Barcelona apartments, Barcelona Hotels, Barcelona Accommodation

Barcelona is definitely a mother city for Modernism. And do you know why this trend is so well represented in Catalonia? The country was really open-minded to the trends coming from the rest of Europe in order to reinforced its nationalism and its differences with the rest of Spain.
Thus, the ideas of many architects and artists were easily accepted as bases of an artistic renewal.
The most representative artist of Modernism is of course Antoni Gaudi, and you can admire several of his works throughout the whole city. Others big masters like Domenech I Montaner and Puig I Cadefalch are also famous.
The Quadrat d'Or (the Gold Square) in the Eixample district shows some marvels. There you can admire the Casa Mila, also called La Pedrera. It was sculpted with wave forms and the roof looks like the body of a ship.
La Manzana de la Discordia (Bone of Contention) gathers 3 houses and each owner uses the genius of one architect to build their house.
Further you can find the Casa Calvert, the first edifice of Gaudi, adorned with angels faces, wrought iron balustrades...

A bit further away from the city centre you will find Park Güell, another master work of Gaudi. It was first supposed to include private houses, administration buildings and leisure spaces. It was supposed to be an English style garden city but those plans were never finished. In the whole park you can find the familiar curves and mosaic.
The masterpiece of Gaudi is without any doubts the Sagrada Familia (the Holy Family), a modernist house of God, never consecrated by the Church. Gaudi died before its wind-up and despite the polemic about letting it as it was, the constructions keep going on. The Sagrada Familia has 3 façades : the Passion, the Nativity and the Glory of the Christ.
This is a real stunning building. I was staying for a while in the Hotel Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, a few years ago, and I was always so astonished when I arrived at the turn of the street in front of this fascintating building...

Posted by Audrey at 5:18 PM | Permalink

Barcelona has a lot of festivities all year long.
On the 6th of January is the Kings Day (El Dia Dels Reis). There are processions in the streets with walk-on actors dressed like the Three Wise Men who give candies to the children.
At the end of February is the Carnival of Shrove Tuesday as well as the celebration of Santa Eulalia, the patron saint of Barcelona.
In March the Holy Week is an important religious event, with many processions in every city.
The 23rd of April, boys offer a rose to girls and girls offer a book to boys for the Sant Jordi, a patron saint of Catalonia. The book stands for the death anniversary of Cervantes, a famous Catalan writer but also of Shakespeare. The rose comes from the legend of Sant Jordi who killed a dragon. The story says that a rosewood bloomed at the place where the dragon was killed.
The 20th of May comes Pasqua Granada, the second Easter.
For the Saint-John, on the 24th of June, people meet on the street and concerts, dances and pyrotechnics are organized everywhere in the streets. On this occasion, people in Spain eat the 'coca' a special sweet bread.
On the 15th of August, the Catalans celebrate the Assumption.
The 11th of September is the national Day of Catalonia. At this day, in 1714, Catalonia was defeated by the Spanish armies of Philippe V of Bourbon. Catalonia lost its national liberties, its own politics and the Catalan language and culture were prohibited.
Mercè is also a patron saint of Barcelona and is celebrated on the 24th of September, because she showed much bravery in pushing back alone a grasshoppers invasion in 1637.
Finally in December, the week before Christmas is the occasion of the Carnival of Santa Llucia. You can find many stands with the figurines of the crib, Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Three Wise Men...
It's nice to come to Barcelona for one of this events and get to know the traditions of Catalonia. It's easy to find the suitable Barcelona accommodation.

Posted by Audrey at 12:06 PM | Permalink

Spain is known for its gastronomy and nobody will be disappointed of the Catalan food! Moreover, Barcelona is said to be the capital of the Catalan gastronomy. The Catalan cuisine uses basic ingredients that we all know, but its particularity is to mix them in an unusual but delicious way. Thence come tasty flavours that delight your plate.
One of my favourite type of meal are the tapas. Of course we all know tapas, but what I enjoy the most are the 'pa amb tomàquet' : bread rubbed with tomatoe and garlic and spayed with olive oil. Delicious! Tapas can be cold or warm and enables you to taste plenty of different things because of the small portions.
What else? The paella of course! With a lot of seafood. Actually I prefer the Fideua, exactly the same than the paella with prawns, scampis, chicken, pepper, tomatoes but vermicellis substitute rice.
Another speciality I discovered during the spring is the Calçotada; the calçots are kind of new onions burnt in vine shoots; you have to 'decaçote' then, it means to put off the first skin and then to eat them with this special sauce : romanesco. It tastes really good!
As desserts, we have to name the crema catalana, perfumed with cinnamon or the pastisset, a richness cake with anise.
To help you going on with all this tasty meals, Catalonia proposes severals drinks. La Orxata (or Orgeat) comes from la Chufa, a sort of papyrus growing in the marshland of the Guadalquivir and from which the essence is taken. The region also offers good wine from the Penedès, an area which cultivates numerous grape varieties. Finally, the Cava is the most known speciality of Catalonia; it's the Catalan Champagne, a really tasty sparkling wine.
If you like cooking, I think the funniest is to try making these recipes by yourself, at home. If you come on holidays, I know that you can rent Barcelona apartments which have nice kitchens with all the appliances. The apartment in Barcelona, located in the Eixample Dreta is a relly nice one.

