Foreverbarcelona - A Barcelona Tourguide

I'm on Travel Channel!

2012-01-18T18:34:00.000+01:00

Ben, a friend from the US just told me he show me on a video on Travel Channel TV (minutes 1:24 and 1:57). Unfortunately, the original couldn't be viewed from Spain, but Gemma, my collegue from Madrid, found a piece of the video on Youtube. Here it is! I appear on minute 1:31 talking about the Sagrada Familia Church. When the video was shot I was working there and one of my responsibilities was welcoming and scorting the journalists. That's how I became a Gaudi expert!

Now the Gaudi sites are one of my favorite places to take people: either Gaudi's masterpieces, or his early works, or even his works out of town!

****To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

Second Tripadvisor review for Míriam!

2011-12-30T18:02:00.000+01:00

Cathérine Hingant from France was visiting Barcelona with some friends and decided to book a 6h tour. This time it was Míriam who showed them around, and here is what she posted on Tripadvisor about her tour:

"Very competent"

A big thank you to Myriam for this guided tour around the beautiful city of Barcelona.

We spent some really nice moments on her company, very competent, very pleasant.

Equally thanks to Marta for her kindness.

We will absolutely share their contacts with friends and family.

Cathérine from Tremblay, France

Visited on December 2011

****To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

Sara loved touring with Lidia

2011-12-30T17:49:00.000+01:00

Sara Laden came to Barcelona with her daughter. I was already booked, but I arranged for them a city tour with one of my collaborators: Lidia.
They spent three morning together: one touring the Gaudí sites, another visiting the Old Town and finally one more in the Hill of Monjtuic. They had a great time, and so Sara wrote me to let me know. Here is her email:

NOTE: They went to the Stadium on their own, but we had discussed that when we were planning their tours, and that's why she wanted to tell me how it went.

****To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

Am I the tourguide of the year?

2011-12-22T10:57:00.001+01:00

Hi!

It's been a long time since I last wrote: this high season is neverending and I've got so much work to do!

Anyway, last week I spent two days to visit Barcelona with an Italian group. We did the whole city together!

I just received a letter from one of the couples, and I wanted to share it with you:

Beautiful Marta, Anna (the quick lady) and Renato choose you as guide of the year, and as they promised they are sending you the pictures of your wonderful city. We hope we'll come back some day. Happy Holydays for you and your family. Byyyyyye!

Well, of course the "guide of the year" thing was a joke, but... isn't that cute?

Oh, and "quick lady" is the loving nickname I gave her because she was so eager to learn more and more, than she'll make me lots of questions before I even got to develop the introduction for whatever we were visiting. It was so funny! She's adorable!

And here are the pics they sent me:

Explaining at the Park Güell

At the Olympic Village

****To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

Sandra did a great job!

2011-11-10T18:52:00.000+01:00

Sandra, one of my closest collaborators, was with the Shomer the other day. They had a driver and six hours to explore the city. And they loved it!
Here is the letter they have sent me:

**** To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

"The Ladder of Escape" at the Miró Foundation

2011-11-06T18:20:00.000+01:00

Until next March, the Miró Foundation is displaying out once in a lifetime temporary exhibit: "The Ladder of Escape". This show has already been a total success in the Tate Modern in London, and will be heading afterwards to the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

This is a unique opportunity to see together over 150 works by the artist that are rarely seen together, many of them hardly ever leaving their places of origin.

The name of the exhibit refers to one of the symbols that Miró used more often in his works: a ladder representing his need to escape from the tough events that Europe had to endure during the first half of the 20th century, and his wish to reach a world of poetry in the starry night of his dreams.

Although it is not conceived as a retrospective of the artist, it does cover most of Miró's evolution: from his early years of detailist paintings imbued in Catalan influences, to the anguish of the Spanish Civil War and World War II reflected in his tortured deformed figures, to the birth of his celebrated symbology made of birds, moons and stars, to the influence at the end of his life of the American avant-garde and the Japanese art that took him to a word of expressivity, lyricism and minimalism.

The exhibit opened a couple of weeks ago, but I've been so busy I couldn't find a moment to check it out. However, I have made some research in case a client asked me to take them there. And that was a good idea!

The Ustundag asked me give them a tour of the Miró Museum today, and even if I hadn't been there yet, I managed to give them a pretty good tour! The only ifficulty was that I didn't know what I was going to find in each room, nor how the works would be displayed. But I had enough information, and being very familiar with the usual permanent collection, I was able to create a decent line of speech. Anyway, I can wait to be less busy and have a free morning to spend there preparing it even better!

By the way, since the new exhibit opened there's been long lines in the Museum. Good thing that official tourguides get to skip them!

**** To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

The Anderson share their daytrip to Tarragona and Sitges

2011-11-05T20:30:00.002+01:00

On Thursday I took the Anderson to Tarragona and Sitges. They have been travelling for over a month now, taken 2 different cruises and spend several days in two of their favorite cities: Istambul, and of course, Barcelona.But their ship brought them back to our city, and they took the opportunity to explore one more Roman site in their trip: Tarragona, and on the way back, we planned to stop in Sitges for lunch.

My favorite driver, Ramon, and I picked them up at the cruise pier and drove them to Tarragona. Seing their genuine interest on the Roman heritage, we decided to stop in two little-known Roman sites: the stone quarry of the Mèdol, and the aqueduct of Les Ferreres. Then we arrived to Tarragona, and had a nice walk along the Roman city walls. We then entered the Old Town, and passed the Cathedral where we stopped to see some interesting details of its façade (the interior is being restored and we decided not to go in). We stopped in the square of the Roman forum for a coffee and hot chocolate, and then continue to the Praetorium Tower and so the Circus from outside. We finally walked to the Amphitheater before rejoining the driver and leaving Tarragona. On our way to Sitges, right outside of Tarragona, we also stopped for a picture of the Scipions Tower and the Arch of Triomph.

Click on the pic to see the pictures and read the rest of the entry on their blog:

When we arrived to Sitges, we were ready for lunch and we ate in a very fun restaurant overlooking the beach. It was a cloudy day, and the waves were quite impressive!

After lunch, we had a walk along the waterfront and then we entered the Old Town. As you will have noticed, the Anderson love taking pictures of small details in the streets (windows, door knockers, balconies, streetlamps…), and the alleys of Sitges where a paradise for them! We finally arrived to the beach of St. Sebastià and had a coffee in an outdoors café before meeting Ramon, our driver, and heading back to Barcelona where we dropped them in their hotel (as in the morning we had collected them with the luggage at the pier).

Again, click on the pic to their Sitges pictures and read the rest of their post:

**** To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

And Miriam also got her first review on Tripadvisor!

2011-11-04T13:04:00.004+01:00

And it's not just me who is getting reviewed on Tripadvisor, Míriam also got a top class rating.
Check it out!

I contacted Keri, the lady who posted the review to thank her, and she sent me a couple of pictures of her tour (and gave me permission to publish them here). Here they are:

**** To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

Now you can review me on Tripadvisor!

2011-11-04T12:56:00.002+01:00

Featured on Tripadvisor.

I am thrilled to announce you that I just discovered I have been added to the Barcelona listings on Tripadvisor.

In case you're not familiar with it, Tripadvisor is one of the largest developed websites on the net. Travelers from all over the world can post their comments and reviews on attractions, restaurants, hotels, etc. where they have been, and they can prepare their next trip asking in the forums and using the many Tripadvisor tools.

And now you can review my tours there!
So if you have taken one of my tours, or if you have taken a tour with one of my colleagues, please go ahead and leave a little comment. But if you haven't taken anything with me yet, you can still go there and click on the "Like" Facebook button.

Thank you for your collaboration! I am so excited about it!

**** To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

I'm recomended in the Fodors forum!

2011-11-02T11:19:00.000+01:00

Hi!

I just found out an old client has been recomending my Gaudí Tours on the Fodors forum. Check it out!

**** To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

Letter from Merill O'Ryan

2011-10-30T16:52:00.001+01:00

Merill O'Ryan booked me through the website Toursbylocals.com. She was coming to Barcelona with some friends, and since all of them love eating and drinking they wanted a foody tour that would start with the famous Boqueria market, then it will continue visiting several local tapas bars and bodegas. It was loads of fun, even if we ended up drinking more than eating!

Here is the e-mail she has sent me to my Toursbylocals account:

And this is a great pic she posted on Facebook!
It's us waiting to be served at Pinotxo, one of the best bars in La Boqueria market.

**** To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

More Toursbylocals feedback!

2011-10-24T22:17:00.003+02:00

Some days ago I took the Scheck touring Barcelona and we also went to Montserrat. Christine Scheck had booked me through Toursbylocals, and she left her review and the website. However, she felt it was not enough and she also sent me a private message.

You can now read her e-mail first below:

And here you can read her testimonial on Toursbylocals,together with another review by John Hennessey:

**** To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

September client testimonials from Toursbylocals!

2011-10-17T18:32:00.000+02:00

As I've commented other times, Toursbylocals.com is one of the online tourguide listings where I advertize my Barcelona city tours and I can be booked. After thet tour, clients can post their comments as a testimonial. Here are my last 3 ones:

**** To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

Tour of the Whole Sale Market

2011-10-16T23:57:00.000+02:00

Still another different visit this month: I took the students of the Lycée La Pelissière visiting Mercabarna, the Barcelona whole sale market to learn about how it works.
It was my third time there, but I still learnt new things!
We had first an introduction about the market in front of a model of the encloisure, then we watched a video on it, and we finally walked around the vegetable and fruits area. Really interesting!

**** To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

Lots of food and drinks this week!

2011-10-16T22:30:00.003+02:00

This week has been one of my most epicurean weeks EVER!

It actually started the Friday before with a Tapas Tour for the Swaby, a family composed by the parents and two adult children with the girlfriend of one of them. They had just arrived to Barcelona and thought a Tapas Tour would be a fun way to get introduced to the city on their first evening in town. They were lots of fun to be with, and we laughed a lot! By the way, I picked them up at the Port where they were staying, and as we were leaving it we saw a rainbow over the city!

Then I saw them again on Monday, this time this time we went on a daytrip to the Penedès Wine Country. We visited 2 cellars there: one organic winery in the middle of the vineyards and then a family-owned traditional cava cellar where we could see them degorging the bottles by hand (now everyone uses machines for that, so it was very unique!). After our 6h daytrip, we had tried 10 different wines and cavas!

With the Swabys t the cava maker's, where one of the underground cellars is called "Marta"!

(not after me, of course, but after one of their family members...)

Then on Tuesday and Wednesday I went back to my usual sightseeing tours, although funnily enough I kept crossing the Swabys everywhere! Haha, I love this kind of coincidences!

Then I had Mr. Cassidy, that was visiting Barcelona on his own. We first had a Gaudi tour that also included 2 stops somewhere to get a drink (you guessed right: more wine!) and then the next day I took him on a Tapas Tour that we ended with a nice stroll along the Barceloneta waterfront to walk off the food.

And actually, that tour was the second Epicurean Tour of the day! In the morning I showed around Merrill O'Ryan and her friends, and after exploring the Boqueria Market we went to the tapas bars. They were actually more interested in drinking than eating, so we had lots of bier, wine, cava and sangria!

And now... I'm ready for some dieting, if you allow me to! ; )

**** To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

Special visit of the temporary exhibit at the Picasso Museum

2011-10-16T21:15:00.001+02:00

The Picasso Museum has been displaying a great temporary exhibit since July, in collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum of Amsterdam about the first years Picasso stayed in Paris.

"Feasting on Picasso" explores how the cultural and social life in Paris quickly influenced his art, introduces us his marchands, friends and lovers and follows the evolution of his style comparing it to the masters of the impressionism such as Van Gogh, Toulouse Lautrec and others, until everything explodes into the emergence of cubism.

