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

Do you consider yourself a fashion victim? I wouldn’t say that those people who know me would describe me as a shopping addict. Well, actually, the truth is I am more the kind of person who waits until it is ABSOLUTELY necessary to buy some clothes for practical reasons! - Anything to avoid drowning in the sea of shopping-crazy people. So, when my boyfriend asked me if I wanted to spend my precious, sunny, Saturday afternoon in a huge shopping centre just outside Barcelona I was a bit reluctant at first, but then I changed my mind. (more…)

Tags: roca+village+barcelona, shopping+barcelona, shopping+roca+village, fashion+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

Without any doubt, L’Eixample is one of the most beautiful quarters in Barcelona! Actually, if you have the chance of going for a walk down any of the many amazing avenues and streets, you will see the area looks like a museum…an outdoor museum!

I live in L’Eixample and I really think it is one of the best areas in Barcelona in which to live. The streets and buildings are often breathtakingly beautiful and extravagant and there are lots of things to see and amazing places to visit. Bordered by the ‘Gran Via’ in the south and ‘Diagonal’ in the north, this large quarter is considered to be the birthplace of Modernism. Apart from the impressive buildings, the layout of the streets could be considered a work of art in itself. Like ‘The Big Apple’ – New York city, the streets have a block layout, so it’s both practical and very difficult to get lost (well for most people!). (more…)

Tags: quarters+in+Barcelona, L'Eixample+in+Barcelona, modernism+in+Barcelona, modernism+quarter+in+Barcelona

Want to buy Gucci sunglasses without paying Gucci prices? Or Prada handbags for just a few euros? Then take a stroll around Plaza de Catalunya!

You won’t find the designer boutiques of Paseo de Gracia, but you will find loads of street vendors with ‘designer look-alike goods’ of all kinds. You really can find anything you want at ANY price in Barcelona!! If you don’t mind it being a fake (but who does, really?).

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Tags: Barcelona+city+centre, Barcelona+Plaza+de+Catalunya, Paseo+de+Gracia+Barcelona, Street+vendors+in+Barcelona,

I’ve done it, I’ve finally done it!!!!! I faced what is possibly the scariest and most exciting time of the year in Barcelona (if you´re a woman)… THE WINTER SALES!

I decided this year that I wouldn’t wait until things had ‘calmed down’ and I instead went down to the shops on the first day of the sales, January 6th. Of course, it turns out that EVERYBODY else in Barcelona had the very same idea!

Barcelona has some amazing shopping possibilities and so I completely understand why people would want to make the most of the 40 and 50 % discounts!

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Tags: Shopping+in+Barcelona, Barcelona+shops, Shopping+centres+in+Barcelona, Portal+de+Angel