OK, so we now have proof that the world’s climate is completely out of whack. It’s snowing in Barcelona… in March! Back in Toronto, Canada, where I’m from, it’s currently 10 degrees Celsius, sunny, and beautiful. What is going on?!
Snow in Barcelona is so uncommon that we can’t even get a reliable answer on when the last time was that it snowed like this (Edit: Local media sources are saying the last time was 1993). After 6 years living in Barcelona and I can remember snow one time, about a year ago, but it was nothing compared to this.
Barcelona weather in March is usually beautiful and sunny and quickly approaching summer, but alas, this March we find ourselves in a surprise winter wonderland. The bus system has gone down, people are leaving work early, traffic is at a stand still and snowball fights are breaking out all over the place! Read more...
Gracia was once a small village that became part of Barcelona after the “Eixample” (the extension) was build at the end of the 19th 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...
Are you coming to Barcelona and wondering what Barcelona taxis are like? Don’t worry, Barcelona taxis are a convenient and affordable alternative to other means of public transportation. Indeed, Barcelona cabs are not that expensive and don’t try to fool you as much as in other European countries.
I remember being completely nervous when I first arrived in Barcelona. I was looking for a BCN taxi and wondering if it would be like in Rome where the taxi driver took me on a joy ride and made me pay 68 €…
Actually, I have had only good experiences with Barcelona cab drivers. Barcelona taxis have rules and normally stick to them. Read more...
Category: All Blog Posts, Traveling, March 2nd, 2010
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...
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...
Sushi Restaurants Barcelona-New Update!
After one of our facebook fanpage friends recommended a sushi restaurant in Barcelona called Tempura-Ya, we went to have a look to see what it was like and have a bite to eat. We discovered that on a Sunday afternoon it was completely packed and thus decided to come back some other day. That other day was yesterday. With the knowledge of our Sunday afternoon experience we decided to go early in the evening to probably one of the best sushi restaurants in Barcelona, Tempura-Ya. Read more...
In this post I want to share the best way to learn Spanish online for free and show you how you can save a lot of money by practicing with the best Spanish learning websites. Make sure you take advantage of your free Spanish lessons as soon as possible.
It all started when I tried to contact different Barcelona languages schools looking for a Spanish evening course in Barcelona, but none of these schools bothered to respond to my email request. After contacting the third Barcelona language school to no avail, I decided to take things into my own hands and surfed through the internet to find a bunch of great Spanish learning websites to learn Spanish online for free. My research was very successful because there are actually a lot of cool Spanish learning websites, which offer a variety of interesting and entertaining free Spanish lessons. So we will start with my first three recommendations in this post.
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Having a Foreign driving license in Barcelona
I was trying to cross a street in Barcelona recently. There were three lanes of cars and next to it another two lanes of motor bikes waiting to speed off. As my pedestrian light was green I started crossing the street, however only half way across the light mysteriously turned red. As cars tend to do in Barcelona, the split-second their light turned green they all slammed on the gas as I tried to run and make it to the other side of the street without being mangled or simply run over. Before making it to the other side, the motor bikes had already flown by me. One moto missed me by by less than a centimeter and almost sent me flying into a nearby tree. As I recovered my breath and tried to reduce my pulse to a normal level, the biker turned around to ask me if I was crazy. I explained to him that the pedestrian’s light had malfunctioned and I was not indeed trying to kill myself. He apologised and went of. So I decided to find out how to get my own driving license in Barcelona and below is what I found. Read more...
Going to a VO cinema in Barcelona is always a nice thing to do and today more a social event instead of just catching up with the latest Hollywood blockbuster. VO stands for Version Original and indicates that the films are shown in the original language. VO Cinemas in Barcelona are also a great way to practice your Spanish skills, because almost every VO movie has Spanish subtitles. This way you can improve your Spanish vocabulary and enjoy a night out. In general a cinema ticket cost around 7 € but some cinemas offer special discounts (e.g. movies which are shown during the day or special student offers). If possible you should always check if the Barcelona VO Cinema offers tickets and/or reservations online. Queues can, especially during weekend evenings, be very long.
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