Located just 100km south of Barcelona on Spain’s Costa Daurada (golden coast) Tarragona is literally bursting with history. The Roman city of Tarraco was capital of Hispania Tarraconensis and was one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire. The most important historical sites are located in the city centre and Tarragona is one…
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Homage to swimming by Alfredo Lanz
Spanish artist Alfredo Lanz has two sculptures on display near Barcelona’s waterfront. The better-known and largest of the two is Homage to Swimming (Catalan: Homenatge a la Natació), which is located in Plaça del Mar next to the Barceloneta and Sant Sebastià beaches. The Olympic disciplines of water polo, diving, crawl and synchronised swimming are…
Onades (Waves) by Andreu Alfaro
If you arrived in Barcelona by ferry or cruise ship, you will already be familiar with the Onades (waves) sculpture by Andreu Alfaro Hernández. Likewise, if you took a taxi from the airport to the city centre, depending on which area of the city you are staying in, there’s a good chance that you will have seen…
Cobi – Barcelona’s Olympic Mascot
With it’s heady mix of culture, beaches, history, architecture and night-life Barcelona is one of Europe’s top tourist destinations. The tourist boom started in 1992 when the city hosted the Olympic Games and embraced the opportunity to promote and reinvent itself. Cobi – Barcelona’s 1992 Olympic Mascot No Olympic Games would be complete without an…
Free Commuter Train Tickets When Travelling by AVE
The Spanish AVE high speed train network is a fast comfortable and affordably priced way of travelling around the country. In many cases the AVE is more convenient than flying because you don’t have to transfer between the airport and the city centre and can board the train just minutes before it departs instead of…
Panorama by Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada
Panorama is a 28m high composite portrait which was painted on the facade of the Centre Civic de Sant Martí as part of the 2015 Open Walls Conference. Cuban born artist Jorge Rodríguez-Gerda combined elements of 10 local women to create a portrait that represents the neighbourhood as a whole. The idea behind the composite portrait…
Cardona Castle and Salt Mountain Cultural Park
Perched on a hilltop 95km from Barcelona, Cardona Castle is a popular day-trip for local families who come to explore the medieval castle and visit the nearby salt mine. For thousands of years salt was one of the most valuable commodities and during the Middle Ages Cardona castle was home to one of the wealthiest…
Devil’s Bridge Roman Aqueduct – Tarragona
Devil’s Bridge (Catalan: El Pont del Diable) is a 2000 year old Roman aqueduct built during the reign of Emperor Augustus (27 BC to 14 AD) to supply the city of Tarraco with fresh water from the nearby River Francolí. A testament to Roman engineering, the 249m long aqueduct continued to bring water to Tarragona until as…
The First Building Designed by Antoni Gaudí
No matter how brief your stay in Barcelona, the chances are you will visit at least one building designed by Antoni Gaudí. A mixture of modernisme, surrealism and Gothicism combined with innovative engineering, Gaudi’s unique architectural style has shaped many of the city’s most famous landmarks and influenced generations of architects. Although most of Gaudi’s…
Las Arenas – Bullring Turned Shopping Centre and Viewpoint
The Las Arenas de Barcelona bullring was inaugurated in 1900 and was the second of 3 bullfighting rings built in Barcelona. Designed by Catalan architect August Font i Carreras, the plaza had a capacity for nearly 15,000 spectators. During the 1970s, as bullfighting became less popular, the arena faced declining attendance and finally closed in…
Eat Breakfast Like a Local in Barcelona
If you found this post whilst searching for a list of the best places to eat brunch in Barcelona, you may want to click the back button now! Let’s face it, as much as I enjoy hash browns, French toast, huevos rancheros or broccoli and cheese frittata. The truth is, the majority of Barcelona residents…
La Carbonería – From Urbanistic Innovation To Graffiti Covered Squat
In a city replete with stunning modernista architecture designed by renowned architects such as Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner, it may come as a surprise to find that, for many years, one of Barcelona’s most photographed buildings was an abandoned squat whose most notable feature was a huge street art mural. The building…
Antoni Llena’s Chicken Wire Tribute to Castellers
Located in Plaça de Sant Miquel behind Barcelona’s City Hall, this unusual 26.5m high stainless steel tower by Antoni Llena i Font was unveiled in 2012 during the Feast of Santa Eulalia. The statue is titled Homenatge als Castellers and is a tribute to the emblematic human towers which are a traditional feature of public…
Tossa de Mar: History, Sand and Sunshine on the Costa Brava
Situated on the southernmost part of the Costa Brava, the charming seaside resort of Tossa de Mar is a popular day trip from Barcelona. Tossa’s attractions include sandy beaches and a picturesque old town whose narrow streets are lined with restaurants and bars. Not to mention the impressive 12th-century medieval castle or Vila Vella. Once an…
Marc by Robert Llimós
Marc is one of a pair of nearly identical statues by Robert Llimós portraying a colourful, genderless, neo-expressionist human figure holding a large picture frame which it is looking through. The sculpture was inaugurated in 1997 and it’s title is a play on words. Marc means frame in Catalan and the statue is dedicated to the artist’s…
