1. Price: For the price of the worst hostel of the city (20-25 Euro per person), you can get (if you look for it) a real 5 star apartment.
2. Intimity: Having your own apartment let you enjoy the city as a real Barcelonian, without having to explain when or why to any receptionist
3. Space: Normally an apartment have around 5 times more space than a hotel room. You can have a living room, kitchen, terrace, depending on what you find.
4. Saving: You dont need to expend around 100 Euros per day in food, beverages, breakfast, lunch and dinner at restaurants
5. fun: If you are travelling with kits, or with frinds, it is much fun to enjoy all together in the same apartment

So, what is the problem? Basically the problem is that there are many companies not “very” professional. What  does it mean? Many companies that you can find online they just represent the owners and get a commission over the total amount. They dont control anything else. Therfore, your vacation is on the hands of an owner, that owns just one apartment, and probably it will be himself the one cleaning, doing the check-in, check-out, etc… BE CAREFUL WITH THOSE AGENCIES THAT JUST SELL APARTMENTS, because normally there are just comisionists. We recommend to book apartments in websites as Hotelenia.com, Booking.com, etc, where you will find hotels and aparments. In this websites they dont allow particulars to show they apartments and therfore, the apartments there are much more professional.

Find here the website we recommend for apartments in Barcelona

1. Location
2. Stars

We recommend to choose a hotel in the center. Barcelona is quite small city, and dont think that the center is just Ramblas. We recommend to stay in Ramblas, but also in the Eixample or the Villa Olimpica. From these areas you can reach each other by foot, which is the most important when visiting this city.

Average prices you might find (for a double room) in the center of Barcelona:

1 star hotels: 45 Euros

2 star hotels: 60 Euros

3 star hotels: 85 Euros

4 star hotels: 110 Euros

5 star hotels: 150 Euros

We recommend a website for Barcelona Hotels reservations: Hotelenia.com

It is easy to see that there are cheaper cities than Barcelona. However, in Barcelona there is another cheaper posibility to sleep. We are talking about short term apartments. There is a huge offer of apartments, from high quality to real rubbish. If you are a little careful, you can find a very good accommodation for just 25 Euro per person and night. For this price you can find an authentich 5 star quality tourist apartment.

Check here for high quality Barcelona apartments at real good prices at Hotelenia.com

There are 9 cruise terminals in Barcelona. All of them are situated in the Old Port or close to it. It is situated at the end of Las Ramblas. From there you can take a bus shuttle that stops in every terminal.

Cruise Terminal A

Adossat wharf

Services
- Police - Immigration
- Metal detectors
- X-Rays machines
- Air conditioning
- Public telephones (Cash/Visa payment)
- Foreign exchange
- Duty free shops
- Souvenir shops
- Delivery service
- Bar - restaurant
- Parking area for buses
- Shuttle bus to city buses
- Taxi rank

Terminal B

Adossat wharf

Terminal B has a total of 6,500 sqm., which are divided in two main areas: check-in and  luggage claiming area. It is designed with last requirements concerning security, comfort, fast processing operations and image, and it is equipped with 2 wharf gangways and 4 luggage conveyor belts.

Distance to city: 2 km.

Services
- Police - Immigration
- Metal detectors
- X-Rays machines
- 2 passanger gangways
- 4 luggage conveyors
- Air conditioning
- Public telephones (Cash/Visa payment)
- Foreign exchange
- Duty free shops
- Souvenir shops
- Bar - restaurant
- Parking area for buses
- Shuttle bus to city centre
- Taxi rank

Terminal C

Adossat wharf

Distance to city: 2,5 km.

Services
- Police - Immigration
- Metal detectors
- X-Rays machines
- Air conditioning
- Public telephones (Cash/Visa payment)
- Foreign exchange
- Duty free shops
- Souvenir shops
- Bar - restaurant
- Parking area for buses
- Shuttle bus to city centre
- Taxi rank

Terminal D – Palacruceros

Adossat wharf

The Palacruceros is a state-of the-art facility of almost 10.000 sqm in twomain floors designed by Luigi vicini and Andrea Piazza. Amongst its services, it is to enhance the VIP lounge, the Children’s room, a shopping center, the Palacafé with its wonderful sea view “terrasse” or the Internet Point.

