Hot Air Ballooning Near Barcelona

Shortly after take off on the outskirts of Vic

This year is the 25th anniversary of the company that I work for. Last week we celebrated the occasion with a team-building weekend starting with a party on Friday night. The celebrations continued on Saturday with activities, lunch at a Parador and an evening meal at the old Moritz factory. The activities were a closely guarded…

Monument to Doctor Bartomeu Robert

Monument to Doctor Bartomeu Robert

Plaça de Tetuan is a tiny green oasis on Gran Via in Barcelona’s Eixample district. The small tree-lined plaza is dominated by a 12m high Art Nouveau monument to Doctor Bartomeu Robert built in 1904 by Josep Llimona. The monument took 6 years to complete and was originally installed in Plaça de la Universitat. After the Spanish…

Vegetarian Restaurants in Barcelona

Lentil, pumpkina and potatoe stew & Vegetable pie with salad - La Báscula

Vegetarians can sometimes have a hard time when visiting Spain. Sure, there are some common vegetarian dishes which are available in most restaurants. But after days of eating Spanish omelette and salad, it can start to wear a bit thin! Luckily meat-free eating is increasingly popular in Barcelona, and there are a growing number of…

Barcelona Design Museum – DHUB

Barcelona Design Museum

The new Barcelona Design Museum opened during December 2014. The museum explores the role of design in our daily lives through 4 permanent exhibitions which were previously housed in the Museum of Decorative Arts, the Ceramics Museum, the Barcelona Textile Museum and the Cabinet of Graphic Arts. The museum occupies 4 floors of the futuristic…

Plaça d’Espanya

View of Plaça d'Espanya from the Les Arenes shopping centre

Plaça d’Espanya was built for the 1929 International Exhibition and was originally flanked by purpose-built hotels designed to house people visiting the exhibition. Only one of the hotels remains and nowadays the square is basically a large roundabout with an impressive fountain in the middle and magnificent views of the Palau Nacional and Montjuïc. The…

Enriqueta Martí – The Vampire of the Raval

Enriqueta Marti

With a population of approximately 50,000 people, Barcelona’s El Raval neighbourhood has always had a rather dodgy reputation. Despite being the home of one of the world’s most famous food markets (the Boqueria), Barcelona’s grandest theatre (El Liceu) and two of my favourite museums (the MACBA and the Maritime Museum). Not to mention loads of excellent restaurants…

Monument to Francesc Cambó

Francesc Cambó i Batlle

Born in Verges in 1876, Francesc Cambó was a wealthy conservative politician, lawyer, author, philanthropist and Catalan nationalist. He founded the Regionalist League, was member of the Spanish government, promoted Catalan culture and collected art (a large part of his collection is on display in Barcelona’s MNAC museum). Shortly after the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed in…

Parc de l’Espanya Industrial

Dragon sculpturs by Andrés Nagel

A stones throw from Barcelona’s main railway station, the Parc de l’Espanya Industrial is best known for the 12m high dragon sculpture by Andrés Nagel. The sculpture doubles as a childrens’ slide and is commonly used by skaters  and BMXers (Note the “BMX or die” slogan spray painted above one of the ramps). The park gets…

El Fossar de les Moreres

El Fossar de les Moreres - The grave of the mulberry trees

In the heart of the Ribera district, the Fossar de Les Moreres is a sombre reminder of Barcelona’s turbulent history. The site has been a burial ground since medieval times and in 1714 citizens who died defending the city during the siege of Barcelona were buried here in a mass grave. Because of this the…

The Encants Vells Flea Market

The Encants Vells' ultra modern canopy was built in 2013

Barcelona’s Encants Vells, also known as the Mercat de Bellcaire, is one of the oldest flea markets in Europe and dates back to the 14th Century. In 2013 Els Encants relocated to a stunning new purpose built 3 story structure opposite the Agbar Tower. The emblematic mirrored canopy houses 500 stalls; a mixture of junk shop, antiques…

Monument to Doctor Trueta

The Doctor Trueta Monument on the Rambla de Poblenou

Josep Trueta Raspall was born in the Poblenou neighbourhood of Barcelona in 1897. He studied medicine at the University of Barcelona and in 1921 started working as an assistant surgeon in the Hospital de la Santa Creus I Sant Pau. By the onset of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 Dr. Trueta had already started…

Barcelona Cable Cars

Barcelona Port Cable Car

Barcelona has two cable cars that offer visitors fantastic aerial views of the city and provide easy access to the castle and other attractions on Montjuïc. Barcelona Port Cable Car The Transbordador Aeri del Port (Port Cable Car) was built for the 1929 Barcelona Universal Exposition and links the Barceloneta beach to Montjuïc. The red…

Statue of Pau Claris

Monument to Pau Claris,Passeig Lluis Companys, Barcelona

This bronze statue of Pau Claris was inaugurated in 1880 and originally stood on what is now Via Laietana. It was withdrawn from public display during the Spanish Civil War, as were other monuments to famous Catalan figures such as Dr Bartomeu Robert and Rafael Casanova. In 1977 the statues were restored and reinstated in…

Hay Fever Season in Barcelona

London Plane Trees

Since moving to Barcelona I have found that I suffer less from hay fever than when I lived in the UK. I believe that this is because Barcelona is a large coastal city and there is generally less airborne pollen than in smaller cities or towns surrounded by countryside. The only time of year that…

Sir Winston Churchill Monument

Detail of the Winston Churchill Monument, Barcelona

Sir Winston Churchill and Barcelona Winston Churchill was undoubtedly one of the most important figures of the 20th Century. His leadership inspired the British people to stand up for freedom during the second world war. Hitler backed Franco and used the Spanish Civil War to perfect techniques which were later used by the Nazis in…

Fernando Botero’s Fat Animal Sculptures

Botero's Cat

Two of Barcelona’s most photographed sculptures bear the unmistakable hallmark of Colombian artist Fernando Botero.  According to Wikipedia the artist’s trademark style is called Boterism and depicts people and animals in “exaggerated volume”. The Cat from the Raval Known locally as either “El Gato del Raval” or “El Gato de Botero” this over-nourished alley-cat was…

Monument to Francesc Macià

Portrait of Francesc Masia

Francesc Macià i Llussà was President of the Generalitat de Catalunya from 1932 until his death in 1933. Born in September 1859, Macià grew up in Vilanova i la Geltrú (a medium-sized town approximately 50 kilometres south of Barcelona). After a spell in the Spanish army, he fought for Catalan independence and formed the political…

Joan Miró Welcomes You to Barcelona

Miro's Pla de l'Os mosaic on Barcelona's famous La Rambla

In 1968 Joan Miró was commissioned to create a giant mural to welcome visitors arriving at Barcelona airport. The Barcelona-born artist liked the idea so much that he decided to donate three works of art to the city, welcoming visitors arriving by air, land and sea. Joan Mirós Mural at Barcelona Airport The giant mural…