I was really happy when I received a call from Sandra from Contempla, one of the top travel agencies in Barcelona, asking me if I could give a special tour of the exhibit for one of their groups. Feasting on Paris had been in my "must-see" list since it was innaugurated, but this season has been so busy I hadn't had the opportunity to go yet.

I had a few hours of free time, so I run to the Picasso Museum to prepare my museum tour: I walked around the rooms taking notes, sat to read the catalogue, and then back home I did some more research on the internet and the books on Picasso I have at home. It was a very productive day!

I gave the museum tour on Friday, and even if the clients had less time for it than it had been planned at first, I manage to give them a nice overview, and I got congratulated for the job. I'm so happy to get this opportunities to share my passion for Picasso with other people! Plus temporary exhibits are a great way to refresh my knowldege and open-up to new points of view about the permanent collection aswell!

**** To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

Great review for Miriam!

2011-10-14T21:39:00.001+02:00

Sometimes when I'm already booked and another client contacts me, I'm able to provide another tourguide to show them around. Míriam is one of the tourguides I use more often, and recently she took an American couple to Girona and for a great lunch in the countryside. Their driver was J. Luís, one of my favorite drivers in town.

Here is the letter they have just sent me (they requested to remain anonymous, and I'm respecting their decision so I won't provide any name this time).

*** To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

What is the connection between me and a Cabriolet?

2011-10-07T15:57:00.002+02:00

Well, I wished the answer was I owned one of them but... It isn't! (at least by now...)

But what connects me to a Cabriolet is Barcelona and the Internet!
Today I just received a letter from a really nice couple, Carmen & Thierry, who run a cool blog about Cabriolets. Thierry is French, while Carmen is from Barcelona, at they say every year they got lots of friends asking them for tips for their trips to Spain so Thierry decided to create a mini-guide of Barcelona and post it in his blog. The result is a very appealing mix of dream cars and the city!

And then he found me and decided to recomend my tours in his blog aswell, just because he liked my site, blog and videos and thought having a private tourguide can be fun when visiting Barcelona. So he contacted me to let me know and to ask for permission! Can you believe that? That's SO nice of them!

So the least I could do is letting you all know and sharing their blog with you. I hope to enjoy it!
Thank you Thierry and Carmen, I hope I'll get to meet you when you are in Barcelona!

**** To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

And still more feedback from the Bennett!

2011-09-20T13:36:00.001+02:00

Last June I took the Bennett (second time touring with me!) on a daytrip to Girona and then for lunch at a great place in the countryside. Here is the letter they have just sent me. They are so sweet!

**** To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

The awesome description of my tours, by Cork & Tee

2011-09-20T12:04:00.000+02:00

Appart from selling my tours directly only, I also collaborate with a few international travel agents, a few of them specialising in Food Tours. Cork &; Tee is one of them.
Yesterday Jim, one of the owners, wrote to me about some upcoming trip where I'll be taking care of his clients when in Barcelona. Don't miss the way he talks about me! Wow!

**** To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

Postcard by Lory Cogan Utz

2011-09-10T18:37:00.000+02:00

Cleaning up my files I found a lovely postcard by the artist Lory Cogan Utz. I gave her and her husband a tour of Barcelona in 2009 and at the end of the tour, she wrote me a note in one of the postcards she sells. Make sure to check out her website!

THE POSTCARD:

HER NOTE:

**** To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

And more Toursbylocals reviews!

2011-09-04T19:30:00.002+02:00

Now that I had a look, I realize I haven't been keeping you posted on the new Toursbylocals reviews. (please note Toursbylocals might delete old reviews as newer ones come up, so the link might be not showing this precise rating but other ones)
Here you have the ones I forgot to post!

FAMILIES WITH KIDS

MY BARCELONA FOOD TOURS (with kids too!)

GAUDÍ TOURS

MORE CITY TOURS

**** To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

Spectacular review from Craig Weber

2011-09-04T18:43:00.001+02:00

Last Friday I had a tour for Craig and Renee Weber. Their airplane was delayed and they couldn't make it for 1pm, as we had planned for the tour. So since I didn't have any other appointment that day, I offered them to start at 2pm instead.
We had a great tour, including a walk of the Old Town and a tour of the Gaudí sites entering the Sagrada Família Church and seeing his appartment buildings from outside. All in all, 4h of a really nice time discovering Barcelona together! And here is the feedback he has just posted in the website where he booked me!

(please note Toursbylocals might delete old reviews as newer ones come up, so the link might be not showing this precise rating but other ones)

*** To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

And still some more feedback!

2011-09-01T17:58:00.001+02:00

I spent 2 halfdays with Parag Sheth and her family. On our first day we had a walking tour of the Old Town, then the next day we had a minivan to tour the Gaudí sites. Here is the letter she has sent me:

**** To know more about my Barcelona tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

Pictures from the Lannevere family

2011-09-01T17:42:00.001+02:00

I love kids! Some of my best memories of my tours are those of families travelling with children. Here is one of them.

Little Fleur suffers a terrible disability, but from her freshness and will power you'd never say so! She's so smart and she transmits such a happiness that she makes you forget about her condition and you get to really adore her. And I trully think her parents are an example to follow!

Her mum Virginie just sent me some pics from our tour and allowed me to share them with you (click on the image to see them):

Here is the translation of her note:

Dear Marta,
Sorry if it took so long, but here you have some pictures to remember our wonderful day with you. Fleur loves Barcelona now, thanks to you!
See you soon, I hope

Virgine Lannevere

**** To know more about my tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

Tapas go trendy

2011-08-20T21:13:00.001+02:00

You know I often take people on a Tapas Tour. Well I'm so sorry this place won't make it for any of them because that's not the kind of bar where you stop for just a couple of bites and then leave... You HAVE TO stay for a whole meal, and it's not an obligation: you just won't want to leave after you've tried the first course!

I'm talking about Tickets, the Tapas bar owned by Ferran Adrià and his brother Albert. After checking their website for a couple of weeks, I finally managed to get a reservation for july 29th, my Name's Day (a catholic tradition at a similar level of a birhtday). Table for two: me and Oriol, my boyfriend.

I have no words to descrive the experience, so I'll leave it up to you to judge the pics! Good appetite!

Interested in my Tapas tours? Check them out!
**** To know more about my tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

Fun shopping tour (and more!) for the Leatherwood

2011-08-20T19:43:00.000+02:00

Loretta Leatherwood and her two great teen daughters were coming to Barcelona, and their friends the Horvath recomended them my tours, specially the shopping tour! (Anna, the Horvath mum, and I had had so much fun on our special shopping afternoon!)

So the Leatherwood and I met first of all for a 5h city tour where we explored the Gaudí sites and the Old Town at ease. Then a few days later (they had planned a short trip to Madrid in between) we met again for some SHOPPING!

Seeing what they were interested in, we planned to spend our shopping tour in the Old Town. We had a lot to hunt for! They were mostly interested in leather bags, but they also needed a leather belt, some jewelry and presents, and some clothes for the girls.

So there we went! We started our tour in the Born district, where we found some great local stores with fun complements and they got a scarf and plenty of hand-made bracelets and necklaces for their friends as gifts.

We also stopped at some fashion stores such as Custo Barcelona, and then we moved to the Mercè district for some more shop-exploring. They had also heard about our world-famous spadrille store, and of course we stopped by. You wouldn't believe how many pairs we got for everyone they could think of! That was so cool.

We walked around a bit more stopping here and there, and then we visited a leather store where we found the leather bags for the girls and some other things.

And next we entered a gorgeous jewelry store than only sells hand-made items made by artists living in Barcelona. They have great stuff! From fun fried-egg earrings to delicate pieces made with casted flower petals. Of course, that was another favorite!

Then I took them to a place specialising in abarcas, a Mallorca summer type of sandal they had seen some people wearing. We got a few pairs there aswell.

And to finish the tour, we stopped at a very special workshop where a lady makes her own very special leather bags. High quality and top design, plus they can be customized if you wish. They were leaving on the next day and there was no time to get theirs done in time: so they paid a deposit and will have them shipped home.

That was a great shopping tour!
Do you want to book one for yourself? Check my shopping tour!

**** To know more about my tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

Strolling around the Gràcia Festival

2011-08-20T16:56:00.004+02:00

Like every year, I couldn't miss the traditional walk around the Gràcia district to see the street decorations of their main Festival. Although I must admit that this year I've been quite busy and didn't have time for just one single stroll to cover all the locations and I had to divide my visits in three parts (lukyly, I leave relatively closeby!).

The first time I went with my grandmother. My grandfather just passed away some weeks ago, so all the family has joined to take care of her and make her stay active and make her feel loved. So I decided to take her for a short walk. Of course, she's 90 years old and she couldn't walk for too long, but we managed to see a few of my favorite streets.

The second time I was by myself. I needed to do some grocery shopping in the neighbourhood, but being August most of my favorite stores were closed and I had to walk around the area much more than usual... The good thing is that I got to see some more streets this time.
And finally, I covered the rest of the streets with my boyfriend Oriol (it's good to have some "dating time", in between all my other commitments!).

I hope you enjoy the selection of pictures from this year!

By the way, Gràcia is one of my favorite local districts to explore in my Neighbourhood tours! Come see Barcelona from the local's point of view with me!

****
To know more about my tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

Jewish Tour: Interesting exhibit on Salomon ben Adret (Barcelona, 1235-1310)

2011-07-28T18:08:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I was with three fun New York couples from Russian-Jewish origin, and as we were going to visit the Old Town if we could have a little Jewish Tour of the medieval Barcelona during our time together.
So we visited the Call (medieval Jewish Section) and we entered the Center of Interpretation run by the Museum of History of the City.

During our Jewish tour we visited the exhibit on Salomon ben Adret

In the upper floor they had just open an interesting exhibit on Salomon ben Adret, the most important rabi and thinker of the Barcelona Jewish History. It was great to learn how he became a very influent man who was consulted from all over the Mediterranean to help interpreting the Talmud in the wisest possible way and how he defended the orthodox interpretations in front of some rationalist and mistic new trends that were appearing at the moment.

Tomorrow I'm back to the Old Town with another Jewish family and I'll be able to take them there for a little Jewish Tour!

****

To know more about my tours, visit Foreverbarcelona.

The Romanesque Section of the MNAC is back!

2011-07-27T18:21:00.006+02:00

After being closed for several months for restructuration of the display, the Romanesque Section of the MNAC has been finally reopened to the public.

Nonetheless, this is the most important collection by far there! You won't find such a large selection of Romanesque frescos anywhere else: they were carefully removed from their churches of origin in the Pyrenees before collectors with no qualms bought them for almost nothing to take them into their own countries. Then real size exact copies of the churches structures where built in plaster, to home the frescoes who were reglued there. Simply unique!
Plus that's not all, the Romanesque section also includes altar fronts (religious paintings on wood), crucifixes and cross descent groups (wooden sculptures) as well as silverwork.

The purpuse of the restructuration of the way the collection was displayed was simplyfing the understanding of this art period (the number of pieces of artwork has been reduced to a small number of selected pieces of the highest quality) as well as to create a more intimate athmosphere that remided that of the medieval churches. They were quite limited by the type of art that is displayed (they couldn't move around those huge plaster apses, of course!), but they made a beautiful job playing with the lights and the shadows and distributing some of the pieces in locations where it'd made sense they were if they were inside a real church.

Can't wait to be asked to take someone there on a museum tour!!!

Kids celebrated the end of the school year in the Park Güell

2011-07-25T12:34:00.005+02:00

One of the things I love the most about being a tourguide is that the city is alive, and everyday there might be something fun going on that we might be hitting during a tour.

