Life in Barcelona

The city of Barcelona has a very long football tradition! This shouldn’t surprise anybody, as of one of the best teams in the World represents my city: F.C. BARCELONA, known throughout the World as “BARÇA”!!

Football is the national sport in Spain and, obviously, it is very easy for anyone who is staying in Barcelona and who loves football as much I do, to practice his/her favourite sport!

This blog is directed at all those who are staying in Barcelona for a long time and who are interested in playing football! For example, there are some clubs that organize different types of championships. I usually play in a team of 10 friends from the University in the club Catalonia Sports, and this is my 7th straight season playing there! During all these years, as all the teams, we had some good and not so good years! We happened to win the league one season and in the following season we finished 8th, out of 10 teams at the standings! (more…)

Tags: Football+in+Barcelona, Sports+in+Barcelona, Football+championships+in+Barcelona

When you live and work in a city every day, then you start to take it for granted and sometimes you forget about all of the possible things there are to do and places there are to visit!!! …But it is nice have a break from the routine and to do these things every so often! Last weekend a friend of mine came to visit and I switched to ‘tourist lifestyle’!

I recalled a wonderful place: the Magic Fountains of Montjuic! Why magic? Because the water in the fountains comes to life and dances to the rhythm of the music! The foot of the Montjuic hill, between the two towers on Plaza Espanya and the last fountain before the museum, is transformed into a huge light show! The water of the fountain is illuminated by wonderful coloured lights, which create abstract forms and continuous patterns and which then move to the sounds of internationally famous pieces of music and theme tunes from accross the world! The show is repeated every 30 minutes, so there is more than one chance to see it! Unfortunately we actually arrived too late on Saturday and so we tried again on Sunday, at the right time!

During the winter months, the shows take place from 19.00 hours to 21.00 hours at the weekends. During the summer period, from 20.00 hours to midnight!

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Tags: Magic+Fountain, Montjuic+Fountain, Magic+Barcelona, Fuentes+de+Montjuic

Well this weekend was a little different to my normal nights out in the city that never sleeps. For a bit of a change from the usual bar and club scene, me and my friends decided to go to Barcelona’s port-side Casino to try our luck.

We started off with some dinner at a restaurant called ‘Agua’ on the sea front. It’s quite pricy but this was our night of extravagance and it’s such a cool place, with views of the sea and a large terrace. There are lots of other nice bars and restaurants in the area so it’s definitely worth a visit.

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Tags: Barcelona+Casino, Port+Olimpic+Barcelona, Restaurants+Barcelona, Nightlife+in+Barcelona

Guys!! I had one of my best holidays ever in this small town, located in the heart of the “Costa Brava”. Only 2 hours north from Barcelona by car, Roses combines all the best characteristics for a really enjoyable week-end or maybe even more days: the beach is very large and beautiful, there are lots and lots of pubs and discos, there are many cultural places of interest and there is a great mix of nationalities, due to its’ proximity to France and the rest of Europe. (more…)

Tags: Roses, Costa+Brava, Towns+in+Catalunya, Holidays+in+Catalunya

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

Even if like me, you are one of the many people who have deeply fallen in love with the city of Barcelona, and who have been lucky enough to appreciate all that the city has to offer, you may never of thought of visiting the University. Why bother if you’re not studying there?? Actually Barcelona University is not just a house of learning, but a fascinating place in a beautiful package… (more…)

Tags: universitat+barcelona, university+barcelona, studying+barcelona, cats+garden+university, things+to+do+barcelona

I’ve been living in Barcelona for 1 year and a half now, and one of the things that I really forget about my own country, is the public transport situation.

In my city (Rome) you have to spend so much time waiting for transport (buses, trains, trams whatever!), but it’s almost impossible to think about travelling by bike - it’s too dangerous, there are no bike-lanes, no-one uses it as a normal method of transport and that means you never see any bikes in the streets, and probably the cars wouldn’t see you coming.

On the contrary, in Barcelona many people usually use the bike to move around the city centre.

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Tags: Barcelona+by+bike, Visit+Barcelona+by+bike, Bicing+in+Barcelona, Barcelona+BICING, cycing+in+Barcelona

 One of my favourite places in Catalonia is Port Aventura, which re-opened its’ doors last week after the usual winter hibernation.

This theme park, located on the Catalan coast (about one hour south of Barcelona, next to Tarragona), is apparently one of the most important in Europe! I don’t claim to be the authority when it comes to them parks but I’ve been to Port Aventura loads of times now, and I think it’s fab!

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Tags: Port+Aventura+Barcelona, Theme+parks+Spain, Barcelona+Day+trips, Catalan+Theme+parks

What the hell is “World Water Day” ? - I hear you murmer. Yesterday, March 22nd, was “World Water Day”. Here in Barcelona it is, of course, another excuse to stage a weekend of celebrations, music and dance! And why ever not indeed?!

The international observance of the World Water Day is an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. The theme for this year`s World Water Day was ‘Coping with Water Scarcity’.

This weekend, Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th of March, from 16.00 hours, Barcelona is celebrating this day on Pg. Lluís Companys, between the ‘Arc de Triomf’ and the ‘Ciutadella Park’, with a lot of cultural and artistic activities. From flamenco, rumba and theatre on Saturday, to a concert by Lucrecia – a Cuban born singer - on Sunday! (more…)

Tags: World+Water+Day+in+Barcelona, Lucrecia+concert+Barcelona, World+Water+Day,

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