Barcelona

The second largest city in Spain, Barcelona sits close to the border of France and is right on the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, with exquisite architecture, both old and new. You can stroll the beach in Barcelona, take a sailboat cruise, and in the same day visit museums or go shopping. Residents of Barcelona love their Tapas bars where they serve small plates of Spanish food as snacks to accompany wine and drinks. You will also be able to sample typical Catalonian fare with its smoky sausages and use of chilies. Great food and climate make this popular city a must-see in Europe.

1 Review

1. Some random notes about Barcelona

   Diana August 21, 2011 (New York)
   Barcelona has quite a number of impressive graffiti artists. I have seen some of their amazing art on the streets, the subway and many alleys... It's as if they have drawn their inspiration from Picasso, Dali, and Gaudi.
   
   Walking in the metro in Barcelona feels like you're walking the entire city when all you're doing is changing from one line to another. It's taken me 5 minutes to walk underground from one line to another in a few stations. The path is quite boring, except for the graffiti on the tile walls. The metro stations have TVs with advertising and announcements. They also have screens with videos and news. The people here are much younger, free thinking and open to people.
   
   The text in most places is in Spanish and Catalonian. In between reading both, I can figure out what everything is. I ordered a tortilla on the train. Instead of what I was used to back in the States, I got an omelet on bread. It was tasteless. I ordered a "cervesa" and got teased for my Mexican pronunciation. The Spanish speak with what sounds to me like a lisp. Sometimes they spoke Spanish so rapidly, and interjected words in English that didn't have Spanish equivalents, or were too long to say in Spanish. It's a phenomena called Spanglish. Spanglish didn't work so well in Barcelona.
   
   
   On a search for breakfast, I found an odd market. I almost passed it. Apparently, one of the side streets off of The Rambla has a market at the end of every week. The market had vegetables, cheese, meats, fresh fish, chocolate... I ended up buying chocolate covered coffee beans. Yummmmm. The best olives I ever had were just from stumbling on some olives floating in oil at a random shop. Some of the worst wine was found the same way. It's pretty much hit or miss, but it's so much fun to find those gems.