This is what happened last June 22nd during my tour with a group of American teens travelling with Explorica. June 22nd is usually the last day of school in Catalonia, as the next day we celebrate Saint John's Eve which is kind of the summer equivalent for New Year's Eve here.
Well inside the Park Güell, one of Gaudí's most famous projects, there is a primary school: Baldiri Reixach. And as we got there to visit the Park, the school kids were celebrating the end of the school year and were parading with some traditional big-heads, giants and a dragon made by them. My teens were fascinated to see how local kids celebrate their last school day!
Check the pictures I took!

Two big-heads represented Gaudí and his patron, the count Güell, while some other were inspired in the flower pots Gaudí designed for some of the park bridges. The dragon was clearly like the famous fountain of the Park, while the double-faced giant represented the school kids: a boy and a girl.

Plus, at the end of the tour, the teachers handed me the following letter:

June 22nd, 2011

Marta,

Thank you so much for an informative morning in Barcelona.
We learnt a lot of history in a few light and fun hours. Like a "good class".
We hope to come back to Barcelona and experience more.
Sincerely,

The students of Spanish of the John F. Kennedy Catholic High School in Seattle, WA, USA

Daytrip to Girona + Lunch by the beach

2011-07-25T12:00:00.005+02:00

Llafranch beach from our restaurant

Some weeks ago (sorry I couldn't post this earlier) I spent a few days showing around a group from Epicurean Ways. On our last day together, we went out of town. First of all, we headed to Girona for some sightseeing and culture: we walked around its charming Old Town, saw the medieval walls, the Cathedral and its Jewish Section.

The group at lunch

Then we went to Llafranch, a great seaside town in the upper Costa Brava where locals relax in the summer. We had a restaurant overlooking the beach, where we ate a delicious fideuà (sort of noodle paella). What a beautiful day it was!

Yummy fideuà

Sagrada Família news

2011-07-21T12:20:00.005+02:00

Two news about the Sagrada Família Church this month:

1. After several weeks of being closed for repair works due to the fire caused by a mentally-ill person last April, the Crypt has been finally reopened to the public last Sunday. Great news!

2. The door of the main entrance, that after Pope Benedict dedication of the church had remained outside of the visitors itinerary, has been finally added to it and now visitors are allowed to see it and read on it the words of the Our Father prayer in Catalan and the first sentences of it in upto 50 different languages from all over the world. Quite impressive!

Feedback from Neil and Marlee Taxy

2011-07-12T11:35:00.005+02:00

Neil and Marlee Taxy were part of a larger group I toured with. I took them around on a walking tour, and I also recomended them places to go eating in Barcelona. Here is their feedback:

Elise Meyer mentions me in her blog

2011-07-03T11:38:00.005+02:00

The food journalist Elise Meyer from NYC dedicates this week post to two great summer Spanish dishes: paella and gazpacho. I gave her and her husband Henry a foody tour last year and we had a lot of fun together discovering the best kept gourmet secrets in town!

Back to Escribà!

2011-06-29T23:35:00.004+02:00

Christian Escribà finishing up a wedding cake

This week I'm with a group from Epicurean Ways.
I met them yesterday at their arrival and took them eating some tapas for lunch. Tomorrow I'm giving them a walking tour of the Old Town after they're done with their cooking class, and the following day we are going to visit Girona and we'll be having lunch in the Costa Brava.

And today, we had a great customized tour!
We started with a walk across the medieval backstreets from their hotel to La Rambla, where we spent more than one hour exploring the Boqueria Market. Then we took a bus to Escribà, where Xavi Marco invited us to have breakfast in their pâtisserie and then he showed us their showroom where we viewed some great videos of their latest projects and their history, and we also met Christian Escribà who was busy at the time finishing up a wedding cake.
I must say that it is thanks to Jane from Epicurean Ways that I discovered Escribà offers these unique backstage private tours! Thanks Jane for the contact!

Us with Christian Escribà

And after the foody part of the tour, we went another kind of masterpieces: the Sagrada Família church, by Gaudí. No need to say they loved it!
It's been a beautiful day and I'm sure tomorrow and the next we'll have also lots of fun together!

For your delight, here is another great Escribà video:

Find more about my tours at Escribà in this older post.

The Sagrada Família supports official tourguides

2011-06-28T21:09:00.006+02:00

After Pope Benedict came to dedicate the Sagrada Família church last November 7th, the number of people that were giving tours inside it without the required license had significantly increased. In order to fight against fraud, they have just created a system to identify entitled guides (official Catalonia licensed tourguides such as myself, teachers with students, and the church staff) so it's easier to spot the unauthorized ones, which will immediately be expulsed from the enclosure.

A notice has been hung at the groups entrance, and since now on every time I take clients inside I'm given a special sticker with my name on it, my official tourguide license number and the date and time I entered.

It's a great idea to promote quality explanations and stop illegal guides from acting against the law.

In the picture, me at the Sagrada Familia with my sticker on, the notice hung at the groups entrance and the sticker.

More from little Hannah Boss

2011-06-27T20:08:00.004+02:00

Do you remember little Hannah?
Here is some more follow up via Facebook! Check it out!

Adorable note from the sweetest kid

2011-06-22T21:52:00.007+02:00

Isn't she an adorable little girl?
Her name is Hannah Boss, and I gave her family a foody tapas tour. We just fell in love with each other, the three of them and me!

And when we were in our last tapas bar of the tour, Hannah asked me a pen and paper. She spent some time thinking and writing, and then, she handed me her note:

Isn't she sweet?
Plus... she looked at me and she said "I've been with many guides on this trip," (they had been on a cruise) "... and you are the only one to whom I've written a note!"

What an honour! I just loved her! And her parents, Patti and Tony, were also wonderful people to be with. Thank you so much for letting me showing you the foody side of my city!

THANK YOU HANNAH FOR YOUR NOTE.
I'M VERY HAPPY TO BE YOUR FAVORITE TOURGUIDE!
I HOPE YOU CAN COME BACK ONE DAY
SO I CAN SHOW YOU BARCELONA AGAIN!

Sagrada Família Church closed Aug 13-15th!

2011-06-22T18:03:00.003+02:00

I just got an update on which days the access to the Sagrada Família Church will be limited or closed due to religious celebrations.

Most of them will be only affecting a few Sundays in the year and only in the afternoon after 1pm, but I can confirm now that the Church will be totally closed to visitors on August 13th, 14th and 15th due to a International Youth Eucharistic gathering.

To see the whole schedule, check here (note that even when the services are scheduled for 5pm, the church will be closing at 1pm so they can proceed with all the required logistics).

At a cake workshop backstage with the Stern

2011-06-21T20:37:00.005+02:00

Denise Stern contacted me about some tours for her family trip to Barcelona. I was quite booked up so I got my colleague Sandra to show them around, but I was able to be with them for their "special tour". They were looking for something different, and after discussing our possibilities, they decided on a tour that would include visiting some unique stores in town, then going to the backstage of a famous local cake maker, and then visiting the workshop of the local artist Alicia Cayuela.

The tour was fun, but the very best part was visting Escribà, the cake store.
When we got there, we first visited the public shop and looked at the mouth-watering cakes and pastries. Then we were invited to have a "berenar", the local afternoon snack. We chose some delicious bakeries, chocolates and plus soda and coffee. Yummy!

Then Xavi, one of the main responsibles of the cake store recieved us. He took us upstairs to their private workshop, all decorated in a gingerbread-housy way, and started introducing us to their products, techniques and projects. We got to meet a Brazilian lady who is now in charge of their American-Style cake decoration, then we were taken to their chocolate area to see (and taste!) some of their newest creations. There we crossed Christian Escribà, one of the 3 children of the Escribà family, who is the soul of the cake revolution undertaken by this 4th-generation family owned-bussiness. He promissed he'd join us later, when after an appointment he had with a photographer.

And he did, indeed! We were back with Xavi to the showroom, and he was showing us the most amazing videos on cakes (or should I say... sweet performances?), and he came and spent the rest of our visit with us, commenting on the videos, sharing his experience and even asking Xavi to show us more. We couldn't believe behind a cake could be such a world of creativity!

And because I'm without words to express what we lived there, here is a video of their "Cake of the Future":

The Bennett are back! And they got some special tours!

2011-06-21T19:34:00.005+02:00

You might remember Brian and Bev Bennett, that I mentioned in several older posts. Well, Bev's mother wanted to come to Barcelona, so they took her here along with Brian's syster.

We first planned a daytrip to Girona (that's one of my favorite destinations!). I usually combine it with a visit to the Dalí Museum in Figueres, but they thought it would be a too intense day for the old lady so they asked to be taken somewhere in the countryside for lunch. That was an unusual request, but some colleagues recomended me a local restaurant located inside a typical "masia" (Catalan farmhouse). It took us a bit to find, even with the driver's GPS, but we finally got there.

It was gorgeous and the food was great! Traditional Catalan food, beautiful quality and lots of fresh veggie choices (remember Brian and Bev are vegetarian). It was worth the effort of getting there!

Then the next day we wanted to do some touring in Barcelona. We got a minivan, to make it easier for Brian's mother. We used it for 4h, then had the driver taking her back to the hotel while the rest of us continued exploring a little bit more.

They had asked me to do some modernism off the beaten path, but we hadn't really discussed it much, so in the end I improvized an itinerary that was quite a success!

We started by some remarkable buildings by Puig i Cadafalch near Passeig de Gràcia, then explored the Eixample district on the way back to la Rambla (where they were staying). I told them about how Ildefons Cerdà's city plan had evolved to become what the city is now, and saw examples of different architectural styles. We passed 100yo pharmacies, quiet private alleys... even a gothic cloister dismantled piece by piece and taken from its original location to be rebuilt in the Expansion Area. We finished with an early Gaudí work: Casa Calvet, very close to the city center.

I loved that stroll so much that I'm thinking about creating a tour I can sell from my Toursbylocals profile! Keep posted on that!

At the wholesale flower market with French students

2011-06-21T19:11:00.004+02:00

Although my specialty are private tours for small groups, occasionally I also give tours for larger groups. And spring is the time when many European and American kids visit Barcelona with their highschools. Most of the time they are only interested in visiting the main sites with me, but from time to time they wish me to take them to some place that is somehow related to the specialty they are studying.

Last month I took the teens of the MFR Hebergement (France) to the Wholesale Flower Market in Vilassar de Mar (Mercat de Flor i Planta) and helped translating the tour that we were given by their staff.

I had already been there, and I find it very interesting. First of all, we are shown a video about the market, its history and how it works. And after a row of questions made by the students, we get on a passarelle overlooking the market from where we can see the stalls and the sellers (access to the sale area is restricted to professionals). At the end of the visit, we were given a plant each.

Special Gaudí tours for the Kerlin

2011-06-21T16:01:00.007+02:00

The Kerlin family are Gaudí lovers. Specially Kevin, the father, are passionated about the architect's works, and for their trip to Barcelona they asked me to show them his early works and other sites outside the city center. The itinerary was customized inch by inch to include all the sites they wanted to see!

My driver collected them at the airport, and I joined them at the entrance of the city: at the gate of the gardens of Palau Reial, where we wanted to see a fountain and a pergola designed by a very young Gaudí.

De Gaudí: Minor works

Not far, we also stopped at the famous Dragon Gate of the Güell Pavilions.

Next we drove to Casa Vicenç, in the Gràcia District.

De Gaudí: Minor works

Then continued to Torre Bellesguard, where I was also able to show them a viaduct (sort of a bridge) that has been recently restored.

De Gaudí: Minor works

We then visited the Park Güell - not at all a minor work, of course, but you do need some transportation means to get there, and since we were on the minivan we agreed it was convenient to include it in our tour. To their request, we changed a bit my usual itinerary so they could get to the Hill of the Three Crosses at the very top of the park and we also had some time to visit the Gaudí House-Museum.

