La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s obsession and last burden, and Barcelona’s most famous church is a gorgeous monstrosity of stones and sculptures that will fascinate you. La Sagrada Familia (the Holy Family in Spanish) is a masterpiece of architecture you have to see before your death (or before you leave Barcelona) and we’re here to ease your task by giving you tips on how to fully admire La Sagrada Familia and go straight to the point! Have a look:

La Sagrada Familia in Figures :

• Years of construction : 128 (so far…)
• Completion year: 2026 ?
• Towers : 8
• Size : 12,800 m2
• Highest point : 170 m
• Stones employed so far:  22 different types
• People working on the site: around 350 persons
• Visitors: 2.5 millions each year
• Cost of the construction: € 18 million JUST for 2009…

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Gracia was once a small village that became part of Barcelona after the “Eixample” (the extension) was build at the end of the 19^th century. Gracia is situated directly above Eixample and as an originally tiny village it has a noticeablely different layout. The streets are narrow and short. There are a few longer streets such as Calle Verdi, which starts at the top of Placa de la Revolución and goes all the way up to Barcelona’s most famous parc: “Parc Guell designed by Antonio Gaudi”. The street is named after the world famous opera music composer from Italy: Guiseppe Verdi who lived from 1813-1901.  Read more...

For a couple of years now the limo renting service in Barcelona has been booming and becoming more popular than ever. Limos are not anymore solely for Very Important People and business men but have become something for normal people that want a special night out. Limousine Rentals in Barcelona provide business for all kinds of occasions, for instance, when a group of friends go out and have a pre-party at someone’s place. People usually take a couple of taxi’s to go with their friends to the venue. Nowadays it has become popular to go in a stylish limousine instead of a taxi. People have always loved to travel in style and now they can.  Read more...

Whoever wants to dance Tango, or Salsa, or anything else in Barcelona has only too much to choose from! I am not talking about clubs or discos but about this particular, elegant and incredibly rich ballroom dancing culture that has been passed on for generations, and especially Tango, Salsa, Flamenco and all other Latin dances. If you want to unveil the real nature of Latin culture, you’ll have to look at it through the dance window as well.

As a big Latin dance fan, I went on the hunt for hidden ballroom dancing places in Barcelona especially for you! My first prey was Barcelona milongas, or hidden Barcelona Tango cafés. After some research on the Internet, I realized that Barcelona Tango was big! Not only has the City of Barcelona organized yearly Tango festivals since 2004, but there’s also at least one milonga going on in Barcelona every night, usually starting around 10pm and lasting until 1am, if not later. Entries to the enchanted Barcelona Tango world are quite cheap also, starting from €4.  Read more...

Gyms in Barcelona come in all shapes, sizes, and prices.  My goal was to find the perfect one for me.  I made a list of things that were important to me and set off on my search.  I first tried using Google maps to locate the closest ones to my flat, but realised that the results were not exhaustive.  Then I got my lazy self off the couch, put on my running shoes, and took a tour around my neighbourhood (BTW, if you’re interested check out our blog on “The Top 5 Barcelona Neighborhoods“).  This is the best way to research gyms.  After all, the chances of you actually going to gym is partly determined by it’s proximity to your place of residence.  So get out there, walk around, and make your initial list of options so you can then evaluate them!  Read more...

Ojos de Brujo The Most Famous Musicians from Barcelona

Ojos de Brujo originated in Barcelona, the group’s name (eyes of the sorcerer) refers to a way of looking at the world and everything in it with a certain degree of depth and wisdom, something similar to reading between the lines, as the group members explained.

Some of the Most Famous Musicians from Barcelona formed the group Ojosde Brujo in 1996 after continuous jam sessions in the neighbourhood Raval where the founders often met at Carrer dels Escudellers number 6 with a lot of other now world famous musicians. The place turned into a Mecca for all kinds of musicians from North Africa, Southern Europe, and Latin America. People used to meet each other and improvise even performing live on the streets for free.  Read more...

Second day at MWC

Monday we spend our first day at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and took some interesting shots for our MWC Exihbition Impression Video. Yesterday the SuiteLife-Team again went to the Mobile World Congress 2010 and this time we visited the App Planet. Here we met a lot of Application developers, Content providers, Operators, Device makers and platform owners. Big Companies such as Vodafone, BlackBerry, Sony Ericsson, WP, and Motorola were present. Google had it’s own Android Developer Lab.

Do you have any idea where Barcelona’s rock and reggae bar Síncopa really comes from? Who used to own it? Well, my beloved Barcelona newbie, “Síncopa” is the friendliest and most international reggae bar and rock ‘n’ roll bar in Barcelona. AND, it used to be owned by none other than Manu Chao!

Miri and I discovered Síncopa wandering through el Borne on our second week-end in Barcelona and immediately fell in love with its originality, great music selection and friendly atmosphere. So we went back again and again. Drinking Estrella in Síncopa became a habit and a meeting point for us and our friends which now include Síncopa’s waiters who are from all over the world.

Elise, for example, is French and has been working in Síncopa for a year now. She obviously knows a lot about the place and shared info with us as we were sipping the delicious Tango Cocktails they serve there (beer with French grenadine syrup, try it, you won’t be disappointed!).  Read more...

Barcelona’s most famous musicians: Macaco

One of Barcelona’s most famous musicians Macaco explains in an interview how it all started;
“Carrer dels Escudellers number 6”, says singer Dani Carbonell, in the heart of Barcelona – was the address where it all started about ten years ago. “On the first floor there were prostitutes, we were on the second floor – the musician squatters, and on the top floor there lived Maghreb’s thieves who after robbing someone hid in ‘Alibaba’s cave and the forty bandits’ as we used to call the parking lot on the ground floor”.

Nowadays the formal house of Carbonell alias Macaco seems peaceful in the narrow alley behind the Plaça Real. The continuous cleaning and restoring anger of the city has made a noticeable difference, the only thing that could point out the existence of the “cave” is the clean blue sign with a white P on it. And nothing shows that this was the formal breeding ground of Barcelona’s most famous musician Macaco and flamenco group Ojos de Brujo.  Read more...