Top Catalunya hotels
Food / Drink Barcelona
92 Reviews The locals flock to get all they can of the ham and pasteries that abound around the city. We saw the real store that only sold the jamon, and yes; it is expensive no matter how you cut it, or how...
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Language Barcelona
54 Reviews Catalunya is a bilingual community. Everybody in Catalunya do speak Spanish (or Castellano as we prefer to call it here), but in fact NOT everybody do speak Catalan (about 60% in Barcelona, less in...
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City Highlights Barcelona
23 Reviews During the summer time from 15th to 21st of august, everybody are just waiting to celebrate the Gracia s Party called Fiesta major de Gracia. Gracia is a area in barcelona, this area seems to be...
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Sundays / La Sardana Barcelona
15 Reviews If you're in Barcelona on a Sunday, try to see the people dancing the Sardana, the Catalan national dance. Try near the Cathedral. When I saw people doing the Sardana it was in the afternoon in the...
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People Barcelona
34 Reviews People from South Europe are always more relaxed than ones in North Europe. It seems in Catalonia as well – expression of emotions is higher, sometimes people simply don’t take too much stress about...
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Tipping / Money Matters Barcelona
12 Reviews Spanish people are not used to tips, so they don't give them out. It's not usual to give tips in restaurants, taxis or bars. So don't. Now, if the service was really good and you feel that you can't...
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Art / Architecture Barcelona
38 Reviews did travel some places,and now been in goulburn very old town,and very nice town. I am so happy because in this town i did won the second price for one of my painting,just learning for first time. we...
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Seasonal Events Barcelona
30 Reviews One of the most fun things you can ever take part in in Barcelona are the festes of one of the old municipalities. When I came to the city in 2005, I had the opportunity to take part in La Mercè, the...
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Things Catalan Barcelona
27 Reviews People in Barcelona have a strong sense of belonging..... but not to Spain. They are Catalans (ie. from Catalunya), and most of them speak in Catalan too. My hubby was surprised to see that this...
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Sense of Time Barcelona
11 Reviews Many of the museums in Barcelona (such as the Contempary Art Museum) close early on Sunday. In general, the museums are closed all day Monday. If you want to go to the Picasso Museum on Sunday, get up...
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Street Entertainers Barcelona
23 Reviews At the harbor there was an unplanned dance going on to the tune of the music by a band. It brought many people to come over and look and some dance; old and new styles. Catalans like to dance and have...
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Churches Barcelona
18 Reviews Noble men and who-ever could afford it had a special church-seat next to the altar of the cathedral. Click on the pic for more details of the wooden carvings of the seats and the great paintings. It...
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History / Information Barcelona
23 Reviews Barcelona has a relatively mild Mediterranean climate. Summer can get hot and humid, 30C is not uncommon, while winters are very mild and sunny. The rain falls mostly in the autumn and spring months...
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Day Trip Barcelona
6 Reviews After visiting monestery u can get on one of the hills by funicular or on foot.And from that spot there like 3 rutes.One - down to the monastery and two to some high spots in mountains.It's extremaly...
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Buyers / Sellers Barcelona
4 Reviews I was surprised to see this sort of trade in a modern city I'm not keen on this sort of trade in animals or birds. There were traders selling ducklings - chickens - hens - pigeons as well as rabbits...
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Sports Barcelona
7 Reviews What can I say? Football! We all know that this city has one of the biggest and richest football clubs in the world (and sport in general, Barcelona has also very successful basketball and handball...
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In the south of Catalonia, although is also sardana as traditional dance, the tipycal dance is the jota. This is a dance that in diferents ways, they dance in all north of Spain. In this photo, when in Asc? is celebrating festivity of Sant Antoni, people dance this jota around a bonfire in the Church Square. Authentic tradition, who lead us to the most primitive sense of comunity.
The Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan Government) on 17th April of 1456 declared 23rd April as a Holiday, and 2 centuries later (1667) the Pope Climent IX approved it officially.Nowadays there is a nice custom consisting in: men give a rose to women and women give a book to men.On that day streets are plenty of stalls selling roses and books, what a lovely day!!!In 1995 UNESCO chose 23rd April as a World Book Day inspired from this Catalan tradition.
This breed of donkey derives from the Equus asinus somaltensis or the Somalia donkey. This type later gave rise to the donkeys of the south west Asia and probably also the majority of European breeds, including the Catalan one. They are large animals, with an average height of 140cms and weight varying from 350kg to 450kg. The characteristic color of the coat is chestnut-black. The muzzle, the area around the eyes, the belly and the insides of the legs are typical pale silvery color. The principal donkey areas were in the regions of the Pirineus and the foothills of the mountains, and the areas around the basins of the rivers Segre and Ter. Nowadays these breed is in danger of extinction and the number of animals existing is not much over 100 examples. Most of them are in the Catalan Pirineus and few examples are in the south of France. In 1978 and due to the serious situation which the...
