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Staying in Barceloneta

Wednesday, 27 April 2011 11:21

Barceloneta Beach Most visitors to Barcelona naturally want to stay right on the Ramblas or close to Placa de Catalunya, but there are some very compelling reasons to stay a little further out of the city centre. Don't worry about transport- Barcelona has a network of underground and overground trains to rival any city in the world. Almost everywhere is easily accessible and the suburbs are dotted with metro stations.

Choosing hotels and apartments in the suburbs won't cost you precious holiday time and it could save you a lot of money. Accommodation becomes cheaper as you go further from the Ramblas and you'll be able to get more for your money. Food is also cheaper, and while it's worth eating at one of the outdoor cafes on Las Ramblas at least once during a stay in Barcelona, there are plenty of other options.

One good choice is to head to the local deli in Barceloneta. Buy yourself a selection of treats and a bottle of wine, and have a picnic on the beach. The perfect Mediterranean lunchof bread, cheese, and ham works anywhere from a top quality restaurant to a towel on the sand. Like all Barcelona suburbs, Barceloneta also has a market and there are plenty of places to buy fresh fruit of all kinds. As you'd expect from a beachside community, icecream is never far away either.

Barceloneta Beach is a local haunt. On hot days it's the closest place for most of the city to cool down. While it can get crowded at peak times it's a long beach and there is usually plenty of space for everyone, especially on weekdays. The sand is wide and golden and the water is warm, blue, and gentle. Kids can swim pretty safely but, as on many Spanish beaches, going topless is the norm for both men and women.

The Jardines de la Ciudadelaare close by, and these extensive landscaped gardens contain Barcelona Zoo and more than their fair share of grand statues and ornate buildings in the old style. Wild parrots can usually be seen in the trees in the warmer months and the pools and fountains keep the park temperatures steady, so it's another good place to relax on a really hot day. The Aquarium is just opposite Barceloneta Beach. If you get sunburned, the cool, shady Aquarium is a must.

Barceloneta is a 15 or 20 minute walk from the base of Las Ramblas and the point where the tourist district really gets started. There is a metro station a few minutes from the beach and everything you might need within walking distance. Try out the seafood restaurants even if you don't stay, but it's well worth considering accommodation in Barceloneta. It's close enough to the city centre to be near the action and it has plenty of attractions of its own.

About the author:

Jess Spate is a travel writer and business consultant. She lived has lived in London, Barcelona, and Sydney, and is now based in Wales.

Barcelona Chocolate Museum

Wednesday, 23 March 2011 10:27

Barcelona Chocolate Museum The Chocolate Museum or Museu de la Xocolata is one of Barcelona’s gems. It’s both informative and tremendous fun- like the very best of this beautiful city it has some real pearls on offer and still manages not to take itself too seriously.

The exhibits are beautifully presented in sophisticated ways. Although kids will love it, this is not a place only children can enjoy. Nor is it one for chocolate-lovers only. There is plenty of real history and real science in the Chocolate Museum. I would recommend it to any visitor to the city whether they adore chocolate or can take it or leave it.

As an early centre of the trade with the new world of South America, Barcelona has a long history as a chocolate port. In fact, it was the first place chocolate arrived in Europe more than five centuries ago. While it’s common now, chocolate was once exotic and unknown, the strange product of a far-away place. After a few hours in Barcelona’s museum you’ll never look at a Snickers in the same way again.

Inside the museum you’ll not only find a wealth of information about chocolate- if you’ve ever wondered what a chocolate plant looks like it’s the place for you- and the history of chocolate trading, but also light-hearted exhibits aimed to delight children and what must be one of the world’s best collections of chocolate sculpture, if not the very best.

I’m sure that Picasso would approve of his larger-than life chocolate portrait, complete with rakish curly moustache and cheeky smile. Just what Antoni Gaudi, the sober and devout architect who built so much of Barcelona, would say to the 3ft” all-chocolate model of his Sagrada Familia cathedral, no-one will ever know.

The chocolate sculptures need to stay cool or they’d melt. That’s great news for summer visitors. Not only do you get a delicious waft of chocolate scented air as you walk through the door to the Museu de la Xocolata, it’s also wonderfully chilled. When the whole city is hot and sticky at the height of the worst heatwave, the chocolate museum is still beautifully cool inside. The air-conditioning is even better than on the Barcelona’s metro system, which could teach the London Underground a thing or two about dealing with summer heat.

