Some tips to visit Barcelona

Restaurants/Bars:

- Cal Culleretes: Typical Catalan cousine.

- Safrà, 18 : Catalan dishes together with good Italian “pasta”.

- To eat good paella you need to go to some place in la Barceloneta, there are plenty of good places there. Sometimes they are a little bit expensive.

A good example near the sea or inside: http://www.canmajo.es/

- La Lluna (Santa Anna, 20), in Porta Ferrissa. Very quiet restaurant, good cuisine. It also has food for vegetarians.

Tapas:

- La esquinica: It is far away from the center in Horta neighboughood. You need to take the blue line towards Horta (Virrei Amat station, Fabra i Puig street at the right side) but this is one of the most famous Tapas bar in BCN. Sometimes you have to wait for your turn in the street. You cannot reserve has furniture from let’s say 60’s.

- El bar mundial. It is an old fashioned bar placed in a small square near Passeig Lluis Companys (Placa Sant Agust Vell 1, Barcelona). It is a very old place, and from the door it looks like the worst place you can find but the Tapas are really good and tasty, specially the fish ones. It is not cheap. http://www.bcnrestaurantes.com/barcelona.asp?restaurante=mundial-bar

- La gran bodega, C/Valencia 193. Near Hospital Clinic. Be careful with the “patatas bravas”. They are especially hot in this restaurant.

- El xampanyet C/ Montcada 22, just behind Santa Maria del Mar church. It is a very nice place to talk, eat tapas and drink what they call “xampanyet” that is vine with gas and it is really tasty. It is a very modest but cozy old-fashioned bar. They have kept the furniture from the first part of the 20^th century.

- La Vinya Del Senyor, Plaça Santa Maria 5, just in front of Santa Maria del Mar church, in the same square of the church, near to the previous one. A good place to drink some wines and eat something like Spanish cheese or cold meat. It is not the normal place to eat tapas, it is more elegant and modern than other places.

Tea:

- Taj Chaj, near the cathedral. Quiet place with a lot of Indian and Asian teas. A good place to go with kids.

- Malea, C/Riego, 18, near “Sants” train Station. Also a quiet place appropriate to go with childrens. They also have good teas and tasty home-made sandwiches and cakes.

- In Petrixol street, near la plaça del pi, you have a couple of old catalan bars called “granja” were you can take a cup of chocolate with xurros. One is just in the entrance of the street in la plaça del pi and the other one is “La pallaresa” just in the middle of the street. They are normally very crowded because they are really famous among BCN citizens.

Places to visit:

- CosmoCaixa, is the science museum. It is a good place to visit with children. The only problem is that it is a little bit far away from the city centre.

http://obrasocial.lacaixa.es/nuestroscentros/cosmocaixabarcelona/cosmocaixabarcelona_es.html (web page only in catalan and Spanish).

- Caixaforum, free art expositions and I thing with something like a kindergarden, but I am not sure. It is near Montjuich Hill to see amazing views of BCN (in a castle placed in the top of the hill).

http://obrasocial.lacaixa.es/nuestroscentros/caixaforumbarcelona/caixaforumbarcelona_es.html

- MNAC, the national museum of art with one of the most impressive collections of Romanic paints. It is also in Montjuic Hill. The Barcelona views are amazing.

http://www.mnac.cat/index.jsp?lan=001

- The city museum. It is near la Plaça del Rei. You can visit the roman ruins that are under the street. It is very interesting and is free on Sunday afternoons.

- The modernist art: La pedrera, sagrada Familia, casa Batllo. The only problem is that you have to pay everywere. I really appreciate la Pedrera because they have a very good exposition where they explain the “Gaudi” philosophy and the advantages of using catenary arches.

- http://www.lapedreraeducacio.org/flash.htm

- Parc Güell: Important to visit now because they are planning to ask for an entrance in near future.

- Barri Gotic. Take your time to visit this neighbourhood.

- Barri de la Catedral. The neighbourhood near the Cathedral, Generalitat Palace, City Hall, …. Are also beautiful. Sometimes in the weekend they are crowded. You should also visit “la boqueria” and old market with a Modernist door. It also has a lot of tourists. Becareful because it is in the middle of “las Ramblas” where there are a lot of thieves looking for your things. Be careful also in the metro stations. There are plenty of thieves especially in the centre and in Sants station. They go in groups of 2-3 and just get attach to you to try to rob your pocket. They are men and women too.

There are many other places to visit like Fundacio Joan Miro, Palau Güell, Montjuic Castell, Tibidabo mountain, …