Short Break in Barcelona: Barcelona is a ‘must visit’ destination so the opportunity to experience a weekend winter’s getaway combined with an invitation to stay at the glamorous Cotton House Hotel was too good to turn down. It’s a city you would need to spend a few weeks in to really get underneath its skin but […]
Colonia Guell, a Gaudi UNESCO town in Catalonia
Colonia Guell – Catalonia: Just 25 kilometres inland from Barcelona, Colonia Guell is a UNESCO heritage colony town and is a working example of Antoni Gaudi’s architecture and Catalan Modernism design. Colony towns were modelled on the British industrial towns model, as the Industrial Revolution swept all across Europe. Eusebio Guell moved his textile factory to […]
Jet Set Sail – Inaugural Trip
Starting in Style with Jet Set Sail from Celebrity Cruises: Everyone I know looks forward to their holidays. And, everyone I know dreads actually getting there. Even if you are travelling business class or first class, you still have to get to the airport, fight your way through the crowds to check-in and then go […]
Calçotades and Cava – a day trip to the Penedès
Calçotada – Catalan tradition in the Penedès with Vilarnau: It is that time of year when I ache for a little sunshine. Accepting an invitation to a calçotada at the Vilarnau winery in search of Spanish sunshine turned out to be overly optimistic. The temperature, even up on the hills of the Penedès region, was […]
Cavalicious Tastings – #barcelonaesmoltmes
The Cava Connection – Barcelona Es Molt Mes: I have a particular love of sparkling wines. And, while champagne will probably always be top of my wish-list, I’m really partial to a chilled glass of Cava – Spain’s own method champagnoise wine. About 95% of all cava is produced in Penedès area of Catalonia to the […]
Costa Barcelona – Food, Nature and Activities by the Sea
Barcelona – There’s Much More: What springs to mind for you when someone mentions Barcelona? Food from the Boqueria, the wonderful Gaudi architecture that is everywhere in the city, the beach, the galleries and museums, the tapas bars… Or donkey riding? Sometimes I DO think I’m turning into Bridget Jones. First a boot camp in […]
A Hidden Gem in Barcelona – The Museum of Contemporary Art
Travels with my God-Daughter – The Museum of Contemporary Art – Barcelona: Although I’ve used the term before, along with ‘cobbled streets’ and ‘azure skies’, ‘hidden gem’ sits in my writer’s dictionary as a turn of phrase to use with the utmost caution. I’ve checked back over articles on here and elsewhere and discovered I […]
Barcelona – a City Break
Barcelona or Bust: One of the advantages of being London based is that it’s very easy to travel to mainland Europe. I spent several years taking the earliest flight or train out of London to Europe to be in Paris, Amsterdam or Brussels for business meetings at 11am on a Monday morning, and at that […]