What is the connection between me and a Cabriolet?

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.

My first real post for PromptGuides

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

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!

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.

My videos are finally online at KISS FROM THE WORLD

Hi!

Do you remember last july I spent a day with Domenico and Giulia from the Kiss From The World website? I posted an article here about my day with them.

After their world tour this summer, they are back to work and the videos we recorded are finally online! and soon new pics and the contact data of all the people interviewed will be online aswell!

Check out here my own presentation, or our walk through the Boqueria Market, and also other very interesting interviews of very special Barcelonians!


I want to thank Domenico and Giulia for all their work and for the fun day we spent together, I wish them a big success with their project.
Avete una amica a Barcellona! (You have a friend in Barcelona!)

Music to "tune into" your trip to Barcelona

Today the supplement for leisuretime of La Vanguardia newspaper had an article on songs related to Barcelona. I found it so cool, that I made a playlist for you to hear them and some others I found.

The Game of the Angel, a success in its English translation!

The English translation of Carlos Ruiz Zafon's continuation of the popular "Shadow of the Winds" has been finally released and in few weeks it reached the top list of America's best sellers.

If you were thrilled by the misterious story that took you into the streets of the Barcelona of the 18 hundreds, now you'll be able to discover how the story continues.
Don't miss it!

And if you are coming to Barcelona, you'll be able to visit with me some of the areas where the characters moved: Plaça Reial, Montcada street...
A novel like this is a fun way to start "tunning into" your next trip to town!

Kiss from the World in Barcelona!

Domenico and Giulia, creators of the Kiss From The World project, are coming to Barcelona to tape a few videos for their website. I'm going to be one of the interviewed people, amongst other interesting characters that are somehow related to discovering the city life from the wise tourist point of view.

They will also record a video in the same cute line of others they have in other cities.
Would you like to participate? You just have to send a kiss to the world, jump and say hi!

Meeting on July 7th at 7pm beside the subway exit of Sagrada Familia station (L2), at the crossing of Mallorca and Marina streets.

Bring all your friends along, have some fun and spread love to the World!

Join our Facebook event and group!

Batman in Barcelona

Where would Batman go if he ever left Gotham City? Barcelona, of course!
Or at least that is what happens in the new Batman release: "Batman in Barcelona: Dragon’s Knight USA". The book has been publish simultaneously in Spain, Italy and the US.

The heroe arrives to the city chasing the evil guy scaped from Arkham. The story has a certain parallelism with the legend of Saint George and the Dragon, famous in our land because Saint George is our patron saint.

A fun way to approach Barcelona to kids and teens... as well as adults!

Barcelona sounds

Sons de Barcelona is a local project related to the international FreeSound community, where people capture the sounds they believe to be representative of different areas of the city and post them online in a city map.

I loved the idea and wanted to share it with you. Some of my favorites where the wind blowing at the beach and the sea waves, the rain at the Palace of Justice, a bird singing, a creaky balcony door, the announcement of the next stop in a RENFE train, the "heartbeat-like" sound of cars passing a bridge, the Encants de Bellcaire flee market and the sellers shouting their "barato" (cheap) merchandise, a tapas bar, the celebration of a victory of the Barça football team, the bells of a neighbourhood church, dry leaves blown by the wind, someone running over pebbles...

There are even sounds related to our tourist sites, such as the electronic carillion of the Sagrada Familia church, organ playing and the ecos inside a church, the athmosphere at Plaça Catalunya, the birds market in La Rambla, the Boqueria Market, tourist at the Park Güell...

Saint George's day in Barcelona - April 23rd

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

Barcelona in your Ipod/Iphone

So you are coming to Barcelona and want to "customize" your Ipod or Iphone to be well equipped for your trip? Here are some of the good stuff you can download:

APPLICATIONS
- Witur, by Witur. FREE. Use it online not just to plan your trip to Barcelona but to many other destinations. It helps you creating itineraries and booking them with local specialists. I know the Barcelona agency that assists Witur for this application, and they are in my top list of local Travel Agencies!
- Metro Barcelona, by PhoneSoftware. FREE. Your guide to use the city subway.
- Barcelona "At a Glance" City Guide, by Mi Mundo Iphone SL. FREE. Very useful tool with the addresses of many restaurants, hotels, attractions and more.
- iTranslate, by Outer Space Apps. FREE. Online multilingual dictionnary, including Catalan.
- Barcelona Maps Offline, by Sehat Rosny. 2.39€. Better than the paper maps you can get at the hotel or tourist office, and easier to carry around.
PODCASTS
- One Minute Catalan, by Radio Lingua Network. FREE. Learn the basic Catalan words to communicate with the locals! We love it when foreigners try to speak Catalan!

Enjoy your Barcelona Ipod/Iphone!

Penelope Cruz oscar for "Vicky Christina Barcelona"

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

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

The Cathedral of the Sea, by Ildefonso Falcones

A best-seller in Spain, "The Cathedral of the Sea" by author Ildefonso Falcones is already available in English.

If you are coming to Barcelona and love historic literature, don't miss this book! Often compared to the style of Noah Gordon and inspired in Ken Follet's "The Pillars of Earth", it tells the story of a kid born as a serf that reaches the medieval Barcelona with his father scaping from their blood-thirsty lord, and progresses in the social scale to become a respectable and wealthy citizen. And his life is always somehow related to the magnificent Santa Maria del Mar church (Our Lady of the Sea).

Reading this book you'll learn a lot about the daily life in the middle ages in Barcelona and the Mediterranean area, and the city Old Town will become an even more exciting place to discover when you come visiting, because you'll be seing in person the places you'd have read about.

I do reccomend it! Enjoy your reading!