Barcelona is a city that should be written with capital letters, a place where every single day deserves to be enjoyed. Barcelona is my favorite city to spend my days off, when I do not have to work.

For me, an ideal Saturday in Barcelona is to enjoy the city and visit my favorite places, those where I feel at home and make me feel fulfilled. These places do not always appear in the tourist guides, but they are equally worth it and that is why I want to share them with you.

The best way to start the morning is with a good coffee and a full breakfast on the terrace of my house, with the heat of the first rays of sun and overlooking the streets of Gràcia. I enjoy this even in winter.

Then, in my sports clothes, I start my routine running session in a privileged place: the Park Güell and its surroundings. I’m crazy? No! Early in the morning these gardens are free of tourists and this is the perfect place to practice some sport in the nature, near home and overlooking the whole city.

Views from El Carmel

Read the rest of this article…

I wake to the sound of Erica, Pablo and Chica purring at the foot of our bed, the smell of bread baking in the kitchen. A warm breeze floats in from the balcony and I rise to prepare a cafetiere of coffee and bash some eggs around in a pan. Rosana checks on our limonero (lemon tree) and yelps with joy as she discovers the beginnings of our first lemons. “It’s like a miracle!”

Ben preparing to cruise the boardwalk

The “Let’s go to the beach!” moment

Once the caffeine has revived us, we kiss our cats goodbye for the day, smear on a layer of suncream that smells like coconut and childhood memories and head out into the street. Rosana’s on her bike, I’m on my longboard.

We roll past the bakery and the Ethiopian restaurant next door, past the bodega where we only go to drink but not to eat because the camerero has the hands of a coal miner. Read the rest of this article…

Romans in Barcelona? Really? Yes, Barcelona can be traced back to an ancient Roman settlement from 218 B.C. called Barcino! You might not be aware of this – after all, Barcelona is much better known for its Gothic district or Gaudí and modernism.

But Barcelona has some exciting museums on ancient Roman times to offer too! So, let’s take a tour of the Barcelona museums landscape.

We’ll also cover some more must-see Barcelona museums from other eras, including contemporary art, which can be found all over Barcelona as well – because Barcelona is international, up to date, and always goes with the times!

Barcelona’s Underworld?

In Barcelona’s City History Museum, you can experience the city’s past in an unusual way. All seems fairly normal when you enter the palace, but then the adventure begins: You enter an elevator and go from today’s Barcelona down into Roman Barcino – to the underworld, so to speak…

Visitors can explore each dig site by walking along footbridges. Among them are an old wash-house, a wine cellar, and a fishery – the history is so close you can almost feel it.

Want to be close to Columbus as well? Then get ready: the museum exit passes through the old royal palace. Here you can make a quick detour to the “Sala Tinell”, the hall where, according to legend, Columbus presented the first of his bounties from the New World to Queen Isabella I in 1493.

A Roman jug at Museu d’Història de Barcelona
© Céline Mülich, 2013-2016 | Courtesy of Museu d’Història de Barcelona

Read the rest of this article…

Houses in Carrer Campoamor, Horta-Guinardó

Being born and raised in Barcelona has given me the chance to enjoy this wonderful city in many ways. Now that I live abroad, I still regularly come back to Barcelona, to see my family and friends, to enjoy Barcelona’s culinary and cultural hotspots, and of course, the nice weather and the sun! For my perfect day in Barcelona I’ve made a summary of my favourite places and local spots, which I always enjoy visiting.

Morning

My perfect day would begin in Horta, which is the neighbourhood where I grew up and where my family lives. At one of the terraces in Plaça Eivissa I would start my day with a café con leche (a cup of coffee with milk) and some sweet pastry. At Plaça Eivissa there’s also a churrería. Pick a handful of churros and eat them while you discover Horta! Carrer del Tajo is the main shopping street with a local market you cannot miss. A bit further you can discover Carrer d’Aiguafreda, where in the past century clothes from Barcelona’s upper-class members were cleaned. Read the rest of this article…

Barcelona is a city of perfect days. Among all the cities I’ve visited, I consider it to be among the most liveable and lovable metropolises on Earth. Blessed with warm weather more than six months a year, flanked by the ocean and mountains, great nightlife and culture, dozens of parks, loads of good museums, bike lanes, citywide free wi-fi, and a broad variety of people from all over the world, each day in Barcelona is better than the last.

Which makes it hard to pick a ‘Perfect Day in Barcelona,’ but for the purpose of this article, I will try. In this edition of A Perfect Day in Barcelona I will try to illustrate not only Barcelona’s variety—food, culture, nature and wide open spaces—but its infrastructure as well.

Barcelona’s city planners prioritize pedestrians over cars. You can see this with its sidewalks that are as wide—if not wider—than the roads for vehicles, and there are lanes and parking stands for bikes everywhere. A city not so big, you can get everywhere on foot, bike, rollerblade, skateboard, or scooter, if you are so inclined. But should your feet fail you, there is Barcelona’s public transport system with buses, trams, and metros which are well-run and are relatively cheap.

Barcelona is a city that is centred on life. Tired? Here’s a bench to sit on. Thirsty? There are water fountains everywhere. Bored? Just go to any plaça and you will find buskers and performers so talented you wonder why they aren’t on television or on stage. Libraries and parks are open to the public so that people can exercise their body as well as their minds. Dogs are welcome in many establishments, and those that don’t, provide cute little leash hooks outside their doors so that man’s best friend doesn’t wander away. Read the rest of this article…