The Anderson share their daytrip to Tarragona and Sitges

On Thursday I took the Anderson to Tarragona and Sitges. They have been traveling for over a month now, taken 2 different cruises and spend several days in two of their favorite cities: Istanbul, 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.

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:

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