I'm featured in a video on Ourexplorer.com

I advertise in several online tourguide listings.
One of them, Ourexplorer.com, is celebrating its second anniversary and they asked the members to send them a short congratulations video. And I've been featured!
I appear in the fifth place, around the 33 second.

The Parker loved touring with Sandra!

This year I'm busy enough to have good friends and colleagues of mine helping me showing Barcelona to all the people that contact me.
I work on first-come first-served basis, so once I've agreed being with a client I won't take someone else for the same day... That's why now I'm proposing great tourguides such as Míriam and Sandra when I'm already "taken".
Here is what Cynthia Parker says after touring with Sandra (by the way, she also mentions Christian, one of the drivers I work with):

Hi Marta: Just a follow up about our tour with Sandra and Christian. They were wonderful. We loved Sandra. She was so knowledgable and personable. Thank you again for pairing us with her for our tour as we thoroughly enjoyed it.

I will definitely be recommending your website.

Thanks again,

Cindy Parker

Corpus Christi in Girona

Today I went to the Dalí Museum of Figueres and Girona with the Parra family from Texas. After lunch, we starting our discovery of Girona and found the Old Town covered in flower carpets. That's how Corpus Christi is celebrated in some Catalan towns!
While in Barcelona we have the famous Dancing Egg (I've already talked about it other years) in the Old Town, Sitges and Girona still keep the old tradition of arranging beautiful flower designs along the streets. I must recognize it was the first time I was out of town for this festivity, so I was very excited to see it!

In this picture you can see the one we saw at the foot of the Barroque staircase leading to the Cathedral.

The Porter's Lodge at the Park Güell reopen!

Since last Saturday the Porter's Lodge of the Park Güell (the pavilion at the main entrance with a mushroom-looking chimney) is open again to the public after restoration works that have taken over 1 year. The exhibit on the park on show inside has also been totally transformed and modernized with the addition of many interactive screens and slide/video shows.

I visited it this morning after I finished a Gaudí tour with for the Tawil, clients of one of the US luxury travel agencies that work with me. I found the new exhibit quite informative, although the information they give is pretty basic compared to my average explanations of the Park. Anyway, it is at least useful for those who visit the park with no previous background reading. My favorite part, however, are the bright colours of the walls, the shapes of the beams of the ceilings, and of course, the unsual views of the Park you get through its windows.

This new site is run by the Museu d'Història de la Ciutat.
By the way! The entrance is free of charge until next July, after which they will be charging an entrance fee (the staff I asked wasn't able to give me more information on that: I'll keep you posted!).

Fees updated in La Pedrera

From yesterday, the price of the entrance fee to visit La Pedrera (Casa Milà) is 11 euro.

News at the MNAC and Miró museums!

This morning I went to the hill of Montjuic to check out recent changes in the collections of two great museums, the MNAC and the Miró Foundation.

The Miró Foundation reorganized their rooms a couple of months ago, but I hadn't had time to visit and update. I was happy to locate my favorite paintings in their new locations, and to get acquainted with some other beautiful pieces that had been stored in their warehouse so far. I also loved the way they have recovered the original octogonal shape of the room where now is exhibited his work on paper.
NOTE: Calculate around 1h if we include it in our guided tour.


As for the Museum of National Art of Catalonia, they have just innaugurated a renovated Gothic Art section, and what they have done is unbelievable! I must admit I used to think that this part of the museum was by far less exciting than the Romanesque section with its impressive milenary frescos or the Modernist section, best collection in town about such a bright and creative period in our history. But now it might become my very favorite section in the museum!

The MNAC has worked hard restoring their retables, and I find the renovated Gothic section fascinating for the beauty of the colours of the retables as well as for the wonderful stories these paintings explain: miracles, saints tortured, evil punished, donnors showing off, medieval dayly life... I agree, for people who aren't familiar with all this, the visit can be a bit overwhelming. But trust me: with a good tourguide like me, it can be so much fun!
NOTE: The MNAC is huge! To see the whole museum we'll need a whole halfday tour (4h). The highlights can be seen in around 2h, but then you have to trust me, keep up to my pace and don't linger where I don't stop! And to see only one section, it's usually around 1h... but after seeing the new Gothic section I believe it could easily go upto 2h!!!

Letter from the Bennett's

Maybe you remember I mentioned going vegetarian tapas eating with a lovely couple, Brian and Bev.

Well, they sent me a charming letter some time after their tour... and I'm ashamed I haven't been able to published it until now! But finally, here you have it!

Dear Marta,

It's been over two weeks since we had our wonderful tour of Barcelona. I just wanted to say thank you once again. We had a wonderful time and really appreciated your knowledge about the wonderful city of Barcelona and the people. I would not hesitate to recommend you to anyone looking for a guide!

I can't say enough about you or your lovely city of Barcelona. I know that Bev and I will return to Barcelona one day because we loved every minute of being there. The food was amazing, the architecture was amazing; everything was amazing and everyone we met was extremely friendly.

I have to make a special mention about Katherine McLaughlin and her cheese shop "Formatgeria La Seu". We had a wonderful breakfast, complete with cava. Please recommend her to any of your clients that love Spanish cheeses. The experience was fabulous and Katherine was witty, warm and really knows about cheese.

Sincerely,
Brian