So far we had covered all the Gaudí sites we had planned for the day, but before I left them at their hotel we still had some time to stop at the Hospital de Sant Pau by Domènech i Muntaner, the AGBAR tower by Jean Nouvel and the Fish sculpture by Frank Gehry.

Two days later, we were ready to meet again for our next Gaudí adventure, but this time we went out of town: Montserrat and the Colònia Güell.

Since the Kerlin do a lot of research to prepare their vacations and know exactly every single thing they want to see, we prepared a very complete but packed itinerary and we agreed that we'd have to strictly stick to the timings if we wanted to cover it all. I must admit I wasn't very confident we'd be able to make it but... we did! They were very good respecting our schedule because they had very clear goals, and we made it in a way that everything felt fun and not that rushed.

So first of all, we departed the hotel ponctually at 8.45 and arrived to the foot of Montserrat just on time to take the cablecar. Mission 1 completed!
Then we run to the Black Madonna shrine before it closed for morning mass (we really only had to speed up until we crossed the church side door: once inside we relaxed... Mission 2 completed! Good job!

And by the way, on the way to the Shrine we were able to see the Crucifix that some specialists claim it was made by Michaellangelo himself! (guess what, the Kerlin are also Michaellangelo's lovers!)

Now we had to move on quickly to the Funicular of St. Joan, were we arrived 5min before the second funicular of the day departed. It took us up the hill: hour plan was walking down back to the Monastery to enjoy the mountain views. I love this excursion, and it takes only some 45-50min (make sure to wear good walking shoes, though!).

After the hike, we headed to the Museum. Of course, Kevin had a list of pieces he wanted to see! We covered them all except for one Picasso and one Dalí that had been sent to a show somewhere else, but I got to show them other interesting pieces that they didn't expect to see there.

12.30 and we were totally on our schedule. We entered the church, found 4 seats and waited for the choir to sing. We also used this rest-time to discuss a bit more about Montserrat, Gaudí and many other things.

De Montserrat

After the choir, time for lunch! Food isn't specially great in the mountain, but we were fine with the simple dishes sold at the cantine. Our next mission was getting the first Funicular de la Santa Cova of the afternoon (funiculars close for lunchbreak). Gaudí was quite young when we was asked to participate in the construction of the Path of the Cross on the way to the Holy Cave, and he was in charge of one of the Misteries of Glory: the Resurrection. We of course made the funicular, and got to Gaudí's mistery in only 8min. Then they preferred skipping the Cave so we had some time for souvenir shopping before leaving the mountain. We got back to the Funicular and manage to get the one before the one we had planned: that earned us 20extra minutes for shopping. Yeah!

And by 14.55 the driver was picking us up to take us to the Colònia Güell. 5min ahead of schedule! Impressive! So on the way to the Colònia we even had the time to stop over the Walden-7 building, that Kevin was interested in seeing aswell.

We all loved the Crypt made by Gaudí in la Colònia Güell. We spent some 30min visiting, then returned to Barcelona. What a complete day it had been!

Should travellers coming to Spain worry about the E.Coli break?

2011-06-05T21:02:00.004+02:00

And my answer is there is no need to worry. In Spain everyone feels safe eating as usual. Here is how the situation is going:

Evidences are being found that healthy and safe cucumbers travelled from the South of Spain to Germany. During the trip, and already in German lands, one of the boxes got broken and the vegetables must have touched the ground at some point and got infected. The party should have been destroyed as it's stipulated, but for some reason it wasn't and it got into the market chain, intoxicating people as a result.

So far, all the people intoxicated are German or had been in Germany recently. Only one Spanish man has been affected... and he had been in Germany aswell.

Spanish agricultors are very angry at the German authorities who immediately blamed the Spanish cucumbers without checking first where the infection had started. And everyone in Spain keeps eating as usual, no panic and no fear. Even the European-Level alert set at the beginning of the emergency has already been removed.

However, it's understandable that you don't want to incur in any risk: you are on vacation!
So if you wish to feel totally safe when you are in Spain here are some tips for you:

First of all, avoid to order Gazpacho (a vegetable soup that usually contains cucumber) and any salad with cucumber on it. Not many other Spanish dishes are likely to include cucumber as an ingredient.

Next, cucumber is a vegetable that is only eaten raw, as far as I know. Washing them throughouly should be enough to get rid of any bacteria or virus in its skin. Peeling them is another way to add extra safety. I trust the local restaurants to be strict with these rules. But if you still need more precautions, just stick to cooked vegetables in general: fried, steamed, grilled... Heat also destroys bacteria.

No infection has been found in other vegetables, so eating everything else but cucumber could make you feel more reassured aswell.

These are just a few recomendations that make sense to me, and that you might want to follow if the cucumber news are making you nervous. After all, vacations are about relaxing, right?
But I can tell you that I totally trust the local produce and the cleanliness of our restaurants and cafés. I'm not changing at all my eating habits because of the E. Coli news. And that's how everyone is feeling around here aswell.

I hope to have been of help!

Two great sites are back!!!!

2011-05-28T19:41:00.004+02:00

What an exciting month has been March!
Two really good sites have just been reopened to the public after years of being closed for refurbishment works. I'd missed them so much!
So taking advantage of a last-minute cancellation, I spend a whole morning exploring them in depth. What a privilege!

First of all, a must-see Gaudí site: The Palau Güell, a private mansion built for his best friend and benefactor Eusebi Güell that is considered a precursor of the masterpieces he'd be building later on.

The visit includes the entrance hall, the basement where the stables were located, the main staircase, the main floor with all the social areas (dinning room, lost-steps room, reception rooms... as well as the impressive central room with its magnificent hyperbolic dome) as well as the back patio, then it continues with the upper floor where the private dormitories where located, and it finishes with the attic (now used for an exhibit on the building restoration process) and the fairy-tailish rooftop where Gaudí was already starting to play with the smokepipe shapes.

Unfortunately, the structure of the building is very delicated and the access is limited to only 185 people at a time and tourguides will not be allowed to skip the entrance lines with small groups (as we are used to have the privilege to do in most other sites). But if you are interested in visiting it with me, we can always meet directly there and I'll be there a bit early to make sure to get the tickets for the right time!

The other wonderful museum that just reopened is the Museu Marès. Frederic Marès was one of the most important Catalan sculptors of the early 19hundreds, and he was also an avid collector. This museum displays his collections: a huge sculpture collection not of his works but mostly of religious christian sculptures from the middle ages upto Marès times, as well as his "collector's cabinet" showing daily life objects from the 17 to the early 19hundreds including all kind of fans, women jewelry, smoking pipes, ceramic, weapons, clocks, toys, toilettery...

While I must say visiting the whole museum listening to the audioguide point by point was quite exhausting (it took me 3h!!), I'd probably recomend only people who are very interested in medieval art visit the street level where the sculpture collection is, and the rest go straight to the upper floors to enjoy the Collector's Cabinet. It can be fun even for kids! Just do it lightly, because it can again be overwhelming at some point!
Anyway, I'm planning to take my grandparents there next week as I'm (so far!) still available on Tuesday. I'm sure they'll love to see all this old stuff

The Balltron group

2011-05-15T21:34:00.003+02:00

Allison and Allen Schneeberger organized a cruise trip for some of their best employees at Balltron and I was their guide in Barcelona. I greeted them at the airport on their arrival and took them to visit the Sagrada Família on their first day, then the next day I scorted them to the cruise pier (helping recovering two forgotten passports as well!), and met them back in town after their cruise was over for some more touring and a fun lunch before taking them back to the airport.

Here is a piece of the letter Allison has just sent me (the rest contains personal info and has not been included in this post):

Dear Marta

Thank you so very much for making our time in Barcelona such a memorable one. Everybody had a great time..... their expectations were exceeded. Thank you for being such a great guide and host during our time in Barcelona. I can see why others had recommended you so highly.

I had probably never had such a varied group, and it was really fun showing them around. I hope I'll be seeing them again someday in Barcelona!

One more post in PromptGuides

2011-05-13T18:58:00.002+02:00

I continue to collaborate with the PromptGuides.com travel blog.
Here is a screen shot of my new article, on how to order coffee in Barcelona.

To read the rest, click here.

Letter from Ron Gentile

2011-05-09T15:04:00.004+02:00

Three weeks ago I gave a tour to Ron Gentile and two other couples.
Ron and his wife Betty wanted to have a private minivan tour, and used a very popular cruise travel forum, http://boards.cruisecritic.com, to find some other people to share it with them. They were very different couples, but despite having communicated online only and not having met in person before the tour, it was a successful experience!
Here is the letter he just sent me:

Dear Marta,
Not sure how to post a comment on your BLOG as I am internet challenged so I thought I'd send an E-mail for you to post. We gave Marta a little extra challenge as we three couples were staying in three different hotels. We were the first pick up and she was right on time, 15 minutes early in fact. I'd like to say thank for your extra effort to pick up our friends staying at the Hotel on the Rambla as the street was closed Sunday, April 17th for a parade. You didn't even give it a thought to jump out of the van and run on foot to their hotel and grab them, that's means a lot. For others who are readfing this post, Marta is one of the better guides we used in Europe. She is personal able, knowledgeable and is very clear in speaking English, I only wish people in Los Angeles could speak as while as she. We toured all the Gaudi sites except the Familia which was closed to tours because of Palm Sunday. Everything was just great, tours well timed and we learned a lot. The tour information was provided at just the right pace so we could understand and digest it all. I could tell she is very good and experienced at being a guide. After the tour she escorted us to our ship and dropped us off right at the cruise ship terminal. Our tour was a half day and fit our schedule to a tee, we saw what we wanted and even a little more.
FYI: I have posted to tripadvisor to have you added to their list of Guides for Barcelona, as I believe in letting others know how good you are.

Thank you again for making our trip to Barcelona a trip to remember,

Ron J. Gentile

Letter from food blogger Erika Shimahara

2011-04-25T19:48:00.004+02:00

Last week I gave a foody tour to Erika Shimahara, a blogger that writes a gorgeous food blog: The Big "E" (for "eater"). We toured the Boqueria Market as well as my favorite food stores in the Old Town. She wrote a great post on the sweet part of the tour, and I left her a little comment on it. This is the email she sent me in return:

Dear Marta,

Thank you for your comment on my blog!
I am back in California, overcoming jet lag at the moment.

I sincerely appreciated the tour your provided. I learned a lot and you showed me some terrific places.
I saw you a few days later at Sagrada Familia, but you were quite engaged in giving a tour so I kept quiet. I kept thinking about how the group you were guiding was fortunate to have you!

I went back to Quim's and Pinotxo again on my own and tried to talk to the cooks. They were very nice to me. I felt terrible taking photos, unable to speak to them in anything but horrible, broken Spanish. They must have thought I was just another crazy tourist! In any case, I was very appreciative of their kindness, and wished I could have conveyed this to them.

I hope we have an opportunity to cross paths again, Marta. You were a excellent guide.

Bona Pasqua!

Best wishes,

Erika

PS: By the way, I'm sure the chefs at la Boqueria haven't thought at all she was "still another crazy tourist": Erika is so delicately well behaved and charming!
I also wished to share that by the time I'm writing this post, she has already added another great post on her stay in Barcelona. It's about our Chocolate Eggs tradition for Easter Monday - "la Mona". You can't miss it!

Variations on my tours

2011-04-24T16:06:00.005+02:00

On April 15th I had two very different tours, where we introduced some interesting variations on my usual itineraries. I wanted to share them to show you how it's always possible to adapt to your needs and interests during my tours.

In the morning, I had a deutch group and with them we wanted to visit the Sagrada Família Church and the Park Güell. Their travel agent had arranged the reservation in the church, but they also wanted to take the elevator to the tower. I don't always have the time to do that (specially if in 4h we are supposed to see also Gaudí's appartment buildings in Passeig de Gràcia), but since we were only visiting two sites we had plenty of time available.

