3 Cities for the New year - City Breaks

The New Year will soon be here and everyone will be thinking about City Breaks. Being here in Barcelona we certainly would put Barcelona in the top 3. talking to the other writers of this blog, our top 3 is:

• Barcelona (of course :)
• Paris
• Venice

Why Barcelona, Paris and Venice?
Barcelona: Apart from where we live and love, there is so much to do and see in Barcelona regardless of the weather. In the winter months when you want to take a short-break, Barcelona thus offers a great place. Visit Gaudi's museums, go shopping, sit and read a book in a cafe.

Paris: Similarly, Paris (and London also come to that) offers so much to do and see especially in terms of museums and galleries. In the colder weather you there is plenty to do indoors.

Venice: More of an outdoors place but in the colder months it is far less crowded than in summer time and nothing is more romantic than a hot steaming cup of coffee in the the winter months in St.Mark's Square.
You can check flights with airlines such as Ryanair.

The La Tamborrada Festival

Come join in the fun when thousands of people get together for one of Spains largest festivals.
The La Tamborrada Festival on the streets of San Sebastian, Spain

This Festival, also known as the ¨midnight to midnight¨festival, is one of the largest held in Spain, but also the shortest and most intense.

The day of San Sebastian, 20th January, the citizens of San Sebastian celebrate the feast of their patron saint in style. For 24 hours, day and night, the sound of drums can be heard throughout the city. Nearly 11,500 adults, men and women, and 4,600 children, dressed as soldiers, cooks or water carriers take to the streets with their respective music group.

With Uniformed marchers, parading the streets of San Sebastian, representing their own societies. Un like other cultural events, the La Tamborrada, is the way the people celebrate their culture and take pride in a tradition that dates back 1720.

This festival is not only for the Spanish people of San Sebastian, but every year thousands of visitors join in with their own drums and barrels, and other festive activities .

Come and bring your drums, and be part of one the largest traditional events held in Spain.

Festes de la Merce - Barcelona

Living in Barcelona for about 7 months I can surely say that Barcelona is a city of hundreds various faces. Designed to serve every need of tourists it combines the main commercial attractions without losing its origin and abundance of culture.

The “Festes de la Merce” is an amazingly interesting annual festival that is unique for Barcelona and takes place on September 24th. In those days the inhabitants of the capital of Catalonia celebrate the day of their patron, the Virgin de la Merce.

Many events from 22nd leading up to 24th are the result of their pride in their ancestry. They include the parade of the giants when a procession through the streets is made up for giant wooden figures as well as sport events, musical performances and fantastic firework. There is no better occasion to introduce oneself to Cava ... Catalonia's very own champagne!

One highlight are the human towers typical for Catalonia and the competition between the different groups of them. I would recommend you to go to “Placa de Sant Jaume” where the participants in traditional costumes (“castellers”) climb on top of each other until they can hold no more. Those human towers often reach a level of eight people!

To make sure you are not going to miss the main events go to the tourist information office above Plaza Catalunya (opposite Corte Inglés) and take a flyer so that you will know exactly where and when everything is taking place. This festival is a unique chance to discover Barcelona’s original side!

Barcelona is Gaudí!

Born in 1852 as a son of a coppersmith who suffered from a rheumatic illness, what caused the inability to play with other boys, Antonio Gaudí developed an impressing eye for nature and its forms.

If you are planning to do a trip to Barcelona you will be surprised that this huge city is pockmarked with many masterpieces of this unique architect. Some of them are hidden by the noisy life and the high buildings of Barcelona, but still they are an eye catcher for everybody that passes the way from the famous “Plaza Catalunya” up the northern part of Barcelona.

To visit all of them you would need to stay at least 2 days. Not just because there are lots of other tourists that have the same objective; no, you will realize after a few minutes that you can find in every corner something new and unique. With its strong influence of nature and the stunningly adorable variety of shapes and forms “Gaudí’s Barcelona” is to be considered as one of most beautiful cities in the world.

I will give you a short recommendation for how to divide your stay to nit get overwhelmed by the amazing ambience of Gaudí’s masterwork:

Day 1 in Barcelona:

• Start journey at “Plaza Catalunya” (not too late; other tourists!)
• Enjoy the walk along “Passeig de Gracía” and you will find after 5 minutes the first master piece of Gaudí, Casa Batlló.
• Continue strolling on the Barcelona Broadway (how I call “Passeig de Gracía” J) where all the famous designer settled down and after 10 minutes you will have (my favorite) Casa Milá, “La Pedrera” (“The stone pit”) to your right. Here you will not only be able get a very close experience of Gaudí’s work, you can also buy tickets for miscellaneous events on its top. We have been there for a jazz night. Awesome!
• If you still have time and you feel beauty take the metro to “Sagrada Familia”. This huge and very impressing cathedral is still under construction, but REALLY worth to see. Half Gaudí, half modernism and a fantastic view over all Barcelona from its top.