Distance to city: 2,5 km

Services
- Police - Immigration
- Metal detectors
- X-Rays machines
- Air conditioning
- Public telephones (Cash/Visa payment)
- Foreign exchange
- Duty free shops
- Souvenir shops
- Bar - restaurant – terrasse
- Internet point
- Children’s room
- Crew members room
- Parking area for buses
- Shuttle bus to city centre
- Taxi rank

Terminals North and South

Barcelona wharf

These two international terminals are on the Barcelona wharf, with a total of  824 meters of berthing line and are part of the World Trade Center, a State-of-the-Art business centre located at the Barcelona wharf.

The North Terminal is prepared to give service to one medium sized vessel andthe South Terminal can receive two ships, the biggest one as long as 253 meters. The additional mooring space on the eastern side of the quay can beused by either Terminal Nord or Terminal Sud. Both terminals are sited at sucha proximity to the city centre that tourists can walk to Colon Square in 5 minutes.

Distance to city: 400 m

Services
- Police - Immigration
- Metal detectors
- X-Rays machines
- 2 passenger gangways
- Luggage conveyors
- Air conditioning
- Public telephones (Cash/Visa payment)
- Foreign exchange
- Duty free shops
- Souvenir shops
- Parking area for buses
- Taxi rank

Terminal M – Port Vell

Espanya wharf

In Espanya wharf there is Terminal M–Port Vell, situated in the Maremàgnum Barcelona leisure area. It is the smallest Terminal and provides service to vessels with smaller capacities and lengths.

Distance to city: 400 m

Services
- Air conditioning
- Public telephones (Cash/Visa payment)
- Souvenir shops
- Bars, restaurants and coffee places
- Lifts and escalators
- Shuttle bus to city centre
- Nearby access to metropolitan public transports network
- Taxi rank
- Other advantages: cinema, l’Aquarium Barcelona, IMAX Barcelona, etc

Terminal T

Sant Bertran wharf

This ferry terminal is provided with all the necessary equipment to serve cruise lines operations with the highest standards of security. Its use is sometimes required when the season gets very busy and basically to transit operations.

Distance to city: 400 m.

Services
- Air conditioning
- Public telephones (Cash/Visa payment)
- Souvenir shops
- Bar - restaurant
- Lifts and escalators
- Nearby access to metropolitan public transports network
- Taxi rank

Terminal Z – Drassanes

Barcelona wharf

Only on occasional situations this ferry terminal is used for cruise ships. It fulfills with security requirements.

Services
- Air conditioning
- Public telephones (Cash/Visa payment)
- Bar - restaurant
- Lifts and escalators
- Nearby access to metropolitan public transports network
- Taxi rank

Barcelona views from the Cable Cab

The experience to fly over Barcelona from the ancien cable car is a unique experience that nobody should miss

What is it?…

CABLE?

The journey of the cable car takes about 5 minutes on each cabin and fit 19 people, the average frequency of each step of cable car is 10 minutes, less if there is something even many people waiting.

The cable car you can take at one end: Torre de San Sebastian (Barcelona) and Miramar (mountain)

Try the best “tapas” at the Boqueria Market

What is it?…

The Number 1 most popular Tourist Attraction in Barcelona!

What is it?…

Sagrada Família, or the Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família to use the official Catalan name, is a huge Temple, of Roman Catholic denomination, that was designed by the world renowned architect Antonio Gaudi (1852 – 1926).

Gaudi’s work has become one of the main cultural attractions of the city and has been declared an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Gaudi worked on this impressive building for over 40 years, entirely devoting the last 15 years of his life to the construction of the temple. Since then, different architects have continued the work based on his original ideas.

The project, begun in 1882, continues to this day, and, what is more, it is thought they have upwards of 30 years left to go.

The funding of Sagrada Família is totally private and comes solely from private donations and the money raised from the entrance fees paid by over two million visitors each year.

Definitely worth a visit.

Where is it?…

Calle Mallorca, 08034, Barcelona

How do I get there?…

Easiest is generally by metro. Alight at Sagrada Familia on the Blue Line (L5) and Purple Line (L2).

When can I go?…

The opening hours are:

October-March From 9.00 to 18.00

April-September From 9.00 to 20.00

25 and 26 December, 1 and 6 January From 9.00 to 14.00

No tickets will be sold after fifteen minutes before closing time.

