Posts Tagged ‘barcelona’

Enjoy Barcelona During The Summer

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

Since the olympic games in 1992 sparked a rejuvenation of Barcelona’s beaches, their number has grown from one to seven. They’re situated along a 5km stretch of the city’s coastline, from North to South. Staffed by lifeguards from June to Sep, they cater for a growing number of holiday makers and can be accessed in only 20 minutes from the town centre.

More than 3.5million tourists now visit the beaches every year. The city’s council is continually improving services, making a cleaner and safer place. Part of this mission has included the founding of the Barcelona Beach Center. Here you can take part in a number of free exhibitions and activities or just relax with the day’s newspapers.

In each Barcelona beach section, from Sant Sebastia to Llevant, you will find beach bars called ‘chiringuitos ‘. Serving a good range of drinks and food, they’re always highly regarded. The chiringuitos can be more expensive nevertheless , given their beachfront position.

A few of these bars are known to throw beach parties, continually going on late into the evening. DJs are often hired to play music and attract masses of revellers who come to dance on the sand. With nobody to disturb and the sea close by for a midnight dip, Barcelona’s beach parties have become legendary.

But dancing isn’t the only activity that you can do on Barcelona’s beaches. During any trip to the sandy shores you’re certain to see joggers and walkers. The promenades are also always busy with skaters, rollerbladers and cyclists looking to keep fit. And, of course, no beach in Spain would be whole without groups partaking of a volleyball match. You can read the Oh-Barcelona blog to know more about Beach Volley tournaments and beach activities

The sea is also very safe, with no major currents, making it popular with swimmers. All of Barcelona’s beaches have the EU Blue Star rating making it superb for bathers. There is also a good supply of disabled access. One word of advice however : look out for the waves. On breezy days the surf can get a bit coarse, so weaker swimmers are advised to stay near to the shore.

This fact has made Barcelona’s beaches very fashionable with surfers. You can see surfers taking their boards to the beaches all through the year. One reason for this is the cleanness of all the city’s beaches. A clean beach campaign was started in 2006 to raise pollution awareness among bathers and the water quality has improved no end.

Dependent on what kind of beach experience you’re looking for might affect where you choose to stay. As usual, renting a loft is the least expensive way to stay in Barcelona. The beaches at the southern end of the town - Sant Sebastian and Barceloneta - are nearest to its centre and are livelier. For students and young visitors, these are the places to select an apartment.

For those looking for somewhere a bit quieter, the beaches to the North will suit better. These include Nova Mar Bella and Llevant. They are much less busy and are used more often by families and residents searching for peace and quiet. For simple access to these you will need to find a house around Poblenou or Selva de Mar.

With some actually wonderful beaches, Barcelona ranks alongside Spain’s most well-liked destinations for a summer holiday. With seven beaches on offer, there are those to cater for every class of person. Whether you are away with family or on a break with chums, there are heaps of apartments to meet your needs. You can also mix the best of both worlds with a town retreat joined with a beach break. Therefore prior to heading for one of the islands, or Spain’s famous ‘Sunshine Coast ‘, you should usually consider Barcelona.
You might want to check Oh-Barcelona.com website to find out what’s the best apartment that fits your needs.

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Barcelona Sights

Monday, July 5th, 2010

Set on a plain rising softly from the sea to a variety of wooded hills, Barcelona is Spain’s most cosmopolitan city and one of the Mediterranean’s busiest ports. Restaurants, bars and clubs are always packed, as is the beach in summer. You could get the impression it’s dedicated exclusively to hedonism, but it is a hard-working, dynamic place hoping to place itself in the vanguard of 21st-century Europe with a heavy concentration of high tech and biomed business.
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It regards its long past with pride. From Roman city it passed to medieval trade juggernaut, and its old centre comprises one of the best concentrations of Gothic architecture in Europe. Past this core are examples of the world’s more weird buildings : surreal glasses capped by Antoni Gaud’s Sagrada Famlia church.

Barcelona has been breaking ground in art, architecture and style since the late 19th century. From the wonders of Modernisme to the modern wonders of today, from Picasso to the likes of Susana Solano, the racing heart of Barcelona has hardly skipped a beat. The city’s avant-garde chefs whip up a typhoon that has even the French reaching for superlatives.

Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, an area with its own language, character and history many Catalans think about their home as a separate country. The city itself could keep you busy for weeks but just outside it are sandy beaches, Sitges and the Montserrat mountain range - so be sure to create some time for a few day trips during your stay. Barcelona apartmentscould be the simplest way to pass the time in the city.

On the other hand, the city presented an exhausted picture. The Metro was running but there were no buses ( they’d all been utilized on the front ). Almost all of the animals in the city zoo had keeled over from starvation or injuries. There were frequent blackouts, and would be for years .

By 1940, with WWII raging across Europe, Franco had his regime more decisively in place and things turned darker for many . Catalan Francoists led the way in rounding up victims and up to 35, 000 folk were shot in purges. At the same time, little bands of resistance fighters continued to harry the patriots in the Pyrenees thru lots of the 1940s. Llus Companys was caught in France by the Gestapo in August 1940, handed over to Franco, and shot on 15 October on Montjuc. He is said to have died with the words Visca Catalunya! ( Long live Catalonia! ) on his lips. The executions continued into the 1950s. Barcelonins reacted in alternative ways. Most accepted the situation and tried to get on with living, while some jumped at opportunities, occupying apartments deserted by Reds who had been made to leave. Investors and industrialists in bed with Franco commenced to earn money hand over fist while the general public hardly managed to keep body and soul together.