Saint Jordi’s Day, on 23rd April, is for me the most beautiful day in Catalunya. During this day we commemorate the legend of Saint George, the Saint patron of Catalunya. This is the story: there was a very very bad dragon that destroyed all the cultivations and houses of the village. An agreement was done between the king and this dragon: every year the king will give to the dragon a maiden in order to let them in peace. This girl was chosen by lot. One year the princess was the chosen and she was taken to the dragon's cave. But Saint George arrived, killed the dragon and the dragon’s blood drops turned into roses. Sant Jordi took one rose and offered it to the princess.Sooo during this day the tradition is that men always offer a single red rose to mums, lovers or just friends. This day we are like princess :-)On 23rd April we also commemorate the book’s day since April 23, 1616 was...
The porró is a typical Catalan recipient made of glass used to drink wine but sometimes you can also see it filled with beer. The big hole is used to fill the porró with your favorite drink. The small one is used to drink. This is one of the few things sold in Les Rambles (and in other gift shops) that is really typical from Catalunya.Drinking from a porró is not easy and you need some practice. On the following pictures I try to explain you the technique and show you how to drink from a porró (pictures 1 and 2), the classical style, and how not to drink (picture 3) (my friends will kill me if they see these pictures on line but I will see this later . . .). You start drinking like on the first picture and then slowly and without loosing the balance you strech your arm until it is straight. There is a universal law (with some funny exceptions) about porrons: the more you drink,...
La sardana és la dansa més bellade totes les danses que es fan i es desfan;és la mòbil magnífica anellaque amb pausa i amb mida va lenta oscil.lant. "The sardana is the most beautiful dance of all those dances that are done and undone ; it is the mobile and magnificent ring that with pause and measure slowly swings." These first words of Joan Maragall’s poem describe perfectly the spirit of the sardana. Well, maybe la sardana is not the most beautiful dance in the world but I like it because it is a dance of group where anybody (in principle) can participate.You usually can see sardanes in all the main squares of a village or a town on Sundays. Sardana’s songs are always played by “la cobla”, a small group of musicians that play some traditional wind instruments. When I hear the first notes of a “flabiol” (a small flute with a very particular sound) I know that a sardana is going to...
La barretina is the traditional Catalan hat for men. Usually red (but sometimes also violet) and made of wool, it was very used specially in rural areas until the XIX th century. Nowadays you still can see it in local traditions like in sardanas. I have put here some pictures of some people still wearing the barretina ;-)
Castells (or human towers) are typical constructions of the province of Tarragona but you can see them everywhere in Catalunya. The castells' world is very complex: there are different kinds of castles and every castle has its own name. The castles can reach 10 floors but the most usual castles have between 7 and 8 floors. The main parts of any kind of castle are:-"pinya" all the people on the ground floor that help to build the castle-"tronc" the different floors of the castle-"enxaneta" is the kid on the top of the castle;You can consider that a castle is "carregat" or finished when the "enxaneta" arrives at the top and he/she raises the handIn Tarragona's area there is a big rivalry between the "colles" or groups castellers, specially if they are from the same city; The rivalry is bigger if they are building castles in their local town festivities: they try to do the best and more...
We see your from UK, well, Spaniards have sweet tooth, a box of chocolate will be welcomed and enjoyed! The guests soaps which go on super sale are well accepted and yet they are quite affordable! When it's intended for gifts, it's the easiest thing to pick up from the stores, unless your giving a royal family, that is when it can be a problem...Have fun and enjoy the Catalan living which is great! We are proud to be part of the culture!
We parked our car in a car park to the south east of the town, there was no charge and from there you can see the bridge into Besalu. There is also a tourist information office there – You might also find that useful !!
Jazz Barcelona
6 Reviews and 1597 Opinions So it costs a fair bit...but the location is perfect, right in between Eixample and Las Ramblas,...
Hotel Ciutat De Girona Girona
1 Review and 247 Opinions I'm returning to this hotel shortly as I really enjoyed it. Boutique-hotel style decor with friendly...
Estival Park Salou Tarragona
1 Review and 549 Opinions best holiday i have been on, hotel beautiful!!! only back and im pricing for next year already!...
Reviews and photos of Catalunya attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Catalunya sightseeing.
More Cities in Catalunya
Q: Hi, I am going to Barcelona next June and I would like to know which is the most beautiful town in Costa Brava to spend one day....
A: Well, my favourite is Tossa De Mar but I am sure others will have their favourites too. There is another post in here today regarding transport from Lloret De Mar to...
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