How much does it cost?…

GENERAL	€10,00
SPECIAL Groups (+20 people) / Youth card / Retired / Students / Under 18	€8,00
REDUCED Bus Turístic / Barcelona Card / Ruta del Modernisme	€9,00
FREE Friends of the Church / Children under 12 / Disabled (65 %) + 1 accompanying person	€0.00
COMBINED TICKET (Sagrada Familia + Gaudí House-Museum)
GENERAL	12,00 €
SPECIAL Retired / Students /Under 18	10,00 €

Admission charges ONLY include admission to the church. All services are charged separately.

Prices were correct at the time of writing, entrance fees will be updated in July 2009.

For more information…

Visit the official website: http://www.sagradafamilia.cat/sf-eng/index.php

What is it?…

Barcelona Aquarium or L’Aquàrium de Barcelona, makes a great day out for the whole family, little and er..not so little kids alike.

Specializing in Mediterranean sea-life, the Aquarium boasts over 30 tanks, 11,000 animals with 450 different species, an 80m long underwater tunnel and the only Oceanarium in Europe. And, as if that wasn’t enough they also have a cafeteria and L’aquarium shop.

Where is it?…

Moll d’ Espanya del Port Vell, 08039, Barcelona.
Tel: (0034) 93 221 7474

How do I get there?..

Closest metro is Drassanes (Green Line, L3) but Barceloneta isn’t too far away either (Yellow Line, L4).

If you want to go by bus, you can take: 14, 17, 19, 36, 38, 40, 45, 57, 59, 64, 91, 157.

When can I go?…

Open all year round

Monday to Friday 09:30 until 21:00

Weekends and Public Holidays:

June and September 09:30 until 21:00

July and August 09:30 until 23:00

Ticket offices open until one hour before closing.

How much does it cost?…

Adults: 16,50 €
Children (age 4 to 12): 11,50 €
Adults over 60: 13 €

Save 10% on the entrance fee to the aquarium with the Barcelona Card

For more information…

Visit the official website: http://www.aquariumbcn.com/AQUARIUM/index.php

BARCELONA MODERNISM

THE TIME OF SPECTACULAR EXPERIMENTATION

The city of Barcelona offers the contemporary  visitor very complex sensations.Past and present merge into  a whole that is at once  attractive and intriguing. Here Barcelona architecture expresses a joyous vitality, particularly the architecture of the turn of the century and some contemporary creations.
The fervour of Catalan Art Nouveau- that Modernism that turnet Barcelona into one of the capital cities of European art at the beginning of the century- has been taken up again in a contemporary counter movement whose affirmation is linked with the rise of Interiorism, an aesthetic movement of the 1980s and 90s. These two movements seem to posess surprising similitarities.

The Catalan rebirth often reminiscent of the atmosphere of spectacular experimentation generated by the Modernists.

It should be pointed out that this term Modernism took root against the wishes of the architects and artists concerned, by association with a group of writers and poets working under that name ,anavant garde which was close to the ideas of the Italian Futurist Manifesto that came a few years later. The architect and historian Josep Pi i Cadafalch, in particular, voiced his reservation about that extrapolation around 1905. The stated aim to be modern struck him as shared to some extent by both groups , however, he drew a critical distinction in terms of their attitude to history: whereas the literary group called for a total break with the past, Barcelona’s architects and artists intended to take it fully into account, exercising freedom in mixing together elements from that was stock as they pleased. Puig put forward another name ‘The Barcelona School’ but the works concerned were already known as modernist.

ANTONI GAUDI (Barcelona, 1852-1926)

Antoni Gaudi (1852 -1926) created a style of architecture that has been classified as “art nouveau” by some and “modernism” by others.

Gaudi was an architect with an innate sense of geometry and volume, as well as a great imagination that allowed mentally projecting the majority of his works before passing to the drawings. In fact, rarely performed detailed drawings of their works; preferred recreate on three-dimensional models, shaping every detail was thought about as mentally. On other occasions, was improvising on the fly, giving instructions to his staff about what they had to do.

Equipped with a strong intuition and creative ability, Gaudí conceived his buildings in a holistic manner, taking both the structural solutions such as functional and decorative. Looked to the smallest detail of his creations, integrating architecture in a variety of handicrafts that dominated himself to perfection: ceramics, glass, iron forging, carpentry, and so on. It also introduced new techniques in the treatment of materials, such as his famous “trencadís” made with scrap pieces of pottery.