The rules in the church have recently changed, so now we had to buy the elevator tickets as we went in and they gave us a time slot to go there (before, you just used to stand in line until it was your turn...). We had just some time to explain the Nativity façade before taking the elevator in that side. However, as I was explaining I could see something didn't look right by the elevator zone... And surely enough, when we approached the hostess there she told us that the elevator was closed for some technical reason, and at the ticket office they didn't know that!

Oh well, part of my job is solving problems so the tour goes as smoothly as possible, isn't it? So there I went, back to the ticket office, speaking with the right people and trying to be as proactive and diplomatic as possible. At first they were saying that there weren't tickets for the other elevator (the one in the Passion Façade) until much later... too late for us, as we were due to be at the Park by then! But in the end we got permission to show up there whenever we could and they'll sneak us past the line. That was perfect!

So after visiting the inside of the church, we proceeded to the elevator. We rode to almost the top, then continued one floor up to a platform from where you start seeing the city views, and then took the stairs down... Yes, they are narrow, steep and maybe a bit claustrophobic but... they are such an adventure! I took some pictures with my phone to share them with you.

The group loved this little detour on my average tour, and then we continued with the usual explanations of the Passion Façade and the Museum. Then the group split in 5 taxis and we got to the Park Güell, where appart from a detailed visit of the monumental area, at the end we still had some time to go up to the Hill of the Three Crosses to admire the city views. Part of the group, however, preferred to stay at the Main Entrance enjoying a drink at the terrace of the café instead. It was a lovely morning!

Next I took a taxi back to the city center where I had a sandwich before I met my afternoon clients, Gerald Bender and his daughter. We also had planned a Gaudí tour, this time including Casa Batlló and Casa Milà and not taking the elevator. We moved faster than the average, so we managed to cover everything and still had about a half an hour left. They were insterested in strolling around the Gràcia district which happens to be walking distance from the Park Güell where we were, so that's where we headed.

I don't often get to show my clients non-tourist areas such as local districts off-the-beaten-path, although I do offer neighbourhood tours. We walked the village-looking streets, passed lively local squares and learn about the area history. It's also a young place where many local designers have open their little trendy shops and cafés, and they were very interested in that particular side of Gràcia. I love shopping for clothes there too!
At the end of the tour, I helped them getting a cab back to the hotel and I went to catch the bus home, not without seating on one of my favorite little cafés before and have a snack to risen my energy levels after a long but fun day.

Pictures of Las Arenas

2011-04-24T15:27:00.005+02:00

As I promised on a previous post, I went checking the newly refurbished former bullfightring of Las Arenas, now transformed by Richard Rogers and his team in a shopping mall.
The most remarkable technical achievement was removing the land under the building structure in order to enable the access to the shopping mall from the streetlevel: the ring had been built on top of a little hill, so as the hill was digged away, the whole building had to be suspended by hidraulic cranes in and reseated on metal beams that are currently receiving the structure wheight. Quite unique!

Appart from this technical progidy, the inside of the mall looks like any other. Of course, very modern, but in my opinion too full of post-modern big tubes and metal pipes. The stores selection is similar to any other shopping mall in town (but since it's not that big, some brands such as Zara are missing).

What noone should miss, however, is the ride to the top floor where an outstanding balcony has been open for visitors to enjoy the city views. The panorama overlooking Plaça Espanya is spectacular, but the rest of the city views are also worth seing.
A needle-looking spire has been attached to the bullfight ring as an alternative access to this vantage point.

Would you like to learn more about Barcelona contemporary architecture? Take one of my contemporary architecture tours!

Touring on Shabbat

2011-04-24T12:48:00.005+02:00

Observing the Shabbat rules doesn't have always to stop you from visiting a beautiful town as Barcelona. It just requires a bit more planning than usual and of course some more walking, but a good local guide can help making things much easier for you!

Yesterday I was with the Applbaum group and I took them to the Montjuic Hill. We had carefully planned all of our itinerary and needs beforehand. They had already purchased in advance their Articket cards (which I'd be carrying) to avoid using money for entrance fees and I had pocket money to provide water during the tour.

From their hotel conveniently located within walking distance from one of the city synagogues, we walked down to Plaça Espanya, then uphill to the MNAC Museum. It's a gorgeous place and its collection is huge, so we decided we'd be focusing on the upper floor where the modernist paintings are. The Romanesque section is closed for refurbishment until June anyway, and they had already seen enough Gothic art during the rest of their trip. They were amazed to see the high quality of our local 18th hundred artists!

After that, we crossed some pretty gardens and continued uphill to the Montjuïc Castle. We enjoyed the city views from there, freshened up and let the kids play with the canons for a while.

On the way down, I showed them the field where the Jewish Cemetery had once been in the Middle Ages and told them a bit about our Jewish History. Unfortunately, nowadays there is nothing to be seen in this place as some tombstones are now in museums or embeded as part of medieval buildings and the rest is buried, waiting to see if our City Council and the modern Jewish community agree on a respectful project to honour the place.

We also had a short stop at the Olympic Stadium, then walked back to the hotel passing the MNAC and Plaça Espanya, the same way we came.

We spent a total of 6h for the whole tour (but it could have been less, because we were a bit late departing the hotel when we started).

I am born a Christian (although I don't really practice), so I don't know the Jewish traditions and rules in depth, but thanks to my job I'm getting familiar with Shabbat habits and it's a pleasure for me accomodating to my clients needs and helping them get the best Barcelona experience they can!

I love Saint George's day!

2011-04-23T11:29:00.001+02:00

More on this tradition in this older post.

Enviado desde mi dispositivo BlackBerry® de Orange.

Yesterday's fire at the Sagrada Família has not affected much the visitors area

2011-04-20T17:20:00.002+02:00

Yesterday morning a man sneaked into the sacristy of the crypt of the Sagrada Família church (the little room where the priests keep their robes and other religious materials), tryied to steel some objects and set the robes in fire. The perpetrator was caught when he was still inside, and the firemen managed to stop the fire from spreading into the rest of the crypt although the sacristy was totally burnt up.

It looks like no Gaudí's original designs have been damaged by the fire, although the effect of the fire and the smoke has still to be evaluated.
Because of this emergency, over 1500 visitors were evacuated last morning (I had a day-off yesterday, so my tours weren't affected), but in the late afternoon the church was reopened to the public.

This morning I was there with the Wrubel, a lovely family from Connecticut, and we were allowed to tour as usual. Only the apse alley that goes around the altar was closed, as there are windows overlooking the crypt there (I could see them all black from the smoke). Also a smoked scent could be flared in the main nave. As for the museum, where one of the rooms also has a few windows giving to the crypt, the visit was also as usual, except for the end of the mentioned room, where a safety cordon prevented visitors from approaching the blackened windows. The rest of the room, where recently have been moved mr. Berenguer's beautiful drawings of the church finished project, was perfectly accessible.

I hope the crypt won't have been too affected by the smoke: it is the place where Sunday masses and other normal services are hold (only special events are being celebrated in the main nave so far), and it had just been restored a couple of years ago.

Celler de Can Roca, 2nd top restaurant in the world!

2011-04-19T19:29:00.003+02:00

We all were sad to learn that the top-most restaurant in the world for so many years, the superfamous El Bulli by Ferran Adrià is closing next summer.
But this is not at all the end of the top-notch cuisine in the Catalan Land. Adrià leaves many followers here ready to take over... earlier than you might think!

The Roca brothers waited for many years to be granted their 3rd Michelin Star (see my older post), but now they are sky-rocketing! The Restaurant Magazine has designed their their venue El Celler de Can Roca as the 2nd best restaurant in the world!

Would you like to eat there? I can organize you a memorable daytrip to Girona, starting with a stroll around its charming Old Town (not to miss its Cathedral and the Jewish section), followed by a degustation menu lunch.

By the way, the woman-chef Carme Ruscalleda and her gorgeous Sant Pau is now ranked 93 in the same list!

AVE train to / from Madrid

2011-04-11T19:23:00.004+02:00

As I was sharing on my previous post, I was this weekend in Madrid and I used the AVE fast-speed train instead of flying.

I found it a very confortable and fast travel option.
The Station in Barcelona is Sants Estació, and the station in Madrid is Puerta de Atocha, both quite centrically located.
The access to the plaftorm opens 15min before departure, and closes 5min after departure. No need to be there way ahead of time!
You can even buy e-tickets on line (the earlier you buy them, the cheaper they'll be!):
http://www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/ave/index.html
The train was clean, the seats where comfortably wide, there is a cafeteria on board, and a movie is played during the trip. If the train doesn't stop in intermediate stations, the whole ride can be done in little less than 2.5 hours!

Weekend in Madrid

2011-04-11T16:36:00.007+02:00

And old friend of mine, Irene, is a true Madridian. She long ago invited me to visit her in her home town, but working most weekends I have to recognize I couldn't find the right time to go... for years! It's always been her who came to Barcelona.

However, this weekend I made it! I took the AVE train on Friday evening and got to Madrid by 11pm. We didn't have much time, but nightime in the capital city is vibrant until the wee hours, so we had some dinner and strolled around. The refurbishement of the old San Miguel market - now rather a mix of gourmet stores and loads of tapas bars - was certainly what caught my attention the most.

Gemma and me at the Prado Museum

On Saturday morning, Irene has busy with her master lessons, so I met my colleague Gemma from http://madridcoolandcultural.com/ You might remember her from a previous post. If I had enjoyed being with her the first time we met, this time was way much better!

Gemma first took me to La Libre for breakfast, a bookstore and café in Lavapiés. The cakes were amazing! We shared tips and experiences from our jobs and business, then she took me on a walk around the city center. She couldn't stop herself showing me her secret spots: the frescos of the meeting room of the Medical Board building, a beautiful stain-glass dome in a hotel... I loved being walked around by her!

And so we got to the Prado Museum: I really wanted to visit it, after so many years not having been there! Of course, as an official guide and also member of the Friends of the Prado club, she was able to skip the line to get in and show me around. And I have to say, I was totally in love with the way she was explaining the works! She has a deep knowledge of every master-piece and shares it with great passion, mixed with lots of interesting anecdotes and a pinch of sense of humor. I had so much fun! She's kind of like me explaining the Gaudí works!

At the old pastry shop!

Time flew at the museum, and by the time we left it was lunchtime. She again took me into the city center, showing me her favorite old pastry shops (she's got a tour of 100yo pastry shops, as I also have my own Barcelona sweet tour!), then we found a place to eat some tapas: yes! She also does tapas tours!

Irene also joined us for lunch, then we had an ice-cream, and Gemma left. Irene and I spent the afternoon enjoying the city views: there are a few buildings in Madrid where you can access their rooftop, and it was lovely!

We kept walking around, and in the evening we went to a very creative theater show: 5 15-min shows taking place simultaneusly, repeating every 20min. You can buy tickets for just one of them and then leave, or stay for the night seeing one show after the other, and have a drink or some food between shows. The rooms are small and quaint, and the actors of this micro-plays are very close to the public. We only had time for a play, but I thought it was great! Check them out: http://www.teatropordinero.com/

We had dinner at http://www.crucina.com/, the only rawfood restaurant in Spain so far and the only 100% rawfood place in Europe! It just opened a few weeks ago, and I was interested in trying their food. Don't miss their non-dairy gluten-free tiramisù!

The next day, Irene wanted to show me her neighbourhood life. We bought some pastries from her favorite bakery, and after breakfast we explored her district. She showed me old local buildings, we past the former slaughterhouse (impressive XIX century building), the iron-structured old Delicias station housing now the Railway Museum, and reached the Manzanares, the Madrid river. The city council has started a huge project of recovery of the river bank and some new bridges and parks have just been innaugurated. I loved the one designed by Jacques Perrault (Barcelona has also a work by him, the Hotel Me - take my contemporary architecture tour to learn more!). And before lunch we still had time to take metro to the city center and have a look at the charming Sorolla House-Museum. It's a little jewell well worth discovering!

