The Feria de Abril has started!

In Andalusia, South of Spain, the Feria de Abril is one of the main events during the year. The many generations of Andalusian immigrants made possible to organize it in Barcelona as well.
This year it is celebrated in the Forum area, and you'll find there lots of tents where to dance sevillanas and eat tapas. It is not a "Catalan" athmosphere, of course, but it is also part of the local society and you might be interested in visiting it.

Other immigrant cultures have lately joined the party, specially Latin-American and Morroquian, but even their tents will have to offer some sevillanas and flamenco in order to aligne with the spirit of the Festival.

In the weekends it is open from 10am to the early morning. More information here.

Spanish restaurants in the international elite!

Every year the Restaurant Magazine (UK) publishes S. Pellegrino list of the 50 best restaurants in the world.

For the 4th time in a row, the Catalan restaurant El Bulli and its chef Ferran Adrià come first in the list! And this year, El Celler de Can Roca by the Roca brothers moves from 26th to the 5th place after they just moved to their new and larger venue.

The Basq Country chefs are also present in the list with Andoni Luis Aduriz and his restaurant Mugaritz in the 4th position, and Juan Mari Arzak and his Arzak restaurant in the 8th place.

If you are one of the lucky ones that got a table this year in El Bulli (or one of those patient ones who waited 2 years in their waiting list...), since the trip to the restaurant is 3h drive, you should also take the opportunity to visit the area. My reccomendations are the Dalí Museum or the fishermen village of Cadaqués.




Booking a table in El Celler de Can Roca is easier (at least, it was so far!), and it's a great idea to explore the medieval town of Girona before visiting the restaurant.
Let me organize this special day for you!

Thank you letter from the Feltman family

I just wanted to share a thank you letter I received from the Feltman:

Well I have been back at work for a little over a week now but still dreaming of our wonderful vacation! I wish we were still in Barcelona and waiting for you to pick us up for one of the fabulous excursions.

Marta, you are a great tour guide, (I'm sure you know that already) and we will always cherish the memories of our time in Barcelona with you. I'm so glad we have the video so we can live over and over again our wonderful excursions with you. I certainly hope we will be able to return some time in the future.

I arranged for them airport and port transfers, and I gave them a great city tour that included eating wonderful tapas at the Boqueria Food Market and desert at Caelum, appart from visiting the Old Town and the Gaudí sites. On the next day, we took a day trip to Tarragona. They didn't expect to find there so many roman ruins! Plus we hit a flee market that was fun visiting.

And on the way home we stop in Sitges for lunch in a local restaurant (they specially liked a very original desert: crème brûlée with pineapple!) and we also had some time to walk around the place.

Sitges

Saint George's day in Barcelona - April 23rd

Well, a bit late, but I finally managed to find some time to write my article on this very special day.

In April 23rd Catalonia celebrates the day of our patron saint, Saint George. According to the story, he was a knight that killed a dragon to save a princess. From the blood of the dead dragon, a rose was born and Saint George offered it to the princess as a symbol of love. This is way on his day, Catalan men give a rose (preferably red) to their spouse or girlfriend. It is common that fathers will also buy one for their daughters, and some stores, theaters etc., might be offering roses as well.

Also, Cervantes and Shakespeare, two great writters who made history with their works, were born in April 23rd, that is why women buy their man a book (again, parents will often buy books to their kids, and it isn't strange that friends, colleagues or relatives offer books aswell).


The best area to check out the great athmosphere of Saint George day in Barcelona are Rambla Catalunya and La Rambla. It's packed with stalls of people selling roses and books. Bookstores and flower shops will of course set up tables in the street to make their largest sales in the year. But it's also a great occasion for teens to rise up money for their school trip or camp, associations to get funds for their projects... I also love to see the creativity of the floral compositions, that are more delightful every year.

As for the books, it is great to have a day when everyone is offering and buying books! Bookstores will make on April 23rd upto a 10% of their yearly sales. It's a great day for publishers and authors, who will often be signing their books.

Everyone takes the chance to go out for a walk to enjoy the ambiance: even many schools take the little ones out. And many buildings sport the Senyera, the Catalan Flag, hanging in their balconies.

The day is even remarked in pastryshops and bakeries, who create special cakes and bread for the occasion. And even other stores will join the party with their own customized suggestions.

Hawks born in the Sagrada Familia Church

Did you know there is a program in Barcelona to introduce hawks and falcons in high buildings so they help naturally reducing the growing community of pigeons in town?

The Sagrada Familia church has collaborated in the project from the beggining, and they host a nest in one of the belltowers (which is, of course, closed to visitors).

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of this initiative, the City Council has set up a webcam so you can follow them live. Just a few days ago, the eggs started hatching!

Check it out here!

Free access to public museums on Sunday afternoon

From April 5th public museums of Barcelona will be free of charge every Sunday from 3pm to 8pm. Until now, they were only free every first Sunday of the month during their whole opening hours (and that will keep happening).

That includes only those museums owned and run by the city council (Picasso, Museum of History of Barcelona - Roman Ruins, Natural Sciencies, Barcelona Design Hub, Barbier-Mueller Pre-Colombian Art, Ceramic and Ethnologic), but they are working to extend the gratuity to other institutions as well.

In the case of the Picasso Museum, remember that during free-entrance times groups and tourguides don't have priority access and tourguides are not allowed to give explanations inside the museum.

A week with the St Exupéry high school, from France

Two years ago I spent a whole week being the tourguide for the students of the St Exupéry high school from Nantes, France. Although during their trip they had a few unexpected incidents, they had a lot of fun and really enjoyed themselves. You can read a review in my website.

This year they asked their agency to hire me again for their new trip. We had a very complete program that included the major Gaudí sites, two gardens (Botanical and Labyrinth), the Old Town, the Olympic sites as well as an excursion to Girona.
Again we had a lot of fun, and again I helped them solving some things, and in the end their trip was a success.

I want to thank them for being such great kids and for all the good moments we had together!

Easter traditions

Easter isn't as big in Barcelona as it is in other places of Spain such as Andalusia, however you can get the feel of it if you are willing to.
Here are a few ideas:

- Palm Sunday. First of all, you need to get yourself a palm (well, to be strict your godmother should buy it for you). The best palm markets are in front of the Sagrada Familia church and in the Rambla Catalunya. Boys get long palms called "palmó", and girls get palms with tricky lacery work ("palma"), and they decorate them with laces and candy that they won't be allowed to eat until the mass is over. Adults usually carry laurel branches, although women (specially the elderly) might prefer a miniature palma. Palm blessing is performed at 11am at the Cathedral in the Gothic Quarter and at 11:45am in front of the Passion Façade of the Sagrada Familia church. Or if you prefer a very local experience, head for the Caputxins de Sarrià (2 Cardenal Vives i Tutó st., 5 minutes walk from Maria Cristina (L3 Metro) and Reina Elisenda (L6 Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat).

- Via Crucis. The procession of the Holy Cross on Easter Friday. At the Sagrada Familia in front of the Passion Façade at 9am and 10pm, and at the Cathedral at 6.30pm.


- Mona for your godchildren. On Easter Monday godchildren are given a mona by their godfather. They used to be a cake decorated with one hard-boiled egg per each children the kid is old. However, nowadays the tradition has evolved and most monas are now amazing chocolate figures that can be bought in most pastry shops. So organize a family lunch, and eat your mona for desert!