headed along the port, ending up outside the Barceloneta shopping centre of MareMagnum.  Eating at El Chipron de Moncho’s – a sea food chain restaurant.  Food was not bad, nothing special, but service was slow and lousy.  Still wandering in to find the toilet (I ate outside) I found myself going past a large display of fresh fish and a semi-open kitchen, so a plus there. Continue reading →

I know that, like in Paris, Barcelona almost shuts up in August.  Actually it’s not that bad, but a lot of restaurants do take 3-4 week breaks around this time.  So how, you may wonder, did this affect me.  Well my aim was to eat at Restaurante Romesco, just off La Rambla which had been recommended to me by a colleague, who’d been taken there by friends who are long term Barca inhabitants.  Well eventually I found it, complete with shutters and a notice up appologising for their 4 week break. Continue reading →

First off, on the hotle front, the bed was comfortable (and not sot) leading to a good night’s sleep.  Breakfast was a Euro-generic buffet, not much choice, but not too bad.  The one down side to this place that’s been highlighted this morning is that there is just one small slow lift for all seven floors.  Being top floor means once I’m in it’s not too bad, but on the way down to breakfast we stopped at 4 other floors, with people left waiting for next time.

I’ve now had to check the weather forecasts as it’s dull outside.  Apparently it should be a comparitively mild day, though sunny, so my original plans are still on.  I’ll give it a short while for safety as I do want bright daylight for the Sagrada Familia and Park Guell – if it’s going to be grey then I’ll hit Barri Goitic, La Ribera, and La Rambla instead.

Well it’s been a while since I’ve been abroad on a holiday (not counting the free weekend in Amsterdam while working over there last year) and so I decided at short notice to hit Barcelona.

My flight over was through Easyjet from LIverpoo John Lenon Airport.  The airport is small and looks like it’s being updated.  The queue for Easyjet itself was massive, ratehr than having desks per flight, 4 were processing all, however their workrate was high and it only took 15 minutes to check in.  Of course the real problem with this airport is most the people passing through appear to be on cheap, high booze consumption, package deals, and act like such going through the airport.  My how amusing it was to see one guy being searched because his friends (who were at least late 40s/early 50s) had slipped a party popper in to his luggage.  Oh how the security guards laughed … not.  Still it was but a transit point and I was able to isolate myself in the business lounge (not particularly good, but it was quiet).  The flight itself was better than expected.  There’s no seat booking so it pays to get on early, and there’s no free food, so you have to either pay a large amount for little or bring your own, but as a whole it was painless. Continue reading →