But as any local can tell you, it isn’t all doom and gloom in Barcelona. There are plenty of Apartments in barcelona The city’s beloved football team FC Barcelona are back on top, erasing memories of its agitated 2007-2008 season with a record-breaking triplete in the 2008-2009 season. Not only did Bara win the desirable Spanish League ( leaving their everlasting rivals Real Madrid in the dust ), but they triumphed in the Copa del Rey and the UEFA champs League, leading to an explosion of street celebrations and Catalan pride unparalleled even in this patriotic, party-hardy city.

Agbar Tower Of Barcelona

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

The Torre Agbar, or Agbar Tower, was created by French designer Jean Nouvel. It opened during June 2005 in Barcelona, Spain, and it has been inaugurated officially by the kings of Spain on the 16 of September of 2005.
The construction, which measures 142 metres in height, hosts the Barcelona Water Company, and Nouvel has designed it to evoke water: smooth and continuous, shimmering and transparent. The Agbar Tower is located in the Poblenou area of The catalonian capital and is named subsequent to its initial owners, the Agbar Group, a holding corporation whose interests include the Barcelona Architect water company Aig

Top 5 things to do in Barcelona

Sunday, May 30th, 2010

1. Among the most recognized boulevards in the planet, La Rambla merits a walk down even when you have just a single day in Barcelona. A gateway to rural Catalunya, the mile-long road is filled with tourists, painters, human statues, fortune-tellers, dancers and musicians. Pulsating flower stalls, a cultural and exhibition centre, the fantastic La Boqueria market, a Joan Mir

End of School trip to Barcelona

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

To celebrate my concluding exam for the duration of my semester in Scotland at the Glasgow University, I treated myself to eight days in Spain (Barcelona and Madrid, to be specific). I went on my own, which I was a slight bit nervous about — I worried about safety, comprehending Spanish and also being alone. Those happened to be realistic worries, however it all turned out great, and it helped me feel a whole lot more positive about traveling alone in the coming years.

Barcelona

I travelled on Ryanair (a cheap airline) from Glasgow’s Prestwick Airport to Barcelona — though in characteristic Ryanair fashion we ended up in a secondary airport over an hour’s bus ride away from the city. I was staying at the Gothic Point hostel, which I eventually found in the end after walking the wrong way through Barcelona’s Barrio Gotico and accidentally finding the cathedral — a nice shock. It was lovely, dark and complex, and regrettably surrounded with building work. Ah, well. After walking through the nave I went back outside and eventually came across the hostel, which offered free Internet! I was quite impressed (though understandably there was a bit of waiting time to use the computers). I used this time to research Barcelona travel information.

I began my first entire day of sightseeing at Park Guell, designed by Barcelona’s famous architect Antoni Gaudi. I took the metro to what appeared to be the nearest station, but it was still a bit of a lengthy, walk to get there. My next station was Passeig de Gracia, where there were several more well known Gaudi creations. Casa Batllo was too cool for me to try to describe (and also too expensive for me to enter!). Just down the street was La Pedrera, an apartment building with a lot of curves, wavy lines, dazzling colors, oddly shaped windows, etc. After that I continued along the Gaudi trail to la Sagrada Familia, an colossal cathedral whose development has been in progress since about 1883 — and it’s only slightly over halfway done. Unbelievable. I primarily felt a bit robbed when I needed to pay eight euros to get in and then another two euros just to ride up one of its towers, but then I realised it was helping to sustain the construction. Maybe I’ll return to Barcelona in 30 years or so and see it when it’s done!

After that I headed to Placa Catalunya, where I strolled down La Rambla, Barcelona’s most famous street. Lined with trees and shops and street performers of all kinds, it was fun and crowded. La Rambla continues down to the statue of Christopher Columbus and the old port, where I sat and chilled out for a bit. Then I made my way back through Barri Gotic toward my hostel, stopping in a few pretty plazas — particularly Placa Reial, with palm trees and lovely historic buildings. I also entered into the cathedral. Barrio Gotico is a great place to get lost, with narrow streets, flowered balconies, wrought-iron railings and traditional street lamps.

The next day I decided to visit Montjuic, where the Olympic Village from the 1992 summer olympics is located, along with some countryside, a quite mediocre castle/fortress, and Poble Espanyol, a model Spanish town that had some really pretty buildings and lots of artisan crafts.

I made a pit stop at my room to get an umbrella, despite the fact that by that point it was sunny again, of course. Then I went on to the Picasso Museum, which wasn’t as thrilling as I’d wanted. A lot of the stuff there was very early work. The same can

Touring Barcelona

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Poble Espanyol, or the “Spanish Village”, was in the beginning put up used for the Worldwide Exhibition detained in Barcelona during 1929, in addition to was outstanding to be demolished afterwards. Fortunately the attractiveness of the village was such so as to still at the moment you can stroll about the field, experiencing the dissimilar architecture of unlike regions of Spain.

The purpose put up village has a mid square, very over and over again by means of displays plus stages contests plus dances at this time regularly. Next each surrounding street represents the dissimilar architecture as of different roles of Spain, as a result you contain the small white homes consequently characteristic of Seville, alongside the Valencian homes with the visible gables, et cetera. It is a huge lay near stroll around throughout the daylight hours, by means of many cultural plus art plus craft shops as well as expositions on offer.

Visitors resting on the Barcelona tourist bus inexorably discover curiosity gets the more comfortable of them because they climb the winding tracks of Montj