David and Goliath Sculptures in Barcelona
Who isn’t familiar with the story of David and Goliath? The epic tale of a young shepherd boy who, armed with only a slingshot and a few stones, killed a fearsome giant and went on to become king of Israel. Over the centuries the story has become a synonym for the struggle between good and…
Cadaqués and Salvador Dalí’s House in Portlligat
If you ask most Barcelona locals to name the most beautiful village on the Costa Brava, the chances are that they will say Cadaqués. Set in a sheltered bay on the southern side of the Cap de Creus peninsula, this small town was once a busy port whose economy was based on fishing, wine-making and…
Monument to Ramon Berenguer the Great
This life size bronze equestrian statue of Ramon Berenguer III was sculpted by Frederic Marès and inaugerated in 1950. Located in Plaça Ramon Berenguer el Gran, the monument is a replica of an earlier statue which was created by Josep Llimona for the Barcelona Universal Exposition of 1888. The Count, who ruled Barcelona from 1097…
The Tres Tombs Horse Parade
Every January, in towns and cities across Spain, animals take to the streets to celebrate the feast of St Anthony Abbot. Saint Anthony was a Roman Catholic monk born in Egypt in the 3rd century and is the patron saint of (among others) domestic animals, basket weavers, farmers, grave diggers and the sick. Several towns…
Wilfred the Hairy: History and Legends
Tucked away beside the north entrance to Barcelona cathedral there is a small stone sculpture of an extremely hairy knight fighting what looks like a griffin. The knight is Wilfred the Hairy (Guifré el Pilòs) who was Count of Barcelona from 878 until his death in 897. Wilfred the Hairy was born in 840 in Prades…
Jardins de les 3 Xemeneies – Barcelona’s Graffiti Park
Jardins de les 3 Xemeneies or Gardens of the three chimneys is the most urban of Barcelona’s urban parks. Located near Montjuïc in the Poble-sec neighbourhood, the park gets its name from the three brick chimneys, which are all that remains of an early 20th-century power station built by the Barcelona Traction Power and Light Company.…
A Storybook Christmas in La Plaça de Sant Jaume
Each December Christmas takes to the streets and plazas of Barcelona in the form of markets, lights, trees and pessebres (nativity scenes). The word pessebre means crib in Catalan and most of the nativity scenes which can be seen in Barcelona follow the traditional format of stable, manger, 3 kings, cows, shepherds etc… One notable…
Vic’s Annual Medieval Market
Every year, at the start of December, the town of Vic stages one of the largest and best-known medieval markets in Spain. El Mercat Medieval de Vic lasts four days and, for many Barcelona residents, is an essential part of the run-up to Christmas. Located just 70km from Barcelona, Vic is a regional capital and…
Homage to the Blanquerna School
This large bronze statue of two children is the work of Catalan artist Núria Tortras. The statue, which portrays a girl reading and a boy playing, is located on the pavement opposite Plaça de Blanquerna and was inaugurated in 1998. The Blanquerna School (Mutua Escolar Blanquerna) was founded in 1923 and used the then revolutionary…
Parc de Les Aigües
Whether you are looking for a place to let your children play, somewhere to walk your dog, have a picnic or escape the heat of the August sun, El Parc de Les Aigües in Barcelona’s Horta/Guinardo district could be just what you are looking for. The park is very well maintained and the abundance of…
The Shoe Museum
Possibly Barcelona’s smallest museum, El Museu del Calçat (Literally: the footware museum) occupies 2 small rooms in a 16th century renaissance style building which was previously the headquarters of the Shoemakers Guild. The museum houses a small collection of shoes from around the world as well as historic documents and other articles related to shoemaking.…
The World Begins With Every Kiss (The Kiss Mural)
Approaching the Kiss of Freedom mural in Plaça d’Isidre Nonell you’d be forgiven for assuming it’s a large graffiti. As you get closer, you’ll realise that it is, in fact, a mosaic made up of thousands of tiny ceramic tiles. Each individual tile is printed with a photo of a person, a place, a moment,…
Lleida – Cathedrals, Castles and a Medieval Dungeon
Despite being only 150km from Barcelona on the main road to Madrid and with high-speed train links to both cities. Lleida is one of those places which just tends to get overlooked. Certainly I’ve driven past on numerous occasions without ever giving it so much as a second glance. Earlier this month my partner and…
Santa Maria del Mar – Barcelona’s Cathedral of the Sea
The Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar was built during the 14th century on a site which was once occupied by a Roman Amphitheatre. The church took 55 years to build and is a rare example of pure Catalan Gothic architecture (most churches and cathedrals are a combination of styles). The simplicity of design and…
Discover the Awesome Graffiti and Street Art of Poblenou
Over the last few years Barcelona’s once industrial Poblenou neighbourhood has begun a steady transformation from area full of disused factories to one of hi-tech office blocks, stylish hotels and modern apartment buildings. Many of the abandoned factories have been torn down. Some have been restored and converted into offices. Others stand derelict awaiting redevelopment, trapped in a kind…
