Tapas tour with the Karno!

The Karno booked me through Viator, one of the online listings where I advertize, and last night we had our tapas tour. It was great taking them to my favorite tapas bars in the Old Town!

They had forgotten to bring their camera, so I offered to take a few pics of them, and with their permission, here is the video I just made:

The next day, Jacob posted a review on my Viator profile:

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Merrill's scrapbook

 Last October I gave a Tapas Tour to Merrill O'Ryan and her friends, and I commented that in one post.
Merrill and I have kept in touch over Facebook, and she has just sent me a pic of her scrapbook:

Isn't that the most original testimonial you've ever seen? I love it!

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Two more great reviews on Toursbylocals!

As many of you already know, I also advertize outside of my website in online tourguide listings and one of the best is Toursbylocals.com. This month I receive their tomorrow wonderful reviews by real clients that booked me through this platform. Check them out!

To see all my other reviews on Toursbylocals click here.

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Letter from Merill O'Ryan

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.

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The awesome description of my tours, by Cork & Tee

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!

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And more Toursbylocals reviews!

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

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Elise Meyer mentions me in her blog

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!

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.

Adorable note from the sweetest kid

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!

At a cake workshop backstage with the Stern

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":

Letter from food blogger Erika Shimahara

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!

Saints and Sins

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!

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

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!

Excursion to the Penedès Wine Country with the Cantrell

The Cantrell family was in Barcelona on a corporation trip, but decided to take a private tour to the Penedès, one of the closest Wine Countries around Barcelona. Since they were very interested, we decided to do a 6h trip (a bit longer than the average halfday, that only includes 1 winery), so we could visit 2 cellars.

First we went to Gramona, a great family-owned cellar specialising in cava, the Catalan sparkling. Their cellar is very old-fashioned and it took us back to 100 years ago! We also were lucky to see one of the workers degorging the bottles manually. See a video I took on a previous daytrip here. They also took us to see their vinyards in the outskirts of the village and their modern winery.

Then we proceeded to Albet i Noya, pioneers in organic wine production in Spain. It made a very nice contrast with Gramona, as they are not so much into cava (and the process to make each product is different), and also because Gramona is located inside a village, and Albet i Noya is an old farm in the countryside. We also learnt about how organic production works, and about the owner's project to recuperate old local vines.

We had beautiful tastings in each of the cellars!
The picture was taken in Albet i Noya. Sorry for the quality of the picture. I only had my cellphone, and the light wasn't too good.

Letter from the Bennett's

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

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

Dear Marta,

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

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

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

Sincerely,
Brian

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!)

Lots of fun with the Baird

Ann and Morton Baird contacted me to help them organizing their time in Barcelona. They booked 2 city tours (one for the Old Town and the Picasso Museum, one for the Gaudí works), plus a shopping tour for Ann and a Tapas tour one evening.

Unfortunately, Ann broke her foot a few days before their trip, so she would have to be on a wheelchair during the tours so her foot could have some rest.

No problem! At home they rented a very light wheelchair that was so easy to move around, so on our first day together Morton would be pushing it. The Old Town is pretty flat and there aren't cobblestone streets nor many steps, so we could see as much as we could have seen if Ann had been able to walk. Whenever we met crowds (like in the Boqueria Market, for instance), I'd walk in front of them to open the way and protect them. And in the Cathedral and the Picasso Museum the staff facilitated us access to ramps and elevators... and Ann got in for free!

The next day Ann and I went shopping. This time I volunteered to push the chair, so Morton didn't have to come shopping (that's why most husbands are glad I offer shopping tours!). We visited beautiful stores that fitted Ann's style, and in one of them I even got her a 30% discount!! She was trying on some clothes and I heard the shop assistants talking about their new client card, so I asked and they said that if I applied for it I'd get a 30% welcome discount that Ann could use aswell. That was 70 euro less on her new dress!

