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 Montjuïc

It’s been more than 13 years since I landed at the airport of El Prat Barcelona and first started to enjoy Barcelona’s perfect days. Originally from Holland, I was living in Amsterdam at that time, when I decided to do an Erasmus in the Catalan capital. Barcelona was becoming more and more popular, but it had not reached the popularity it knows nowadays.

Over the years my perfect days have changed. In the beginning I enjoyed all the different sightseeing places Barcelona has to offer and I loved to discover the hidden and peculiar places of the city. My first summer here I also spent many hours at the beach, but now I hardly go there at all during the busy holiday season. And of course, I have seen a lot of the fantastic nightlife Barcelona has to offer. Read the rest of this article…

Mercat de Santa Caterina roof tiles

I think El Born would have to be my favourite neighbourhood in Barcelona. It’s absolutely stunning. It can be a bit touristy at times but there are quiet streets to escape from the hustle and bustle. It is one of the smaller neighbourhoods, part of La Ribera which itself is part of the old town, Ciutat Vella. If you see a beautiful photo of a narrow Barcelona street in the sunlight, then chances are it will be from somewhere in El Born.

The food market for this neighbourhood is Santa Caterina with its beautiful mosaic tiled roof by the architects famous for the Scottish Parliament building. El Born also has my favourite church in Barcelona, Santa Maria del Mar, with its high vaulted ceilings and fascinating history. This church was the subject of the book Cathedral of the Sea. Set in 14th century Barcelona the construction of the church provides the backdrop to a story set at the height of the Spanish Inquisition. Read the rest of this article…

I have been living in Barcelona for three years now and, while here, I’ve had a lot of days that have gone perfectly. For this article, I am going to combine a few of these perfect days to make one really unforgettable day in Barcelona.

As many of my friends and family often come by to visit us in Barcelona, I need to come up with a variety of ideas regarding how to entertain them. Since they come more often now, I have to show them some unique places that are far from the touristic parts of Barcelona.

I am currently living in Eixample, so the majority will take place here, but I am also stepping out of my comfort zone to go to El Born, Horta and El Raval. Read the rest of this article…

I came across this great infographic the other day from the guys at Apartment Barcelona. Unlike most of these kind of things there was actually some stuff I didn’t know! So I thought I’d share it.

Did you know about all these things?

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Barcelona [Infographic]