After another tapas lunch we kept strolling accross the different areas of the city center of Madrid and had a coffee and cake stop in Chueca, before we decided to go to the Retiro Park. It is a gorgeous garden, comparable to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The trees were very pretty, many of them in full bloom. There was lots of people enjoying the sunny afternoon. We saw the lake and the beautiful Palacio de Cristal (a glass pavilion), as well as the memorial for the victims of the Atocha Station attacks in 2004. And before we left Irene took me to see the peacocks. We wanted to see their tails open, but at first they weren't very cooperative... but when we were just about to leave one of them found himself surrounded by 3 peacock females and sure he wanted to impress them! So it opened its tail... and it was gorgeous! I took plenty of pictures!

So you see, my friend Irene is not a tourguide (she works as a consultant for social projects), but she is indeed an amateur local expert!
After that, we walked back home, got my luggage and went to the train station were we said goodbye. I wish I won't take that long to be in Madrid again!

"Saints and Sins" is born!

2011-04-07T19:47:00.004+02:00

Well, as I promised, "Saints and Sins" has become a real tour now!
(if you don't know what I'm talking about, check this post)

I felt creative this afternoon, and as a result "Saints and Sins" is born!
As I trial for the moment, I created the tour in one of the tourguide websites where I advertize, and we'll see how it works! If it was successful, I might be adding it to my own Tapas Tours in my website.

You can of course book it there, or you can contact me directly if you don't wish to open an account there.

El Familion

2011-04-07T18:43:00.005+02:00

Greeting them at the pier (I don't know what I was saying, but it's an expressive face, haha)

Last summer I had the pleasure to show around a Big Family. Vivian Dechard and was on a cruise with her extended family and asked me to take them on a tour for the few hours they'd be in Barcelona. They asked me to wait for them at the pier with a sign saying "El Familion" (Big Family, in Spanish). We had a great day together, all adults aswell as kids!

Family picture at the Sagrada Família Church

Vivian just wrote me to let me know some more relatives are coming to Barcelona this summer and they'd be contacting me, and she sent me some pics from their tour. I'm sharing them with her permission. Don't they look like a fun family?

"Goodbye Barcelona" picture with me, back at the port after the tour

Saints and Sins

2011-04-06T17:53:00.004+02:00

Cameron Death and his friends requested an interesting itinerary: we were going to meet at the Sagrada Família church for some sightseeing and culture, then we'd walk around the neighbourhoods stopping at bars to get some drinks and food. I thought it was a great idea, so we met last Monday for our tour.

The visit of Sagrada Família was great. It has changed so much from what it used to be, this last year! We visited for about 1h, then strolled along the Eixample district and the Diagonal avenue towards the city center. 15min later, we got to our first bar: an old-style wooden bar that has been taken up by young cooks. They have kept the setting style but have modernised the food offer with their miniature-cuisine versions of typical Catalan dishes. The wine was great, and the olives, croquettes, ham and bravas potatoes were delicious!

Then we kept going to our second stop: a traditional bar serving traditional tapas. Spanish omelette with an assortment of cold cuts accompanied our wine.

And still on we went. Our third stop was a bar not yet discovered by most tourists, and said to be the 5th best wine bar in the world! We loved their PDA menu to find the wine that would best fit our taste! And this time it was a Priorat, with some Catalan cheese aside.

Our time was running, but I decided it be great to finish the night at a well-known vintage cocktail bar near Plaça Catalunya. I left them there after sharing a last drink, but the night had just started for them!
By the way, it was them who suggested I should name this tour "Saints and Sins", and offer it as part of my tour portfolio. It might be a good idea, so... keep posted!

Here is Camerons email and a picture he sent me:

Marta -

Thanks so much for such a wonderful time last night. Everyone really appreciated the knowledge and thought you'd put into our tour of Sagrada Familia and great wine/tapas spots around the city. I can report that we continued the momentum you started into the wee hours of the morning. And then some.

I've attached the picture for your blog and copied the rest of the crew so they have your contact info.

Thanks again for a really memorable night. Should you find yourself in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco or Seattle we'd all be happy to show you around!

TO CYLINDERS!!!!

Cameron, etc.

BTW, the "cylinders" thing is an adaptation of a Catalan tradition, but... you'll have to join my tapas tour to discover what it is about because it's not the kind of things I'd explain in public without blushing!

Harvard group, part 3

2011-04-06T17:02:00.008+02:00

Explanations at the Sagrada Família Church

I'm still getting more pics from the lovely members of my Harvard seniors group, and I'm so excited about that!

One of them, Katheryn Doran, sent me two more and... one of them is actually the other side of the "silly posing at the Aqueduct" pic that I posted before! I love to have it!

Silly posing at the Roman Aqueduct, 2

Professional beggars at the Cathedral

2011-04-03T20:30:00.003+02:00

Yes, I had heard rumors about the beggars of the Cathedral. Rumors about one of them being picked-up by her husband in a Mercedes after her "working day" was over, rumors about being a whole organized mafia of professional beggars... but I thought it was probably exagerations, even if I had seen one of them who always shakes like she's so sick, stopping shaking after deciding it was lunchtime: she just stood up and walked away - no shaking at all. But you know, most beggars do these kind of tricks to look more miserable, kind of "poor people's marketing".

But today, I was there. I had a tour with the Husain family from Bangladesh. We arrived at the Cathedral as on Sunday guides are not allowed to give tours inside I gave them some basic explanations and they entered by themselves. While I was waiting a saw that lady arrive. She walked with the decided energy of someone arriving at work. Her hair was carefully made into a nice pony-tail, she wore a cute jacket, a trendy skirt with new stockings and cute high-heel boots. You'd have said she was heading for her office. But not at all.

I thought her face rang a bell, and sure enough she took an old jacket from a bag and put it on over her nice one, then sat down and cover her legs (skirt, stockings and boots) with a dirty coat, then she took a black shawl from her bag and covered her clean hair with it. Voilà! She had transformed in a beggar in less than two minutes! She took a plastic plate and put it to her side, she was ready to work!

I thought I had to share that. If you want to check it yourself, it was only ten minutes to 9am when she arrived this morning.

The Cohen's follow up

2011-04-01T20:58:00.005+02:00

I scanned the picture they sent me with me, Janice, Joshua and Julia
at the rooftop of La Pedrera, during our Gaudí Tour.

I recently talked about some families with kids I loved working for. One of them were the Cohen, and there's news from them!

During our tours, the Cohen said they thought the Gaudí sites had an air of Dr. Seuss tales. I replied I'd been told that, but I'd never really seen it in Spain so I couldn't really tell. So they promised to send me a book.

I just got it, along with some Maple Syrup (they are from Canada and told me they'd sent me some aswell: again, it's not easy to find it here!), a picture and a note. Here they are!

The Dr. Seuss book they sent me.

My boyfriend made some home-made cottage cheese and we ate it with strawberries and some delicious Maple syrup sent by the Cohen! (it's the little cute bottle in the picture)

Harvard seniors, part 2

2011-04-01T20:17:00.004+02:00

Continuing with the group of Harvard seniors from last week, Maribel and Phil from Maribel's Guides (their travel agency) have sent me a few pics of our tours. Let me share some of them with you:

Explaining the Passion Façade at the Sagrada Família, during our Gaudí Tour.

At the courtyard of the Casa Milà.

By the medieval walls on our Girona excursion.

On our way to Tarragona we stopped to see the Aqueduct (top left corner), and Phil took a picture of me while I was doing a silly picture-pose for someone else, haha!

Group picture in front of the Roman walls, during our Tarragona tour.

A week with Harvard seniors

2011-03-29T16:56:00.005+02:00

Last summer I was contacted by Maribel and Phil from Maribel's Guides, one of the best travel sites and tour agency to help you planning and organizing your trip to Spain. They had a group of seniors from Harvard who were coming to Barcelona and they were looking for a local tourguide to help planning all their culture-focussed activities as well as some restaurant reservations.

And after an intense scheduling and booking process, the group finally arrived on March 18th. I met them at the airport (Maribel and Phil were also there), and our ride to their hotel in the city center was our first contact: I started loving them already - and I must say they started loving me aswell!

Our first two days were devoted to exploring Barcelona: the Boqueria Food Market, the Cathedral, the roman ruins of the Museum of History of the City plus the Picasso Museum in the afternoon made for a very complete saturday tour; while Park Güell, Sagrada Família, Casa Batlló and Casa Milà/Pedrera (both appartment buildings inside!) were covered on Sunday.
On Monday we went to Girona for the day: Arab Baths, Cathedral, Jewish Section and an amazing Catalan lunch at one of my favorite restaurants there, Cal Ros.

Tuesday was a free day (many wanted to do the Jewish Section and the Miró Foundation, that couldn't be included in our city itineraries for lack of time). Then Wednesday we headed to Tarragona. We walked along their impressive Roman Walls, passed the forum ruins, visited the Cathedral (despite the restoration works going on inside, they loved it even more than Girona!), and had lunch in Les Voltes, a restaurant located inside some of the Roman Circus Vaults. I love this setting! And after lunch there was still some time to see some more circus ruins and visit the Amphitheater. It was a beautiful day!

But sadly everything has an end! Although they would have loved to keep me for the rest of their trip (they were continuing to Bilbao next), I'm only licensed to give tours in Catalonia so I had to stay and on Thursday I took them back to the airport. Once there Judy, one of the group responsibles, gave me an envelop with a (very generous) tip and a note, that I want to share with you:

Barcelona with kids

2011-03-28T18:36:00.006+02:00

The Shield walking down the hills of Montserrat

This winter I've had several families with kids, and there are two of them that I'll remember with all my love.

First was the Shield family, with 2 beautiful daughters: Natalya and Daniela. Their parents, Chris and Carol, booked me to take them on a daytrip to Montserrat. She is a musician and wanted to hear the choir, and he's a geologist and was fascinated about the mountain's geological origins. We took the St. Joan funicular, then strolled down following and easy (but sometimes steep) path down the mountain enjoying the views, the strange shapes of the mountains (we saw the Monkey, the Elephant, the Parrot...), smelling the local herbs such as rosmary and thime, finding interesting pebbles and rocks... And then of course we did the Escolania Choir.
It was a fun day! So fun... that the girls kept asking to have me again, and two days later we arranged another tour, this time to visit the Sagrada Família church. They are so lovely!

Joshua and the Giants

The other family I love being with was the Cohen. Peter, Janice and their kids Julia and Joshua are a delightful family who hired me for 2 mornings. On our first day together however Julia was undisposed, so her father stayed with her, and Janice and Joshua came with me exploring the Old Town. We missed the others, but had fun altogether. On our way to the Gothic Quarter we hit an exhibit on Giants (traditional cardboard sculptures used in Catalonia for festival parades) and we loved them. We also took the elevator to the roof of the Cathedral - Joshua was pleased to see I could take him into a church without it feeling like another boring church! ; )
And we finished our morning eating some delicious hot chocolate with churros.

Hot Chocolate with churros

Happily, the next day Julia was feeling better and everyone joined our second morning tour, where we did the Boqueria Market and the Gaudí sites (again, the Sagrada Família didn't look at all like any other church Joshua had been into, and it was even his favorite place in town!).

Innaguration days!

2011-03-28T13:26:00.005+02:00

As locals say... when the local elections approach, plenty of things are innaugurated. And that's what's happened last week, when two main brand new sites have just been open.

