Great review for Miriam!

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.

And still more feedback from the Bennett!

 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.

Daytrip to Girona + Lunch by the beach

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

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

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!

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

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!

Harvard seniors, part 2

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

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:

Corpus Christi in Girona

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

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

Girona's Flower Time approaches

Every year, the city of Girona celebrates spring with the Temps de Flors Festival. Gothic courtyards and other emblematic medieval spots of its Old Town are decorated with creative compositions made of flowers, leaves and fruits.

This year the Festival will take place in Mai 9th to 17th, and the starway of the Cathedral will present an outstanding creation inspired in the X century Creation Tapestry, the jewel of the Cathedral Museum.

More information (in English!) in the Girona Temps de Flors website.

And remember that I can organize a day trip for you and your people from Barcelona:

Half day (5h) for 525 euro or full day (8h) for 740 euro. And also full days including Girona + other nearby destinations in my website!

Girona, a great day trip just 1h from Barcelona!