Barcelona

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itsonlymoney

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Got Two days in Barcelona next week. Staying in "Business area" apparently. How far to coast / marina's from here.

Ian



<hr width=100% size=1>I'd rather have a bad day boatin, than a good day workin ! ! !
 
All very close. Best hotel is Arts, right by Port Olympic, and less than 10min cab from old port, port veil But wherever you are staying, coast and marinas are 10min cab only. A good plan is go to port veil first, restaurants alongside. Then go to Port Olympico, the strip of bars gets going at midnight and carry on for hours.

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Yes yes, go to Port Olympico. Don't bother going to port vell - it's all secure so can't meander along the boats at all.

Food is best at le Tunnel in port olimpico - eat lunch upstairs in nice and not megaexpensive (we took kids, so not daunting) with good views of sea and beach all around, very smart. If warm enough then downstairs runs till late. This is the only resturant I have been to anywhere where everything was so jolly good i decided to restart the entire meal again.

We went to barcelona in november once - weather can be quite decent and sunny.

If you are bit of a football head (and even if not) then cabs are cheap so you can go to the Nou Camp home of FC Barcelona where there are crowds of 6000 on non-match days cos the museum etc is essenetially a big list of all good footie players. Incredible stadium towers around and almost over the pitch.

There is the daft half-finisshed cathedral Sagrada Familia, nice photo, otherwise sort of not worth going in really cos it's a building site. Get back in the cab and go to the Nou Camp. The Ramblas main street is a bit run down, good place to get mugged. Also the zoo is crap. Yup, Port Olimpico is the place to be.

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We found cabs good but watch out for after 9pm where it can vary from a fixed €15 anywhere to a reasonalbe €7 or so to the business area. The fountain to music is a must at 9:30pm an devery 30 minutes.

Totally do not agree with TCM about the Zoo - we spent the day there will our two children and had a great time. Ramblas is not run down - or at least it wasn't last month and is perfectly safe if your watch your pockets and take obviuos precations you do in any big city.

As far as the "daft half-finisshed cathedral Sagrada Familia" - go and see it , at least you can decide for yourself, we are not mega cultural but it has to be admired and when you learn the reasons for it being half finished you can appreciate it.

We stayed in the business area and tried the underground metro - its not airconditioned and the taxis are cheaper.

Have a good trip
Simon

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rioting about Barcelona

Fair enough, I admit to being a bit black and white.

BUT

Barcelona zoo seems to keep animals that are more miserable that in San Diego or London, and that's saying something. For a really decent zoo with happy animals, visit Doué in the Loire Valley, quite fantastic in comparison with concretey Barcelona - though agreed most kids will think any zoo is fine.

I did mention the Sagrada Familale - yeah, of course go and see it. It's half finished cos Gaudi got run over by a truck and died, and then all the architectural plans that existied (other than those in his head) got burnt in the civil war, in 1936. But I'm afraid that this excuse must be wearing a bit thin by now, surely - even for very very lazy Spanish types? "Ooh, sorry I'm late painting the spare room, but you see, the Romans stayed on in Britain for sevral hundred years lionger than planned, and then my grandad was a bit caught up in the War, rather delaying my birth". Either way, the thing is better viewed from the outside, and erm, well, not bad, quite wacky and majestic.

Finally, the Ramblas is more run down than it was, and even on an absolute scale it's not exactly swish. You can buy porn, nasty fast food, and some shops are boarded up, and the planning dept hasn't caught up with thos places with aircon units on the fronts of some buildings, and you aren';t drawn into many if any of the shops as you would be on other main streets like Champs Elysees or even Regent Street. It's not as nice as almost any street in Paris for example, tho it does have a nice statue of columbus at the bottom.

It's a matter of taste I suppose. For example, I stayed about 30 minutes in Haslar before realising it is a souless godforsaken parking lot, so went off somewhere else, but I understand that some people actually visit the place on purpose - by choice even - and some even stay overnight! Yes! Imagine that!

Ah well, each to their own :-)

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Pity you missed Nautico 2003, the Barcelona Boat Show. (Ended on 9th Nov this year.)

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