The first one I want to talk about is Las Arenas shopping mall, former bullfight ring that after 3 decades of beeing closed is finally starting a new life and it's called to become a very popular shopping and food hub that will definitely be appreciated by the visitors of the Montjuïc Hill aswell as the participants to the many trade fairs organized in Fira Barcelona. There will also be a wonderful gim with a spa (to be open in May) and also the Museum of Rock, that will definitely become a must for teens and modern music lovers.
By the way, contemporary architecture lovers will be pleased to know the building was refurbished following a project by Richard Rogers. Do you want to learn more? Take one of my contemporary architecture tours!

The other big site is the brand new Museum of Sciences (also called Blue Museum, because it's hosted inside the triangular blue building at the Forum by Herzog & De Meuron - again, good news for contemporary architecture lovers!). This new museum is the result of the renovation of the former Museum of Zoology and Museum of Geology that used to occupied buildings from the 1888 World Fair in the Ciutadella Park. Now their collections and presentations have been modernised and they are going to become a new pilgrimage point for any visitor interested in sciences aswell as for many families with kids.

I'm planning to visit both of them as soon as possible, so stay tunned for more posts on them!

My first real post for PromptGuides

2011-03-24T12:53:00.003+01:00

Hi again!

So after my interview has been published, now my first post in the Promptguides TravelBlog is up!
It's on Calçots, the delicious green onions we devour this time of the year.
Some of the information had already been posted in this blog, but some interesting facts are new.
Check the Blog link above to read it!

And still another blog where I've collaborated

2011-03-15T19:20:00.003+01:00

As I've mentioned in previous articles, I advertize in several online guide listings such as Toursbylocals.com.
Now they have just launched a blog, and I have been selected to be their first guide to collaborate with a post with my suggestions on the 5 top things to do in Barcelona.

A recomended site!

2011-03-15T19:16:00.003+01:00

Would you like to see how much as Barcelona changed during this last century?
Don't miss this curious: http://www.fotosdebarcelona.com/ where you'll find pictures comparing what it's now and what it used to be.

I've been interviewed!

2011-03-10T19:31:00.002+01:00

I'm thrilled to announce that I've started collaborating with PromptGuides.com and soon you'll be able to read my blog posts on Barcelona food, sites and more. And just to start with, they've interviewed me to introduce me to their readers!
You can read the interview here.

A children afternoon

2011-03-02T20:56:00.003+01:00

My brother leaves in Andorra, so I don't get to spend much time with my nephew but this week the kid has a school holyday and he's in town. My mom and I decided to take him to Cosmocaixa, the Science Museum and he had an awesome time there!

We had heard there was a temporary exhibit on dinosaure skeletons, and since he LOVES dinosaures, we thought it'd be fun. And yes, the exhibit was a success (we did it twice!), but he also enjoyed so much all the interactive science experiments. Well, not that he's old enough to really understand what they were about (he's only 6yo), but there were loads of buttons to push and things to move! And you know how kids are! ; )

And the biggest surprise was the Flooded Forrest: they have reproduced the Amazonian Forrest environment so you can see it first from outside (huge piranhas!), but then you enter the backside of the glass cage and it becomes a subdued-light terrarium with more fish, and snakes, and spiders and then... you get out to the Forrest Garden. My nephew got so excited! He really felt like he was in a real forrest with all those plants and the birds moving around us. It also started "raining" on the marshland (we didn't get wet, though), and we could feel the warm temperature and the moist in the air. That was SO cool!

So if you are visiting Barcelona with kids, Cosmocaixa is definitely a great place to go for an afternoon. Take either a taxi, or from Plaça Catalunya the FFCC train to Avinguda Tibidabo, then from there the196 bus takes you to the door.

Also, if you are planning to join any of their additional activities such as the Planetarium or the TocaToca, make sure to book them online as they always sell out (yes, even Mon-Fri afternoon in low season!).

And one more thing! The easiest way to visit the Museum is taking the elevator or the scalators to the -5 floor, and from there go back up (as the best part is in the very bottom floor).

Saturday afternoon at the Tàpies Foundation

2011-02-28T14:36:00.004+01:00

The Tàpies Foundation is one of the most difficult museums to keep up with, from a local tourguide point of view: they rotate the artwork in display in their "permanent" collection every few months, so it's hard to develop this feel of closeness and almost intimacy we often get to acquire with pieces in other museums such as the Picasso, Miró or MNAC museums where despite some rotation their best works are almost always displayed.

This is why I decided to freshen up my knowledge and resources and joined a public guided tour last Saturday afternoon. I was not the only official guide there, as my colleague Paquita Vázquez had had the same idea, and I found her insightful comments as enlighting as the museum's guide explanations! By the way, I also want to thank her for sending me her own pictures of the famous giant Sock sculpture, even if in the end I decided the ones I took with my phone were good enough for the blog.

The guided tour was structured in 3 parts: first going to the rooftop terrace to see the Sock, then visiting the permanent collection on Tàpies works, and finally visiting the temporary exhibit, nowadays Organigrama, by Ibon Aranberri.

I was a bit disappointed to realize that some good 10min were lost just going up and down stairs. It is true that being an old industrial building connecting the different levels wasn't easy, but itinerary efficiency is one of the rules for a great tour.
And probably if the order had been different we'd have saved up some time and the guide would have been more relaxed, as I could sense she had to respect tour time restrictions (which is not always the guide's responsibility or choice) that forced her to rush over the works.

Also, the Tàpies collection was displayed in one single floor way too small. From the over 700 pieces in their collection only... 18 pieces between paintings, drawings and sculpture were shown! That was probably the most disappointing thing. It felt more like an art gallery than a true museum.
Plus, as I was mentioning before, there wasn't much time to go in depth in most of them so all in all we were given a rough introduction to key themes that repeat through Tàpies evolution (crosses or T's, the sublimation of the humble, materials...).

The rest of the tour (some 10-20min, according to the timings the guide had told me) was dedicated to the temporary exhibit in the basement. But I must admit I didn't stay because my boyfriend and I were invited to a double birthday family dinner in his hometown, Sant Sadurní d'Anoia in the Wine Country, and we had to drive there.

I understand the Foundation's commitment to promote other contemporary artists. The Miró Foundation works along that path aswell, but at least their permanent collection is much more consistent. So it's probably time the Tàpies Foundation finds a larger venue that allows them to continue supporting the younger generations but also puts in relief Tàpies works and approaches them better to the general public. Now it's the time to create deeper relationships between his works and the people, instead of a dizzyness originated by excessive rotation.

By the way, if you are interested in getting the best out of your visit to any Barcelona Museum, don't forget to book one of my Museum Tours.

Progress in Sagrada Familia

2011-02-21T17:50:00.002+01:00

Now that the interior of the church has been completed, the next big changes will be seeing 10 more towers built. And well, it looks like soon we'll start witnessing it!

Today I noticed the base of the future Tower of the Virgin Mary is starting to rise! Check the picture and look for the much clearer part of the stone.

The skylight outer structure had been there for some months already, and the first lower pieces of the tower tell me soon the body of the tower will be covering it.

It might look like a small change for those who see it for the first time, but to me it's the exciting promise of huge changes coming soon that will change forever the city skyline!
Enviado desde mi dispositivo BlackBerry® de Orange.

Rainbow from the Park Guell

2011-01-29T17:46:00.001+01:00

Enviado desde mi dispositivo BlackBerry® de Orange.

Contemporary architecture for students

2011-01-27T19:31:00.003+01:00

Now that is low season and I have time to put my blog upto date, I'd like to share I enjoyed giving 2 contemporary architecture tours for student groups in December.

One of them was for the Lycée Jeanne d'Arc de Montaigu (France). The kids were doing a project on sustainable developpement, and had taken Barcelona as a remarkable example of how a city can grow sustainable. They were interested in seeing how our local Agenda21 program was affecting the city.

To their request, we visited the Sant Martí district, which has changed a lot these last 20 years or so. First, the Olympic Village - former industrial area transformed into a residential + beach/marina/leisure area for the 1992 Olympics.

Then we went to the Forum area, that suffered a major redesign for the international event of the Forum of Cultures in 2004 and now is a main congress hub (with meeting buildings, hotels, offices...), as well as a must-see place for anyone interested in the latest contemporary architecture.

Diagonal Mar Park

Next we followed the Diagonal Avenue up-the-street crossing two signature parks (Diagonal Mar by Miralles & Tagliabue, and Central del Poblenou by Jean Nouvel).

We then explored the area that is going through a transformation process right now - the 22@District, underneath Diagonal Av. from Forum to Glories. We learnt how old industrial architecture is being restored and adapted to new uses, and how brand-new buildings are being created using the latest green technologies.

We finished, coudln't be otherwise, with the breathtaking Agbar Tower - also conceived taking into account environmental points.

Parc Central del Poblenou

The other one was for the students of Fanshawe College (Canada), with whom I spent 2 days touring Barcelona and had specially requested to include as much contemporary architecture as possible. So one afternoon we also went to the Forum and walked up Diagonal Avenue. Being design students their favorite sites there were the two parks, where they couldn't stop taking pictures! However, we were quite exhausted from a long day walking around the city, so after the second park we decided to take the tramway back to their hostel, which was walking distance from Agbar Tower, by the way.

I had done a few Contemporary Architecture Tours before, but it was the first time I did it for young people, and I must say it was a very challenging but rewarding experience!

Barcelona Opportunity Week!

2011-01-21T15:56:00.003+01:00

If you are coming to Barcelona from Jan 28th to Feb 6th... you are lucky!
It's the Barcelona Opportunity Week, and you can benefit from many offers and discounts in hotels, restaurants, museums, theaters and more. Don't miss the Oportunity!

Training visit: Bacardí house

2011-01-17T17:52:00.004+01:00

As I've mentioned other times, low-season is a time to refresh knowledge and learn new things and tools for my tours.

Some weeks ago I joined a special training visit to Casa Bacardí, the newly open showroom in Sitges about the world-wide known rhum company, that was actually founded by a humble man born in Sitges. Now the company wants to honour his origins and has created a museum in collaboration with the local town council that has allowed them to use the old market building.

During the visit we not only learnt about the live of the founder, Facundo Bacardí Massó, and the history of the brand, but we also discovered how rhum is produced and... they thaught us how to make a real mojito!

It's a great way to complement any trip to Sitges. Let me take you on a excursion there!

And still another Tripadvisor little surprise!

2011-01-13T22:08:00.004+01:00

I also found a testimonial about a tour Miriam gave (although her last name was mispelled by the client: she's really called Jover - and she's the only Miriam I've ever recomended!).
Curiously enough, this recomendation is just slipped out on a hotel review:

Found more recomendations in Tripadvisor!

2011-01-13T22:01:00.001+01:00

I was playing around with Tripadvisor and found a member, a lady that I showed around in 2008, that was so enthousiastic about me, that she started recomending my services to other members... even before we met, as we were still e-mailing to plan her stay!

Here are her posts:
Feb in Barcelona, 40+ y/o woman alone
Tour guide for one day in Barcelona
English speaking Personal Tour Guide / Airport Pick up-drop

Quick word from Debbie Rechter

2011-01-03T19:09:00.002+01:00

I toured with the Rechter some months ago, but for some reason I forgot to post her testimonial. So here it is!

Hi Marta! Thanks so much for everything! We really enjoyed our time with you today and will always remember these amazing sights and your wonderful explanations!
We will eagerly recommend you to anyone that we know who will be visiting Barcelona.

Michelin Guide 2011

2010-11-26T11:42:00.005+01:00

Gourmets from all over the world await expectanctly every year the release of the new Michelin Guide to see which restaurants have been awarded their famous stars outlining the very best food experiences in every country.
Spain's issue has just been presented, and although in Catalonia 5 of our restaurants lost stars (for a change in their management or even because the owners asked to be removed from the starred-list for some reason), 5 have winned their first one and the restaurant Miramar in Llançà has been given a second one.
Congratulations to all of you!

