Spain Help

[Lovetocruisefar]

I booked Epic, with a balcony. Arriving in Barcelona, a few days early. First time on Norwegian, and first time in Spain. I booked a hotel in Barcelona at AC Hotel Victoria Suites and I also have a room booked at Hilton Barcelona

Avenida Diagonal. Any advice on either of these hotels and the areas??

 

Can anyone also give me suggestions on thing to do for the two days ill be in Barcelona Pre-cruise?

Thanks all

[HBINLA]

We stayed at The Pulitzer Hotel very close to the Plaka. Great hotel with superb staff.

The Picasso museum was incredible, if you enjoy that sort of thing.

Enjoy.

Loved Barcelona. We did the same thing you are planning on doing.

 

 

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[EnricM]

... I should point out that Plaka is a neighbourhood... in Athens (Greece) :)

[EnricM]

Btw... HBINLA is referring to Plaça de Catalunya, at the heart of Barcelona

 

I know English speakers tend to shorten common language, a friend of mine from Seattle she says that is because "we're lazy", LOL!.... but you should know that this is a very bad practice when you're referring to sites and places elsewhere abroad as you often make no sense when you're shortening without rhyme or reason. The word "plaça", pronounced like 'plaza' in English, is Catalan -the local language in Catalonia and its capital Barcelona- for 'square'. Given that there are literally hundreds of squares in Barcelona, it makes no sense someone referring to a square like 'square', as the obvious question is: which one? This might lead to confusion, or worst, ending up on the other side of town when giving wrong directions to a taxi driver for example. This not only happens with the generic words (street, square, avenue, etc) but also with the names. As a sample: take the word Àngel (Catalan for, well, the same than in English, 'angel'), in the city we have a street, an avenue, a square and a passage, all using the word Àngel or Àngels (plural)... not using the full name (Plaça dels Àngels, Portal de l'Àngel, Carrer dels Àngels, etc.) will most likely lead to confusion to anyone you ask. And note that all of those places are not precisely next to each other!

 

Another flagrant case that many English-speakers fail to grasp: Sagrada Família... please do not shorten, there's no short name or nickname for this place, it should be referred to as Sagrada Família. Period. And it has nothing to do with being respectful because it's a religious building or anything of that sort, no, it's a far more prosaic reason: the word 'sagrada' is Catalan for 'sacred', so it's a generic word and the word 'família', well, you probably guess, right? So referring about 'sagrada' is like say being in NY and using 'saint' to refer to Saint Patrick's, it wouldn't make any sense, would it? And yes, it so happens the generic word 'sacred' also appears in several other buildings in the city, so back to my previous paragraph...

 

For this reason, I always recommend NEVER shorten a foreign name unless you know pretty damn well what you're doing. Surely we do shorten our names as well, but we do so, if I may, "with rhyme and reason", so unless you know how's done, I advise against doing it. Just sayin'... and no, this ain't a scolding, just some friendly advice, so you don't end up lost :)

 

Enjoy!

Edited January 24, 2018 by EnricM

[HBINLA]

My sincere apologies - I meant “Las Ramblas” which is a major street running through the center of Barcelona.

For some reason, my feeble mind typed “La Plaka” which is an area in Athens!

Sorry for the confusion. The Pulitzer Hotel IS in Barcelona.

 

 

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[FionaMG]

Can anyone also give me suggestions on thing to do for the two days ill be in Barcelona Pre-cruise?

 

Highly recommend the free Gothic Quarter walking tour by Runner Bean tours. It's a great introduction to the city. You do have to book in advance on their website but you only pay a tip to the guide at the end of the tour.

 

https://runnerbeantours.com/

[EnricM]

Apologies HBINLA if my post was misunderstood, I wasn't intending anything else but to take the opportunity of the confusion to explain why it's best to use full names. You see, I come across this issue quite often on the forums and I try to gradually 'educate' (lol!) my foreign friends here online so when visiting they always get exactly to where they want to go.

[EnricM]

+1 on runnerbeantours.com, they're local and they come highly recommended. They offer several tours, some free some not, and also private tours but only in Barcelona. They do focus on what they do best.

[HBINLA]

Apologies HBINLA if my post was misunderstood, I wasn't intending anything else but to take the opportunity of the confusion to explain why it's best to use full names. You see, I come across this issue quite often on the forums and I try to gradually 'educate' (lol!) my foreign friends here online so when visiting they always get exactly to where they want to go.

 

 

 

No problem!

 

 

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