The end of winter means the beggining of spring!

What is good about the end of wintertime? That spring starts showing off!
After a "real" winter (for Mediterraneans a few days of rain, some wind, near 0ºC for some days and snow in the mountains means winter), the temperature starts warming up, the sky is clear and... the first trees start blooming! In town you'll be able to enjoy garden pink prune tree, white almond tree and yellow mimosa tree flowers!
Enjoy the end of the winter!

Penelope Cruz oscar for "Vicky Christina Barcelona"

The Spanish actress Penelope Cruz has received the Oscar to the Best Supporting Actress for her role in Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" movie.

Many locations of the movie are great tourist sites such as Las Ramblas, the Born Section and the Gaudi works.

Wind damages at the Park Güell

The wind storm 2 weeks ago caused many damages in the upper part of the Park Güell (woods, Hill of the 3 Crosses, House Trias, Lovers Bridge and Carob Tree Bridge).
The dangerous broken trees must be removed in order to assure a safe visit, that's why a large part of the park has been closed (however, it's NOT the most spectacular part).

The repair works might last weeks, and they have forced to close 2 of the park entrances, one of them often used by tourist arriving by L3 subway line from Vallcarca Station. This is why I reccomend to AVOID that access or you'll have to walk a long way before reaching the next open entrance.

The only two open gates right now are the Main Entrance (Olot st.) and the Side Entrance in the Carretera del Carmel.

So how should you get to the Park until the works are over? Here are my reccomendations:

- Taxi: from the city center it should cost you around 6 euro.
- Bus 29 (stops in Plaça Catalunya and Passeig de Gràcia) or Bus 92 (stops in Vila Olímpica and Sagrada Familia) to the Side Entrance in Carretera del Carmel. The Park Güell stop is easy to identify: a little after the road starts climbing the hill and you start seeing the city roofs, the road goes into a wide curbe. The park will be to your left, and a turist bus parking to the right.
- L3 Subway, Lesseps stop. Not my favorite choice, as you'll have to walk 30 minutes to reach the Main entrance.

- My insiders tip: L4 Subway to Joanic, then switch to 116 Minibus. In 5 minutes you'll be passing the Main Entrance of the Park. There is a stop right after it.



I'll keep you posted about the works!

Special Gracia Tour for Patricia!

Patricia has just moved to the Gracia neighbourhood and she celebrated it with her friends with a tasty breakfast and my Gracia Tour. We walked around the district squares discovering its history and finding hidden details everywhere.

Towards the end of the tour, something unexpected happened: as I was starting to tell them about the Chapel of St. Phillip Neri, an old man approached and started talking to us about the place. He was Joan, a neighbour that has been living there all his life and is closely related to the Chapel. Seeing our interest for his talk, he took out some keys from his pocket and offered us to visit the inside. How lucky we were! The place is usually closed and can only be visited during the Gracia Festival in August, if there is a concert programmed in the cloister!
The picture above is precisely there (unfortunately Joan didn't want to be on it, so he volonteered to take it).

For more pictures of the Gracia District, check out my album.
To learn more about my other Out-Of-The-Beaten-Track Neighbourhoods, visit my website!

Special Tapas Tours for the Jamie Magazine journalists

Paul Dring, journalist, and William Meppem, photographer, came to Barcelona to prepare a story for the brand new Jamie Magazine, by the famous British chef Jamie Oliver.

I gave them 4 different Tapas Tours where we discovered all kind of venues and specialties in different areas:

On our first tour we explored the Tapas Bars of the Eixample district (around Passeig de Gràcia and Rambla Catalunya). The next day during lunch time we did the areas of Poblesec, Raval and Barceloneta, and for dinner we went to my favorite area: the Born section. Finally, on the morning of the last day we did the bars of the Boqueria Market and some other places in the Gothic Quarter.

By the end of their stay we were so full we couldn't eat anything else! And Paul and William had plenty of material for a great story. But we still felt we would had needed at least another 4 extra hours to cover a few more places (less centric, more out-of-the-beaten-track) that we couldn't fit in our itineraries...

Can't wait to see the next issue of the Magazine, where their story will be published. That'll be by the end of April or beggining of May. I'll keep you posted!

It's calçot's season!

 

Delicious grilled sweet green onions dipped in romesco sauce. Yummy!
This kind of delicacy is only found in the market from January to end of March, and they constitute a good excuse for Catalan to socialize. To us, "calçotades" (gatherings to eat calçots) are to Catalan what barbeques are to American.

But if you don't have the chance to be invited by a local to one of these events, where can you at least try them?
In Barcelona many tapas bars like Cerveseria Catalana include them in their menu during this season. Traditional restaurants also serve them. An affordable option is the Mussol restaurant chain.

But if you prefer something more authentic, I can take you on a Day Trip where we'll stop for lunch at some traditional restaurant. Our options are:

- Montserrat
- Penedès Wine Country
- Sitges
- Tarragona

By the way, find my mom's romesco sauce recipe in my blog, and also discover the secrets of how to eat calçots "the authentic way".