My name is Mat, I’m 39yrs old and I live in Southampton. (I moved down here from South of London 20yrs ago and have stayed ever since).

My first trip to Barcelona was for La Noche Vieja (New Year’s Eve) in 2004. It was around this time that the “no frills” airline boom really started to take off (no pun intended), and quite a number of my then work colleagues booked short breaks to Barcelona via Ryanair’s  Bournemouth to Girona service.

Tying in with this my family normally had a couple of nights somewhere in the UK or France for NYE, so given the great things my work colleagues said about Barcelona I suggested to the family we went to Barcelona… and that’s where my 10yr (ok, its 11yrs and counting) obsession with Barcelona started.

View from the Museu d’Història de Catalunya

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The view from Bunkers del Carmel

This month will be a celebration of the 5th month since I moved to Barcelona. I decided to move here so my girlfriend could study at her university at UPF and I had been looking for work since we made the decision to move here and I handed my notice in at my previous employment back in England (where I had spent 10 years). We moved to a flat in Barceloneta, just a stones throw away from the beach and from the moment we moved in we had a sense of the area never sleeping, with tourists and locals frequenting the local bars, restaurants and cafes which are located everywhere around the area until the early hours of the morning.

My perfect day in Barcelona happened just a month after moving here. I had a job interview with a company who specialise in printing and embroidery services, and I instantly knew after turning up and meeting the owner and the staff that I wanted to work there. It had a friendly atmosphere that was a mixture of busy, on the go and chilled with friendly staff.

A few days after the interview my girlfriend and I decided to visit Bunkers del Carmel, which is located at Carrer del Turó de la Rovira, not far from Park Güell. We decided to begin our adventure at Parc de la Ciutadella where we were amazed by the gorgeous fountain – and the dog that was bathing in it! Read the rest of this article…

Enrique Tomás on Carrer de Pelai

My perfect day in Barcelona would definitely start with an Iberian ham sandwich, no tomato please, I might be the only Catalan that doesn’t like pà amb tomàquet – no one is perfect.

Food is a big part of a perfect day, and I would start with Iberian ham from Enrique Tomás on Carrer de Pelai, there’s nothing like good quality Iberian ham.

I would walk down las Ramblas in the morning after breakfast at around 10am, any later will be a battle between tourists and locals. It is a pity that the city centre has become a forbidden place for locals since you know how crowded it would be so you don’t want to fight every step you make. Although this changes with the season, I certainly hope that Barcelona tourism is sustainable and tourism in the future combines the local needs with tourism growth. Read the rest of this article…

Barcelona beachfront

The thing I love about Barcelona is that there are so many areas which offer a different experience of the city. If you need a bit of space away from it all, you can walk down to the port on a quiet morning or if you fancy a browse and a coffee you can head up to the cool neighbourhood of Gràcia and people-watch in one of its sunny squares.

My perfect day in Barcelona involves coffee stops, wandering around, a little shopping and definitely a bit of rooftop drinking. I love it when I have family or friends visiting and I get to share all of this with them. Read the rest of this article…

Platja de Sant Sebastià

I’m up early, before the sun, hoping that the coffee grinder doesn’t wake the kids as I prepare a Bialetti full of fragrant Ethiopian Sidamo. The smell of the beans, recently roasted at Cafès Ros, fills the kitchen.

I’ve had my caffeine fix and I park my motorbike near Nova Icària beach. The sun is over the horizon now and it glitters off the sea, throwing a long shadow behind me and making me squint. I put my headphones on and start to run. Along to the Forum, turn around, down to Barceloneta and the W hotel, then back to where I started. The beach is coming to life as the temperature rises, and I people-watch for a while before heading home. Read the rest of this article…