Tourism in Barcelona

Catalan Cuisine

Catalan Cuisine is based on fresh fruit and vegetables, meats and fish of great quality and last but not least olive oil. One of the secrets of Mediterranean Cuisine is that food is cooked in olive oil giving food a very special taste. Olive oil also helps to reduce the amount of cholesterol reducing the risk of heart disease.

Here are some examples of Catalan dishes:

Main courses:

Pa amb tomàquet: Bread with tomato rubbed over and seasoned with olive oil and salt.
All i oli: Sauce made of garlic and olive oil and salt. It is traditionally served with grilled meats or vegetables.
Fuet: Dry sausage of pork meat in a pork gut.
Mongetes amb botifarra: Beans and pork sausage.
Escalivada: Various grilled vegetables seasoned with olive oil and salt.
Calçots: Grilled onions.
Escudella i carn d’olla, Catalan stew.
Arròs negre: Rice with squid. The rice obtains a black colour from the ink squid. Traditionally served with All i Oli.
Canalons gratinats amb bechamel,: Pasta filed with meat (chicken, veal and pork) and baked with bechamel on top. Traditionally served on St. Stephen’s day (26th of December).

Desserts:

Crema catalana: Custard base with caramelized sugar on top.
Mel i mató: Fresh cheese with honey. Probably the most typical catalan dessert.

Cycling tours

Cycling Tours

This is probably not the most common way of knowing Barcelona, however it is probably the healthiest and the most interesting one as it allows you to explore both the touristic and the real Barcelona.

In recent years, more and more private companies organize these cycling tours as an alternative to the traditional touristic tours (e.g. Bus Turistic). These tours normally take between four or five hours.

I know what you are thinking: “five hours cycling?!?! No way I am doing this”. However it is very relaxed with plenty of stops to take pictures and enjoy the city, so you don’t have to be Lance Amstrong to be able to complete the tour.

It is the ideal for those of you traveling on your own as it will allow you to meet people from all over the world, even locals.

Locals normally don’t do these tours although they should, as it would allow them to get different view of their own city and probably to discover new places within their own city.

Finally, remember that Barcelona has gorgeous weather most of the year so ensure that you don’t get burnt, use protection against sun.

Big football night – F.C. Barcelona vs Manchester United

Barcelona will meet Manchester United at the Camp Nou on April 23rd. This should be a great night of football at the highest level with both teams looking for a place in the Champions League final so strong emotions are guaranteed.

For those Manchester United fans coming to Barcelona from the UK or anywhere in Europe, here are some tips:

April 23rd coincides with the feast of Sant Jordi so you will be able to enjoy a great atmosphere all over Barcelona but specially around Las Ramblas area. Of course, city center will be packed, you should be extra careful with your handbags and wallet, so be extra careful with pickpockets.

As normally happens in this situations, airlines will bring up prices so you may consider for an alternative route to get to Barcelona (e.g. via Ireland or another country) if you don’t have your flights booked already. Click here for a list of cities in the UK flying directly into Barcelona airport.

How to get to the Camp Nou? The easiest way is to take the underground (Metro). There are three metro stations very close to the Nou Camp: Collblanc (L5 – blue), Badal (L5 – blue) and Maria Cristina (L3 – green). Click here for a small map showing their location with regards to the Nou Camp. If your acommodation is in city center, the easiest is probably is to go Maria Cristina as you can take the metro at the following stations (Catalunya, Liceu or Drassanes, all at the L3 green line) as it is just few stations away.

For those of you travelling without a ticket, be aware that it may be almost impossible to obtain one as very small amount of tickets will be put on sale. You may try the box office (access 14) at the Nou Camp on April 23rd.

If you are unable to get a ticket and want to watch the match in an English speaking environment, you can go to an Irish Pub. There are few in the city centre area.

Finally, here are some useful links:

– Consulates in Barcelona
– Places to visit in Barcelona
– Restaurant in City center
– Bars
– Transport in Barcelona
– Useful information

Currency exchange – How and Where

Barcelona is unfortunately well known for its pickpocketing problem, therefore instead of carrying large amount of cash, I would recommend using ATMs (automated teller machine) as it is the easiest way to get cash. However, before you start your travel, you should contact your bank in order to find out what charges they will apply. Rembember that in order to use your credit card abroad, you will need a valid PIN number. Also, if you have several credit cards, use the one that offers you the best deal (the one that applies the smallest charge).

However, if you have to exchange money (e.g. US Dollars or British pounds to Euros), I would strongly recommend that you use a regular bank (La Caixa, Caixa Catalunya, Caixa Penedes, …) rather than exchange kiosks as the exchange ratio is more favorable in a regular bank. Moreover, financial institutions post their exchange rates outside so you will be able to compare their ratio to the ratios applied by the exchange kioks. Use only exchange kiosks as a last resort as they will rip you off.

When changing your money, ensure that you get loose change as it will be very useful if for example you have to use public transportation. As a safety measure, keep always the change in a different location than large notes.

Bank opening hours in Spain are Monday to Friday from 9am to 2pm.

For those of you using American Express, there is an AM office in the city centre (Paseo de Gracia 101. Phone: 93 217 0070) that opens from Monday to Friday (9:30 to 18h) and on Saturday from 10-12.

Tourism in Barcelona

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Catalan Cuisine

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Big football night – F.C. Barcelona vs Manchester United

Currency exchange – How and Where

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