Posted by Audrey at 4:51 PM | Permalink

Barcelona is a city with many different faces. What I like most are the numerous districts, each owning specific features which make them unique and disposing of quite a number of nice Barcelona apartments where you can spend your holiday..
First, the Plaça Catalunya, the big square at the heart of the city and a meeting point for everybody! From the Plaça starts the famous and popular La Rambla, a pedestrian street which runs way down to the Port Vell and the Monument of Colombus. This is an amazing street, full of colours, bars, stalls, mimes and overcrowed in the summer, unfortunately... Every time I go there, I can feel the soul and all the power of this beautiful city. La Rambla seperates two districts : when you face the port, El Raval district is on the right and El Barrio Gotico is on the left.
El Raval is a vibrant neighbourhood mixing many different types of population. Some of the streets ? particularly in the Lower Raval - have become immigrants ghettos and that's why it's said not to be a safe place. But the Upper Raval hosts today a lot of late night-bars, restaurants or galleries which make this place more friendly.
The Barrio Gotico is said to be the best preserved medieval quarter in Europe. The most pleasant , to my mind, is to wander through all these small, intricate, picturesque streets which drive you to lovely squares and monuments. I like to get lost in these streets, just lounging around and appreciate the beauty of the architecture.
If you cross the Via Leitana, you arrive in El Born district. Its particularity is to combine historical treasures and a really cool and fashionable ambiance. It's a good neighbourhood to go to eat or have a drink.
If you go then way to the sea, you'll arrive on the Port Vell, the Old Port. But it doesn't look old at all, with the palm-fringed stroll, the state-of-the-art shopping mall incluiding shops and restaurants, the IMAX cinema and the renovated aquarium of Barcelona!
In general, from here, I continue the stroll along the port to the district of La Barceloneta.The 'Little Barcelona' was used to be a fishermen area and even if most of the tourists come here to stay or to eat, you can still feel the warm atmosphere at the heart of the small streets. The stroll drives me then to Vila Olimpica, which was built for the Olympic Games of 1992. This is a spacious and comfortable place but the liveliest part is the olympic port, with luxurious hotels, a Casino, a lot of bars, restaurants and clubs.

On the other side of Barcelona is a fascinating big place : Montjuic, located on a hill. Here you can find huge gardens and green spaces, as well as museums, galleries, the 'Spanish Village' - built for the World Fair of 1929 and representing the architectures of all the Spanish regions - and finally tons of sport facilities. What I like in this place is the green places, it's really peaceful and you have an impressive view over Barcelona.
North way from Plaça Catalunya, we can find the distric of L'Eixample (Esquerra and Dreta : Left and Right). It was built in the late 19th century and means 'enlargement'. Well, you can see it when you walk through the streets, all built parallel and perpendicular! To see it clearly , just buy a post card, it's surprising! For me it is the most elegant and bourgeois district.
Finally, the last district I want to talk about is Gracia, a pieceful and pleasant area, the haunt of Barcelona's bohemians. This is the district of quiet squares, artistic and design shops, small cinemas and restaurants.

For sure, you need some time to discover the secret of each district of Barcelona. If you are coming to Barcelona for a few days, it's then strategic to find the best place to stay. And by the way, here you can find a Barcelona apartment which could be suitable.

Posted by Audrey at 4:21 PM | Permalink

Posted by Audrey at 4:03 PM | Permalink

Have you already heard about La Feria de Abril de Catalunya? No? Well, then you will have the opportunity to discover it in Barcelona from the 28th of April to the 7th of May on the esplanade of the Forum.
La Feria de Abril comes from Sevilla and its goal is to promote the Andalousian culture. There, you are simply uplifted by the warm atmosphere of South of Spain : tasting churros, dancing flamenco, hearing castanets and enjoying other typical Andalousian attractions. There will probably be, like last year, a procession of horsemen glittering in their colourful costums. Anyway, I really recommend you to go have a look, get to know more about Andalousia and have a lot of fun!
No worries to go there, you have the subway, line 4 and the service will be reinforced. Free shuttles from and to Plaça Catanunya will also be made available to all. Now the thing is just to find a nice place to stay, and I know some hotels not so far from the event. One of them is the Hotel Barcelona Princess, it's a really nice and comfortable hotel.

Posted by Charlie at 2:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)