Shopping tours

And that same evening we went on a Tapas Tour. It usually includes 5-6 different bars, but after the third place they were already so full. I almost had to drag them to the 4rt venue, because I really wanted them to see its ambiance. And after that they asked me to take them somewhere with live music. I remembered in one of the medieval mansions in Montcada Street they hold opera concerts on Thursdays, so I took them there. They loved it! The bar is beautifully decorated with antiques, and the singers were good and passionate about their music and interpretation. I left the Baird there at midnight during the show break, but they stayed until the end.

Tapas Tour

And the next day we had our last tour together! After Ann broke her foot we decided we rather go on private minivan with driver, instead of walking and taxi as we had originally planned. It was a good idea, as this way we saved time and got to see many places. We did the Hill of Montjuic (that we wouldn't have visited if we had walked), the appartment buildings Casa Batlló and Casa Milà/Pedrera (surprisingly, here it was Morton who got in for free because in the staff words "because she needs him to visit"), the entrance of the Park Güell (too many stairs there to see the whole site, but at least I wanted them to see the most exciting part of it) and the Sagrada Familia Church.

The driver Jose Luís and I left them back at the hotel and headed for our afternoon tour with some other clients. That was the end of three great days with the Baird!

The Ellis daytrip to the Wine Country.

The Ellis family booked me for a few tours in Barcelona. In our last day we had planned to go to the Penedès Wine country and Montserrat. At first I had suggested we visited the Codorniu cellar, the largest in the world, because of its spectacularity. But after spending a few days with them I got to know them better and when I saw they were so much into food and wine and they had been to some emblematic French cellars already, I decided they'd appreciate something else.

So I changed bookings and got a private tour of the Gramona cellars, a local family-owned winery that has won many international prizes.
We were received there by their Communications person, who showed us personally their old cellar. That day there were people working in the old building (most of the day, the staff is working in their modern venue at the vinyards), so we were lucky to see a lady glueing labels by hand, another lady checking the machine that wraps the cork, and we even had a demostration of how they degorge the botels by hand. That was so unique! In most cellars degorging is done by machines who freeze the neck of the bottle to remove the sediments. Only very skilled workers are able to do it manually!
See my video! (oh, I'm so glad to have this video well recorded... the other time I saw it done, I didn't realize my camera was lopsided!)



After the tour of the cellar, we were taken to the vinyards to see the baby grapes: they won't be ready to be harvested until August. But the views where great! Lori said it was the first time she was taken to the vinyards when visiting a cellar!

And back to the cellar, we had a wonderful wine tasting. The Ellis had asked for a real tasting, not the average tourist one, so we got to try 3 different cavas, plus the bottle that had been degorged in front of us (it's amazing how agressive the bubbles are at that moment: it's truelly dramatic for the wine! it seems it needs a few days to reach its perfect point), and 3 wines (2 that were included in the tasting, plus a special Ice Wine for dessert that was the cellar's gift.

I'm not used to drinking much, so I was starting to (as the Ellis said) "riding the snake". But we headed soon for lunch at a great local restaurant where we were the only foreigners and had a beautiful meal before going to Montserrat.

After such an intense morning, there wasn't much time left to wander in the Monastery, but we still made it to ride the cablecar up, visit the Virgin shrine, lit up a candle for her and enjoy the place with almost no tourists around (most tour groups leave the mountain after the Choir sings, and at that time we were enjoying our wine so we missed both Choir and crowds, which was fine for the Ellis).

We decided next time they come (to see the progress of the Sagrada Familia church), we'll visit some other cellar, then drop them in Montserrat for the night (as they enjoy places when they get empty) and the next they I'll pick them up for some other tour out-of-the-beaten-track. Maybe the Cardona salt mines, who knows?

Marta on Jamie's Magazine!

As I had announced last February in this blog, I gave a few tapas tours to two journalists from the Jamie Magazine, by the famous British chef Jamie Oliver.

The number with their story has just been released, and they mention me. I'm even in one of the pics!

Congratulations to Paul Dring, journalist, and William Meppem, photographer, for their beautiful story!

Thank you letter from the Feltman family

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

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

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

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

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

Sitges