Tomorrow is the Day of Catalonia. On September 11th of 1714 (yes, this year is the 300th anniversary) Barcelona fell after a prolonged siege and were heavily punished. The background history is this: Spain didn’t have a king and several European Houses, just like in Game of Thrones, fought for the vacant throne. The final showdown were Austria vs Borbon, a German and a French lineage. While Spain was mainly supporting Borbon, Catalonia were supporting Austria for the reason t

A little bit up north from the beautiful village of Sant Pol de Mar, you can find the "Platja del Morer". As you can see in the photo, it's not a superbig beach plenty of bars, which gives it a charming atmosphere. You can go there taking the train (Rodalies Renfe) to Sant Pol de Mar station. Take a walk through the town (it's worth it) and then continue through the Passeig Marítim until you reach the beach. If you feel like Indiana Jones that day you can live a little advent

In our previous post we promised that we would recommend some beaches in Barcelona and surroundings, so let's start! Our first spot is Ocata Beach. It's located in El Masnou, a nice coast town. It's a huge beach, with a lot of light. Actually is one of my favorite beaches, and that's why: - Reachable in public transport - You can have your own space, being a huge beach you can for sure lay in your towel without hearing what are your neighbors talking about (although sometimes

Tomorrow is St Jordi and for the people that doesn’t know what it means we are going to explain everything (everything…!) about him. St Jordi is the patron of Catalonia and many other places, because Jordi is the Catalan name for George. For all the English people, I should stop writing, but not everybody is English and not everybody knows who is St George. So, let’s start with the legend: the mother of all legends: a princess, a knight and a dragon. A dragon menaces with cha

Ok, we are not going to explain what is a beach. If you don’t know, skip this post, you freak of nature! Yes, that’s the point: everybody knows and loves a beach, even if it’s only by seeing pics. Sand, sun, salty water, sun, that game with no point that consist in avoiding the little red ball to touch the sand just like it contained the cure of a deadly disease, sand, crunchy sandwiches ( of course, because of sand), sun… Actually, I’ve been suggested to mention only things

If you walk by the Gothic Quarters at the right time (maybe at 2am on a Monday, yes, right after a long night at Apolo) you can really feel like a knight of the Middle Ages. But, the truth is, that most of the day if feels more like a Theme Park. The truth is that, even if you can feel the history there sometimes, most of their buildings are more modern than you would think, actually, most of them are recreations to resemble a pre-existing old Gothic quarter, which almost dis

In Catalonia we have a tradition for nearly every month in the calendar, as you can see in our past posts we have explained some of them. Involving the months of February and March, there is one of the most loved ones. It's called CALÇOTADA. Okay, let's start from the beginning. A calçot is a type of green onion (you can see it on the picture), they are less bulbous than onions and larger (15-25 cm long). During these months, it's the time that calçots are better, so that's w

Did you know that you could travel almost to every part of Spain without moving from Barcelona? That was the purpose of Poble Espanyol, this big open-air exhibition in Montjuic. It was constructed in 1929, when the International Exhibition took place in Barcelona. This exposition brought development and progress to the city, especially to the Montjuic area. It brought to Barcelona not only the Poble Espanyol, but The Magic Fountain, Espanya Square, the Greek Theatre, the Olym

I left you just in the corner with Portaferrissa street, right? Let's go! Now the little kiosks just transformed in little flower shops. We are in Rambla de Sant Josep. If you look to your right you will see Casa Beethoven, one of the oldest music stores in Barcelona, you can find almost any sheet in the world. Now we can see the Mercat de la Boqueria, one of the most beatiful and famous markets. I remember a time when they even sold bugs, yes, edible bugs. Erotic museum, th

There was a time for new cuisine, for trying and experimenting with food, but somehow we can't avoid going back to our origins. In Catalonia we have a lot of cooking tradition to offer. And there is a place, just in the middle of Gràcia which serves what we always used to eat in our grandmother's house. It's called La Pubilla. Talking about traditions... the name of the restaurant is not a coincidence. In the Catalan old houses there was a law to inherit. The first son, the "