Day 2 in Barcelona:

• Take all the time you need to visit “Parc Güell”!!! You will need a lot of time to see everything, BUT take it and enjoy a cold beer or ice cream in the unique ambience that one of the most ingenious virtuosos of architecture has created and you will assume that “Antonio Gaudí is Barcelona”.

Trips from Barcelona: Diving in Ibiza

Diving isn’t generally on the list of activities when you go to Ibiza but for as little as 30 euros, The Sea Horse Sub-Aqua Center at Playa Ports des Torrent can take you to the Cala d’Hort Marine natural reserve to enjoy some of the best diving in the Mediterranean Sea. I went diving there a few weeks ago and loved it and found crew there to be very kind and helpful so its one place I'd recommend for diving in Spain.

With up to 35 meters of visibility, the water is some of the clearest around the island. You can swim around caves and colourful canyons looking for morays and conger eels while admiring the beautiful sponges and coral.

Courses for as little as 55 euros are also on offer so if you fancy doing something else than sitting around drinking margaritas, go pay them a visit. http://www.seahorsedivingibiza.com/ +34 971 346 438

For flights to Ibiza from Barcelona try Clickair. You can also learn more about summer jobs in Ibiza online.

Whilst in Ibiza, make sure also to allow a day to take the ferry to Formentura and for 2 days in Palma de Mallorca if you possibly can. These islands are also worth spending a day or two in, to get the full benefit of being in the Balearic Islands.

Irish Pubs Barcelona

The Irish pubs are a well known bars over the world. Also in Barcelona there are over 20 of these bars. Each one with its own style and concept, but all Irish pubs have something in common: the screening of sporting events and British and imported beers.

Playing an important social role, both in the urban areas and the workers' zones of Ireland and GB, the public houses can be traced back to medieval times. They were, afterwards, transplanted to America, when and where , the largest immigrant communities settled down. The Irish Pubs nowadays has become a meeting point for the English speaking people, foreigners and tourists from all origins.

In many of the Irish Pubs there is live music, but mostly only from Monday until Friday, the Flann O'Brien Irish Pub therefore offers live music on Friday and Saturdays from 11.30 PM.

There are so many of the Irish pubs in Barcelona it is hard to say which one is the best. You can find more information on the Michael Collins Irish pub in Barcelona and Flaherty's Irish Bar for a list of their live gigs. Learn more about holiday rentals in the Eixample, Barcelona area.

Can there be a main city in the world without an irish pub? If there is, then it is not a city I have been to because in some corner there is always somewhere to buy a guinness.

Frequent flyer program Vueling

There are a lot of frequent flyer programs out there, but not so many for low budget airlines. Vueling thereby has a program called Punto. And like other frequent flyer programs you will receive points which can be exchanged into free flights.

You will receive 1 point by booking and purchasing a flight for every €2 paid. After you collected 500 points you get a one-way ticket for free and a return ticket requires 1000 points. You will also receive points by using a gift voucher, using your Vueling Visa or by booking a car. The points will expire after three years, but if you not added any points within a year they will also expire.

So if you are a frequent flyer in Europe from or to Spain, I would consider joining the program which you can easily subscribe to online. Once you have signed up for Vueling, why not then also book your Barcelona, Rome or Paris accommodation.

Contributor: Symon Oevering

Parque de la Ciutadella, in Barcelona

During the weekends families, students, couples and seniors seem to meet in the Parque de la Ciutadella in order to celebrate life. As soon as the sun comes out and it is getting warm, you can see fathers playing football with their sons, little girls running over the playground and old men playing Petanca.

Couples are lying in the grass, students sitting under the streets, presumably studying, and others juggle with pins and balls accompanied by musicians playing their instruments and singing their songs.

In a different place young people learn dancing salsa and right next to them some women gather together exchanging cooking recipes. You can also take a rowing boat enjoying the sun on the water or sit down and have a coffee watching over the events.

If you need a relaxing place in Barcelona where you can be just yourself, the Parque de la Ciutadella is the right spot for you.
- By Jette Winkler