Life in Barcelona

Rain la la, rain la la, what a pain la la…. It is washing the city streets and a lot of people are enjoying the pre-summer refreshment with these April showers in the city (did you SEE the amazing STORM last night?) However, I have friends visiting me here in Barcelona precisely this week and it is tricky to visit all the wonderful sights of Barcelona when your shoes are full of rain-water, your spectacles are so misty that the Sagrada Familia seems like a blurry spikey giant in your face and your jeans are so soaked and heavy that you can´t walk up any steps anymore.

So WHAT DO YOU DO? You go to visit the CHOCOLATE MUSEUM of course! And then you go to sit in a lovely warm Spanish café and dunk your spoon into one of the best hot chocolate experiences money can ever buy and you forget the weather, or any other such troubles and you get drunk with chocolate.

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Tags: Chocolate+Museum+Barcelona, Museo+de+Xocolata, Chocolate, Easter, shopping, Barcelona+museums

It has taken me a couple of years to discover it, but unlike the very famous ‘Boqueria’ open market just off the Ramblas, the Santa Caterina Marketplace is a little less known by the hoards of visitors and tourists in Barcelona and it is a lovely, lovely, lovely place!

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Tags: Barcelona+markets, shopping+Barcelona, La+Boqueria+market, Santa+Caterina+marketplace+Barcelona

I really love the Spanish life style! I think they know how to throw a good party, they usually eat very tasty food and they have big get-togethers with lots of people!

A normal Tuesday afternoon after work can start with: “Vamos a tomar algo?” (Do you want to go for a drink?) and then before you know it the night’s almost over and you’re coming home late again - maybe even too late to sit and spent a few minutes in front of the television!

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Tags: tapas, Barcelona+tapas+bars, eating+out+Barcelona, Spanish+food

Have you every tried drinking from a fountain? A fountain of wine that is!

After reading about the trip to the Catalan Pyrenees, it reminded me of a similar excursion I made, where I got to have my first experience of ‘El Porrón’, a Spanish tradition which is NOT for the faint hearted (neither for those with very bad aim)!

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Tags: El+Pórron, Spanish+traditions, El+Portalón+Barcelona, Spanish+wine+traditions

Ok, ok, it is Valentine’s Day, but not everyone is lucky enough to have a partner to share a romantic dinner with, or to offer a cute cuddly toy or flowers to! And so??

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Tags: Crema+Catalana, Valentine's+day, Spanish+desserts, Valentine´s+day+Barcelona

I have just moved house in Barcelona and I have been lucky enough to land in the trendy, old town, El Born district, behind the city cathedral! The one big problem about living in Barcelona is how many TEMPTATIONS there are, with regards to shopping!

You need to take care of your money in this city – as you are likely to spend it! Barcelona is on its way to becoming one of the top shopping capitals in Europe. In contrast to London, Berlin or Amsterdam, Barcelona is not only fashionable and trendy but, in my opinion, it also offers much more reasonable prices! (more…)

Tags: Shopping+in+Barcelona, Barcelona+shops, El+Born+Barcelona, Cal+Pep+Barcelona

Hello everybody!!

I feel the necessity to talk about my last Saturday night out in Barcelona. I had what I call the “perfect evening”! I’m not just talking about going out with friends and coming back home around 6am (actually, as most people who live in Barcelona do). What I’m talking about is much better!! A really, really fantastic evening that only happens every now and again (it’s difficult to keep up with the lack of sleep every weekend!!).

So, the evening started at 7 pm, meeting with friends in a bar in the city centre. We stayed for around 2 hours, having a few beers. Then, we decided that we had had enough beer and we went for dinner to a very nice restaurant. We ate pasta and pizza, accompanied by good red and rosé wine. Mmmmmm, we had an incredible dinner and we decided to continue with the evening’s entertainment… we went to a pub at around 12 pm…you know, just more drinking and dancing And finally, we still had energy to go out to one of the big clubs in Barcelona!

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Tags: churros+and+chocolate, churrería, evenings+out+Barcelona, Barcelona+nightlife

Everyone has their favourite tipple, but nothing pops my cork quite like a fresh, crisp glass of bubbly Cava – Catalan sparkling wine, especially when the Barcelona temperatures are soaring!!

Cava should not just be saved for special occasions though! Certainly in Barcelona it is an inexpensive drink, found on every menu and in every bar! Some bars specialise in Cava, producing their own bottles for the customers to try.

My favourite place for sampling Cava is ‘La Xampanyet’, in C/Montcada, just near the Picasso museum in the centre of Barcelona.

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Tags: Cava+Barcelona, Wine+tasting+Catalunya, La+Xampanyet, Cordoníu+cava, vineyards+Catalunya

Do you dare try it? If you are lucky and your time in Barcelona coincides with the winter/spring months, then you may have heard of, seen, smelt or perhaps already tasted the “CALÇOTS”. The Calçotada is one of the strangest, messiest, most satisfying, yet medieval-seeming gastronomic experiences in the whole of Spain, or perhaps in Europe! In keeping with my last post on sensational Spanish dietary habits, such as diving into buckets of olive oil and concocting amazing egg omelettes, I think it is a highly appropriate moment to also mention the succulent, tender, barbequed, sauce-covered, sweet spring onion shoots that stimulate the Spanish taste buds and give the rest of us something to only dream of trying! Try and suggest a ‘leek grilling party’ in your home country, amongst your friends and see how many people turn up!? Do the same in Spain and you will have your friends, their friends and the whole population of your street banging on your door, with an accompanying bottle of ‘vino tinto’ in their arms! (more…)

Tags: calçots, fiesta+del+calçot, calçotada, calçots+in+barcelona, catalan+cuisine,

Mediterranean men and football!? What is it all about? Any Italian or Spanish male colleagues, friends or fellow students that I have met throughout the past few years were all CRAZY about football. I lived with 2 Spanish guys for a couple of semesters whilst studying abroad, who were proud of knowing the names of almost ALL the players in most of the well-known UK teams! This fascination is unbelievable for a girl like me – who has never been interested in the fabulous world of footie in the slightest. I´m not sure that I even know the rules of the game and I´ve certainly never watched a match from beginning to end!

ANNNYYYYYWAY, as I am hoping that there are other women out there who are as equally BORED by the success or failure stories and reports of the BARÇA guys (just how UGLY is Ronaldhino´s smile??), then I decided to try and write a post for us women, to combat the latest one on football! Thinking back to my Erasmus days and living with those Spaniards got me thinking again about the famous MEDITERRANEAN DIET!  (more…)

Tags: Mediterrean+Diet, Boqueria+Market, spanish+cooking, tapas, olive+oil