** Miramar (Llançà, Girona)
* Dos Cielos (Barcelona - Me Hotel)
* Caelis (Barcelona - Palace Hotel)
* Moments (Barcelona - Mandarin Hotel)
* Hisop (Barcelona)
* Capritx (Terrassa, Barcelona)

Find here the Michelin Star Restaurants in Barcelona plus many more recomendations!

And check out here where are the other Michelin Star Restaurants in Catalonia!
And remember I can organize an unforgettable daytrip for you scheduling the visit of some tourist site in the morning followed by lunch in the Michelin Star restaurant of your choice!

Madrid networking

2010-11-20T12:58:00.004+01:00

Sometimes my clients have asked me if I could recomend someone in Madrid for a private tour. I'd heard from some people but never having really met them I didn't feel comfortable recomending anyone. Today, though, I had the opportunity of some real networking.

Gemma is the owner of http://madridcoolandcultural.com/, she was going to be in Barcelona for the weekend and contacted me to meet up. We had a coffee in a lovely cafe in the Eixample, near her hotel, and she is lovely! Energetic, enthousiastic, entrepreneur and passioned about art and her city. The kind of people I'm glad to recomend! She's lived in the US for several years, so her English must be really good (although I admit we only spoke Spanish and some Catalan - as she lived in Catalonia for some years in her childhood and youth!). Her tour offer sounds really nice too, quite in a similar line to mine: I can wait to visit her and check some of her favorite 100yo cake stores!

Catalan language in the world

2010-11-19T22:38:00.001+01:00

This is a 4min video I found that explains quite well how extended and in use Catalan, our local language here, is. I thought it was worth sharing!

Romanesque Section of the MNAC closed for renovation works

2010-11-19T20:23:00.003+01:00

Big news!
The Romanesque Section of the MNAC will be closed from Nov. 15th to June 2011 for renovation works. This collection, probably the best display of Romanesque church frescoes in the world, will be reorganized in order to improve the visitors experience and renovate the way information and the works are presented.
After seeing the great job they did with the Gothic Section new display (read my post on this here), I can't wait to see what will happen now with the Romanesque! Keep posted for news next June!

Visiting the Palau Moxo

2010-11-14T17:12:00.003+01:00

On Thursday the administration of the Palau Moxo organized some tours to present their palace to the Barcelona local guides, and of course I didn't miss it and I loved it.

It's a unique opportunity to visit a private mansion of the 17-hundreds located at the heart of the Old Town. They keep original pieces of furniture and the building is still nowadays inhabited (that's why part of the house isn't open to visitors).

It's been opened recently, and therefore it's not yet in most guidebooks, what makes the experience even more charming as it's off the beaten paths. Plus you can rent the place for private events.

Don't miss it!

Http://www.palaumoxo.com

My new pics from the Sagrada Família!

2010-11-08T18:37:00.003+01:00

Today I finished my morning city tour at the Sagrada Família, and after my clients left I went back in and spend some time taking some pictures of the newest things inside. It was the first time that people was allowed to walk around the presbitery (i.e. the alley around the altar, in the apse), and I trully loved it! And the ruled geometry of the vaults over the altar and the transept are beautiful! Don't miss it!

The Pope consacrates the Sagrada Familia church

2010-11-07T22:29:00.003+01:00

The Pope Benedict XVI has been in Barcelona to consacrate the Sagrada Familia Church, whose inside naves have been finally completed (although there are still many minor details missing inside, and 10 more towers need to be built outside including the main entrance - The Glory Façade.

A beautiful cerimony took place this morning, and the Pope also declared the church a Basilica, a hierarhic catholic title only accorded to some very special churches in the world.

E-mail from Mme. Vanderroost

2010-11-06T21:13:00.002+01:00

Véronique Vanderroost's daughter, Julie, and her boyfriend Jonathan (an adorable young couple) were coming to Barcelona for the first time, and Ms. Vanderroost decided to offer them a city tour as well as an hour of counseling where I gave them suggestions on how best to organize their stay, some ideas on restaurants, bars, cafés and clubs to go, as well as some orientation on how to use the subway to get around the city and some other infos they needed.

Both times, after our first meeting and after the tour, I wrote Ms. Vanderroost to keep her posted. She was very pleased, and here is the translation of the e-mail she sent me afterwards (the original was in French, as they are from Belgium):

Dear Marta,

I'd like to thank you so much for everything you've done...

My husband and I are just back from a 3-day trip to Strasbourg.

Your emails made me so happy...

I've got your contact info and I'll make sure to contact you if I ever come to Barcelona, and I'll recomend you to my friends.

A BIG BIG THANKS MARTA !!

Good evening to you too
Véronique

And more!

2010-10-28T20:05:00.003+02:00

And still some more!

More great reviews in Toursbylocals!

2010-10-28T19:15:00.003+02:00

I've decided to start copying here all the reviews I get on Toursbylocals, so you can consult them easily. Here you have a few:

Picasso in front of Degas

2010-10-21T21:35:00.002+02:00

Last week was inaugurated the temporary exhibit Picasso in front of Degas at the Picasso Museum. Today I'm spending my rare afternoon off enjoying it and I can't stress enough how much I've loved it.
Although belonging to different generations, they were once neighbors in Montmartre (Paris) and had friends in common - but there is no evidence they ever met. Anyway, Degas was always a reference for Picasso until his late days.
Don't miss the comparisons of each artist visions of dancers and bathing ladies, and the (scandalous!) sense of humor of Picasso portraying Degas amongst prostitutes in his series of engravings.

http://www.museupicasso.bcn.cat

Show on until January 16th, 2011.
Do you want to learn more? Follow my Picasso Tour!
Enviado desde mi dispositivo BlackBerry® de Orange.

Shopping for your beauty

2010-10-20T18:15:00.002+02:00

I had had this post in mind for a while, and here it is! Were should you go to buy all those beautiful cosmetics to indulge yourself?
I have a list of my favorite places in town.

Let's start with http://www.alqvimia.com, a Spanish brand of luxury ecologic cosmetics that combine the latest technologies with the ancient parfumerie tradition. They have an Alqvimia Beauty Space in Barcelona, and you can also find their unique products in selected stores and spa's.

Then here is an usual proposal: the Lda. Teresa Castells pharmacy. This very centric pharmacy opening for long hours in the city center has also its own line of cosmetic products that use high-end products such as gold and pearl to take care of your skin.

Also in the city center is Perfumeria Regia, an elegant parfum store that keeps a fun secret inside: the Museum of Parfum!

In the Old Town, you can also find a store of the famous Santa Maria Novella, oldest parfum shop and lab in Europe. The original one opened in Florence in 1221! And in its Barcelona headquarters you can also buy some of their most renowned and glamourous products.

And finally, if you are adventurous enough to move off the beaten track, take a taxi ride to the High Zone and visit http://www.thecosmeticoh.com. In this recently open parfum boutique you'll find trend-setter cosmetic products and limited editions. A must for all beauty-aholics!

Enjoy your shopping!
And remember I can take you to all these places in a customized shopping tour!

48h Open House Barcelona

2010-10-16T12:35:00.002+02:00

This weekend many remarkable buildings in town open their doors to share its architecture and history with the locals. A great opportunity to enter places that are often just seen from the outside.

Being so busy with tours, I could only manage to save one morning and now I'm in the 22@ district with my architect friend Eva enjoying the latest architectural projects in town. We've been so far in the refurbished old factory of Can Framis, now housing the fascinating collection of contemporary painting of the Fundacio Vilacasas (http://www.fundaciovilacasas.com), now we are waiting for the tour in Indra to start and later we'll go to the Mediatic headquarters. What an exciting morning!

Next year they'll be repeating it and I'm not missing it! More info: http://www.48hopenhousebarcelona.org

Do you want to discover more local Contemporary Architecture? Take my Contemporary Architecture tour!
Enviado desde mi dispositivo BlackBerry® de Orange.

Beautiful food at Fonda Gaig... and we met the chef!

2010-10-15T18:36:00.004+02:00

Today I'm writing so many posts! But these last weeks have been so busy I had no time for the blog, sorry about that!

Well last month I showed the city to a delightful couple from Singapore, the Kraipun, and their lovely friend from London, Ms. House. They were clients of one agency specialised in wine and food travel that relies in my whenever they need a guide in Barcelona: Cellar Tours.

On our first day we visited the Gaudí sites, then had lunch in a great modern bistrot: Fonda Gaig, second restaurant of the Michelin-Starred chef Carles Gaig. We ate a delicious selection of Catalan cooking, and had the pleasure to meet the chef at the end of the meal. Can't wait to go there again!

Are you a foody? Take one of my Gourmet Tours!

The Sagrada Familia is getting ready for the Pope!

2010-10-15T17:38:00.005+02:00

Altar and chandelier

This last months there is been lots of news at the Sagrada Familia. The Pope Benedict XVI is coming to inaugurate and consacrate the inside on November 7th, and they are hurrying to have the naves nice and ready for his visit!

In a short perior of time I've seen how the last scaffolding remaining inside have been dismantled (of course, outside there is still a lot going on!), the final pavement placed, and lots of new details added: decoration in the skylights, stained-glasses around the altar, lamps at the capitals of the columns... and my favorite: the Christ and a gorgeous chandelier with crystal grapes hanging over the altar.

Lifting up skylight decorations

I love to see new things everytime I go in!
Plus now it's easier to see the architects, that otherwise are working in their office. Here you see the Head Architect, Mr. Bonet (the one holding the helmet).

For more information on the Pope's visit (site in Catalan and Spanish).

Feedback from Samuel Gould

2010-10-15T17:12:00.005+02:00

Samuel Gould booked me through one of the sites where I advertise my tours. Here is the letter he sent me after visiting Barcelona with me:

Marta:

We all want to thank you for a truly outstanding tour yesterday. You are interesting, knowledgeable, informative and, equally important both fun and engaging. One of our best tours anywhere and we have traveled lots with many tour guides.

I sent the booking company an outstanding recommendation for you and Ilissa passed along your email and phone information to a former classmate currently traveling in Spain.

Thank you so much for an excellent day!

Sam

Here is his review in Toursbylocals. I copied what I could see on the screen, however I'm afraid the site deletes them after a few months so their visitors can read only the latest reviews, so it might be substitued by other posts in the future...

The MNAC is in the street!

2010-10-15T16:47:00.001+02:00

Walking around Barcelona you might be surprised to see pictures of Catalan paintings placed somewhere that has some connection with the subject of the painting. For instance, beside the gorgeous Gratacós fabric store in Passeig de Gràcia stands a colorfully dressed Granada girl by Anglada Camarassa. Or next to the city council in Plaça Sant Jaume, the gothic retable of the Verge dels Consellers (Madonna of the Counselers) by Lluís Dalmau. All of the paintings can be seen in their original version at the MNAC, but at the Museum they have decided to bring their collections to the street so everyone can enjoy them as they walk around the city. What a wonderful idea!
If you want to discover where the pictures have been placed, check it out here!

Thank you letter from the Barel

2010-10-05T11:37:00.004+02:00

Last week Itai Barel and his son Yotam came to Barcelona, and Míriam and I showed them around:

On their first day I took them visiting the Gaudí sites, then the second day Míriam took them to the Old Town, left them at some great restaurant for lunch, and in the afternoon I took them shopping: they loved the shoes at Panama Jack! Then on Wednesday they managed to avoid the Spain General Strike and visited the Dalí Museum and Montjuïc with Míriam, who was also with them on their last day in town.

Here is the letter they have just sent us:

Dear Marta and Miriam,

We would like to thank you both for the interesting and wonderful time we had in Barcelona.

Your guiding was excellent and both of us learnt a lot on Barcelona Catalunia Spain ( and Franko- this is to Miriam).

In addition the time with both of you was very pleasant.

Again thank you very much and hope to see you some day again.

Yotam and Itai Barel