As you’d hope, not all the chocolate is kept behind glass. There is plenty for sale and it’s naturally of the very best quality. What the Chocolate Museum staffs don’t know about chocolate isn’t worth knowing. You can eat some delicious treats there and take some home with you.

The Museu de la Xocolata is located at Carrer del Comerç, 36, not far from Jaume I and Arc de Triomf metro stations and close to the zoological gardens. If you’re struggling through a hot day in Barcelona, combine a swim on the beach at Barceloneta with a walk through the gardens and a visit to the Chocolate Museum. You’ll stay cool all day and the exercise will give you the appetite that some of the world’s best chocolate deserves.

Jess Spate loves both chocolate and Barcelona, although these days she lives in Wales and edits Outdoor Equipment Online. She also works for www.appoutdoors.com/ in the USA.

Cardona Salt Mountain

Tuesday, 22 March 2011 11:05

Cardona Salt Cavern If you feel the urge to get out of the city during a stay in Barcelona you could follow the crowds to the beaches along the coast or you could try for a taste of the real, untouched Catalonia and head inland. There’s plenty to see, and the Salt Mountain at Barcelona has got to be one of the strangest and most unique tourist attractions in the world.

As the name suggests, it’s a mountain made of salt. Not a huge pile of salt, an actual mountain made from what is more or less solid salt. It’s quite beautiful in crystalline form and the landscape around the salt mountain is just as curious might be expected. You can stand in front of a sheer salt cliff 100m high or take a tour deep into the old salt mine inside the mountain.

On the tour, visitors are walked down to the mine entrance (at least some of the guides speak very good English), kitted out with hard hats, before hopping into a cart that will carry you down into the mine. Kids love the excitement of going down into a dark, alien landscape and adults can think more deeply about the history and science on display- and have a bit of fun too.

The old mining galleries inside the mountain go on for about half a kilometre and there are some very strange sights to see inside. Until 1990 Mina Nieves remained a working mine and much of the industrial history is still visible, including a touching shrine built by the workers, but it’s the power of the salt itself that is most striking. Every time it rains, some of the salt dissolves and they dry to form new crystals elsewhere. The weird, twisting pillars of salt and thick salt encrustations inside the mine are the result.

Naturally there is also a museum where visitors can learn more about salt mining and Catalonia’s industrial past, and Cardona also has more to offer. There is a spectacular 12^th Century castle high above the town and an interesting medieval centre, but more interesting still is the contrast between busy, vibrant Barcelona and more traditional Cardona. It’s only 90 minutes from central Barcelona, but Cardona feels like it belongs to another place and another time.

You can get to Cardona by hire car or by bus and train, and although it takes far longer, I recommend the latter. The journey through the farms and mountains will give you an insight into the other side of Catalonia, the one you won’t find in Barcelona or in the fashionable beach resorts. It’s worth getting off the beaten track.

Jess Spate has spent a great deal of time in Catalonia, both in Barcelona and outside the city limits. She now lives in Wales and works as a sustainable business consultant for http://fountainspirit.com and http://belaydevice.net.

Events in Barcelona

Monday, 24 January 2011 09:53

Visiting Barcelona, it is useful to know what is going on in barcelona during your visit, whether it be football matches with the infamous Barça, the formula 1 grand prix, theatre or live music, or trade shows. There are several events listing pages that are worth looking at that will give you times, dates and locations of all these events.

New year in Barcelona

Wednesday, 01 December 2010 09:33

If you are in Barcelona over New years eve, you are in for a treat! Barcelona is a fantastic place to see in the new year, a the Catalans love a good party. A good place to start is a restaurant in Barcelona, at around 9pm. You should book in advance in this evening, as most places will be ram-packed. There are a plethora of bars and clubs open, and if you want to spend New years eve in Barcelona, you should take into account that there is normally quite a high cover charge, but then there is a free bar. Clubs new years eve Barcelona. At midnight, it is traditional to eat a grape on every strike of the bell at midnight, doing so will bring you good luck all the year!

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