The Spanish and the Salsa in Barcelona

Would you like to have a holiday in Barcelona, but you have seen the sights of Barcelona already and is it time for something new?

Think of a Spanish language course in combination with salsa lessons. For almost everyone it is possible to learn the Spanish language and to learn salsa dancing. Especially with a sense of language and feeling for rhythm it cannot be a problem. There is made a program per week. The program for each week is as follows; you will receive 20 Spanish lessons and 5 Salsa lessons.

With this high frequency of lessons you will progress quickly. You have Spanish classes in the morning or in the evening from Monday to Friday. In this way you have enough time to explore the city or go to the beach. You get 1 Salsa lesson per day from Monday to Friday and you have at least two times per week the opportunity to practice your salsa dance in one of the many salsa clubs in Barcelona. During the salsa lessons, you will change regularly from dance partner so you learn to know your classmates better. If you do enjoy dance, you might perhaps also enjoy trying bellydance in Spain.

The duration of 1 Spanish lesson if you choose salsa is 50 minutes. The duration of 1 salsa lesson is 60 minutes. The accommodation where you stay is your choice, ranging from a guest family to a hotel room or apartment. Associated with these different types of accommodation, the catering is also varied from self-catering until 3 full meals per day. The price for a course in Spanish with salsa lessons, based on 1 week, is 380 euro.

Diving with sharks in Barcelona

The aquarium “L’Aquàrium Barcelona” is situated in the port of Barcelona. This attraction is suitable for young and old. Thousands of large and small fishes are swimming around in large basins. There are three water tanks. One is used for the ocean and can be seen in the Oceanarium. This basin includes 4 million liters of water. Two other tanks are devoted for the tropical waters and the Mediterranean Sea. There are special tunnels where you can walk through. You have the idea that you are really under water and that the fishes swim next to you.

Experienced divers can swim in the aquarium with sharks. But there are a couple of conditions. First of all, you must follow a course where you learn all about sharks and their behavior. After that you go into the basin and discover the 15 sharks who swimming around, a unique experience. Of course, you must be in good condition and take your diver license with you. The activity includes three parts.

Part one is a guided tour. You make a guided tour in L’Aquàrium Barcelona and see a lot of different sharks such as the black tip reef shark, the sandbar shark and the sand tiger shark. Part two is the theoretical class. The course has different parts in relation with the sharks and their behavior and habitats. Part three is the dive in the Oceanarium. After all the information about the sharks, their behavior and the rules for in the basin, you can make your dive and discover all the theory about the sharks in real. This is an unique experience.

This shark dive is only intended for qualified divers, the maximum number of people is 4 divers per dive. Only on Wednesdays and in the weekends you can make this dive. The price for this shark dive is Euro 300. This price includes the guided tour of L’Aquàrium de Barcelona, theoretical class on sharks, dive in the Oceanarium, diving equipment and material, souvenir of the activity, insurance and free entrance to L’Aquàrium for 2 people.

If you are travelling to Spain, ensure you have insurance for Barcelona.

25th birthday of Desigual, Barcelona.

For the people who have the idea go to Barcelona, there you can find the exclusive brand, Desigual. Desigual is a Catalan brand and has its 25th birthday this year.

Desigual stands for ‘be different’. The collection always has a playful touch and contains many original prints. Desigual has got many colors in the collection. The designs are very feminine and that is where the customers are looking for. Everyone chooses the pieces that fit the best in their personal style and that is perfectly possible in this large collection of Desigual.

This brand is very popular in Barcelona. In 2008, this Catalan brand won the ‘Mapic Eg Retail Award’ for the best retail concept of 2008. It is going very well with this brand. Desigual is for a couple of years already very well presented on the trendy fashion fair ‘Bread and Butter’. They have also opened store after store and so grow very fast. Recently, Desigual has also opened its first store in the Kalverstraat in Amsterdam. All the stores of Desigual are designed by local street artists.

What is so different on this brand in comparison with other brands?The different lies in the tops, designs, prints and in the combination of colors. In Belgium, where Desigual has also some retail points, the clothes are offered in stores with more than one brand. Desigual fits perfect in this picture, but knows how to create another view in relation with other brands.

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”.