After some early influenced by the neo-Gothic art, as well as certain trends orientalizantes, Gaudi led to Modernism in its period of greatest upheaval, between the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. However, the architect Reus was beyond the orthodox modernism, creating a personal style based on observation of nature, the result of which he was using geometric forms regulated, as the hyperbolic paraboloids, the hiperboloide, the helicoidal and conoid.

The architecture of Gaudi is marked by a strong personal stamp, characterized by the search for new structural solutions, which achieved after a lifetime devoted to analysis of the optimal structure of the building, built into their surroundings and remain a synthesis of all the arts and offices. Through the study and practice of new and original solutions, Gaudí’s work will culminate in an organic style, inspired by nature, but without losing the experience from previous styles, creating an architectural work that is a perfect symbiosis of tradition and innovation. Also, his work is marked by the big four who were his passions in life: architecture, nature, religion and love for Catalonia. [2]

Gaudí’s work has achieved over the years a wide international circulation, with countless studies devoted to his understanding of architecture. Today is much admired by professionals as by the public at large: Sagrada Familia is now one of the most visited monuments in Spain. [3] Between 1984 and 2005 seven of his works have been regarded as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

For a fuller acquaintance with the architecture of the Barcelona School in some of its more significant aspects, one should begin with a brief introduction to some of the creators who have left the deepest stamp on these two periods, while bearing in mind that they were in many cases the spokesmen for a sensibility that was shared by their disciples, asistants and colleagues.

ANTONI GAUDI I CORNET (1852-1926), the best  known of the Barcelona’s Modernists, served his apprenticeship with Fontseré, though, from the outset, he was clearly a frevent admirer of Elias Rogent. His mature works lent a spectacular twist to Modernism, displaying a highly personal creativity that often leaves any stylistic affinities far behind. Over the first period of his working life, Mudéjar influences are evidence(despite his being a devout Catholic), along with certain fragments from the architectural language of Mackinstosh, who was prominent in Britain’s Modern Style. Over the second part of Gaudi’s creative life, his buildings became the materialization of a complex vision in which quasi organic sculptural tectonics were the domonant note.
Gaudi’s best known work are Güell Palace (1886-1888), Casa Batlló(1904-1906), Casa Mila(1906-1910),  Guell Park(1900-1914), and of course the unfinished Sagrada Familia church(1883-1926), in which he lived from 1914 until his death.

Gaudi’s solitary life style, steming from an evolutive mystic fervour, helped to create an image of Gaudi as an artiste maudit. Gaudi’s life and work find their place in the romantic tradition.
Gaudi has a good number of disciples: his work with Jusol stands out, though Francesc Berenguer and César Martinell, who were themeselves responsible for remarkable works, were also to be found working with him.

La Font Magica is big system of fountains. In Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 19:00 Winter, and 21:00 Summer there is a magnificent lights, water and music show that you must not miss. It is awesome. If you come here during the day, you can visit Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC) or go to the Anella Olímpica (place where Olympic games were held in 1992).

The Magic Fountain of Montjuic (Magic Fountain of Montjuic), or simply called Font de Montjuïc (Fountain of Montjuic), is located on the Avenida Maria Cristina, in Montjuïc (Barcelona). They are the core element of a set of lighting and water that develops around the axis from the Palau Nacional until the Spanish Steps, which includes waterfalls and ponds and, at bottom, bright rows of columns on both sides of Avenue, now replaced by similar proportions of illuminated fountains and keeping more senzillo.

It was built for the Universal Exhibition of 1929 by Carles Buigas in the place where the Four Columns were located by Josep Puig i Cadafalch toppled in 1928.

The construction work lasted less than a year.

In the 80s he joined the music, and shortly before the 1992 Olympics will be completely restored.

Parc de la Ciutadella is very beautiful park. There is quite big Zoo in the park, the old building of the Catalan government, castle Castel dels Tres Dragons, artificial lake and a magnificent fountain. If you come here with your girl friend rent a boat at the lake or ask your boyfriend to rent one (it is about 2 Euros per person for 30min). Near the park is the Picasso museum so that you can visit it, too. From here you can continue to Arc de Triomf