Parc de la Ciutadella
A massive downpour to clean the streets of the night before – and people. Take an umbrella and walk through Ciutadella Park. Sit by the boating lake, a tiny area of water with about 20 boats that pile up fast like a Friday night traffic jam. Over to the Born and En Aparté for coffee or wine. The service is good, friendly. Predominantly French fare so it’s cheese with ham, cheese with bread, cheese with cheese. Or cheese. Apart from the carrot cake. The coffee’s good. So is the price. There’s the brunch menu at weekends.
Head up to CosmoCaixa for no other reason than to walk through the rainforest. Be attacked by a bird (it happened). Worry that the “thing” wandering around the swamp missed breakfast and that the anaconda’s developed an exit strategy. (It wasn’t asleep and they’re fast). Walk down the hill because you can, past houses that look like a set from The Addams Family. 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…
Article by Emily Davies, Barcelona Travel Expert.
The city of Barcelona is a wonderful choice for fun-packed things to do with kids. There are so many fabulous child-friendly activities, from interactive museums to theme parks and nature reserves, that you are spoilt for choice. With this in mind, here are my top five attractions in Barcelona that you and your kids will love.
1. Barcelona Zoo
Barcelona Zoo is home to an impressive array of beautiful and exotic animal species. Zoo highlights include the elephants, giraffes and zebras alongside more unusual animals such as komodo dragons, pygmy marmosets and giant anteaters. This top attraction also boasts a number of child-friendly restaurants, picnic areas, playgrounds and a petting zoo. On arrival, be sure to get in line for the zoo’s exciting and exhilarating live dolphin spectacle!
Barcelona Zoo
A fab article from illustrator, Kat Cameron, on the delights of sketching in Barcelona (including some of her even fabber illustrations).
Barcelona Landscape – © Kat Cameron
A mosaic of green, blue, and red emerges in my mind when I visualise Barcelona. A city of flat terracotta roofs, encircled with the olive-green forests of the Collserola rolling down to the aqua Mediterranean. From first touching down in the glass airport to a wander through the textured gothic alleyways or a glance at the modernista architecture, you know you have landed in a city of art. Miro, Gaudí, Dalí and Picasso all spent time here, and as you meet the locals you discover that Barcelona is filled with architects, designers, graphic artists and illustrators, so really it is the perfect city to go for a stroll with your sketch pad and pencils, find a spot and record your surroundings. Read the rest of this article…
CosmoCaixa Barcelona
Posts were a bit thin on the ground last week. In fact they were non-existent. I had my family here. Six of them. Three adults and three children. All in my flat. And I invited them. I know!
So writing a blog post was pretty low down on the list whilst organising showering times was pretty high up. But all joking aside, it was great to have them here.
But what to do with them?
With ages ranging from 8 to 80 it can prove tricky finding something that they all can enjoy. My mum likes a church – Santa Maria del Mar, the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia, the Sagrada Família and Santa Anna (a tucked away church I will tell you more about another time). We trod them all. And the kids? Well they would spend a whole morning in Happy Pills if they had their way.
But for anyone with a similar dilemma I highly recommend you go to the CosmoCaixa Barcelona near Tibidabo. Read the rest of this article…
