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Some help and answers from a Barceloner


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BCNlady,

I hope you are still on the board. Can you or anyone recommend a good restaurant by the water for dinner. 10 years ago we had paella made with exactly only what we wanted in it somewhere there. Would like to take our friends to a nice place.

 

Thanks,

Joyce

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BCNlady- again, thank you for the great comments. Do you know anything about the Comfortel Auditori? Our TA made resrvations there for us in May. Are we at a convenient location? Is it a safe hote with a good reputation? It sems to be fairly new. Cardamon

 

FYI...

Here is a web link to your hotel:

http://www.confortelhoteles.com/html/en/hotel-confortel-auditori.php

 

The location is convenient and a short walk to the Plaza, Gaudi houses, and the major department store. It is about a 10-15 minute walk to Las Ramblas.

 

No comments on this specific hotel but the neighborhood is nice and I walk there at night.

 

Mike in Ohio

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  • 2 weeks later...

BCN Lady:

 

We will be staying in the Diagonal Mar area at a hotel for 2 nights. Can you tell me about that area? What is there to do right around there? How is the shopping center / restaurants ? Any stores that are "must do" or restaurants in the immedate area that you would recommend? How far is this from the Sagrada Familia? How far from Montserrat? Anything info about this area will be appreciated.

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I have a question about restaurant reservations---- are they necessary on a Saturday evening, or is it likely we could stroll around when we are ready and find a nice place with space?? I am a little worried about committing to a reservation since I don't know how we'll feel after an overnight flight and a day of sightseeing. Thanks for your advice on this! We'll be in Barcelona the weekend of June 7th.

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BCNlady,

I hope you are still on the board. Can you or anyone recommend a good restaurant by the water for dinner. 10 years ago we had paella made with exactly only what we wanted in it somewhere there. Would like to take our friends to a nice place.

 

Thanks,

Joyce

 

Emporator down by the marina. Great paella, great view, very nice service. We sat outside, but the indoor restaurant looked very nice also.

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I have a question about restaurant reservations---- are they necessary on a Saturday evening, or is it likely we could stroll around when we are ready and find a nice place with space?? I am a little worried about committing to a reservation since I don't know how we'll feel after an overnight flight and a day of sightseeing. Thanks for your advice on this! We'll be in Barcelona the weekend of June 7th.

 

Restaurants are busy on Saturday night although the Americans who like to eat early, like 9PM, can get an early table. When you leave at 11:30 to Midnight, most places will be packed.

 

If you just stroll to find a place and it is not busy, you take a risk it is not busy for a reason!

 

My suggestion is to have your hotel staff recommend something and call ahead. They have gotten me into good restaurants on Saturday night with an hour notice.

 

Mike

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Wow! I have enjoyed reading this thread! I am not going on a Mediterranean cruise, but I will be in Spain for 11 days (including Barcelona) and I have read so much interesting information! Thank you BCNLady and everyone else :)

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This is my first post.

First excuse me for my English, there's a long time I don't write, but anyway I wanted to give you some help as I have found lots of useful information for my next cruise on the Norwegian Jewel on July 30th.

I have tried to keep alltoguether your questions about my birth city.

I will give you some interesting links too.

The official tourist information:

www.catalunyaturisme.com then you can open BCN virtual.

 

CIGARS SHOPPING:

 

GIMENO: at the Ramblas 100, in front of the Boqueria market. Wonderful and historical. You can visit:

 

 

 

 

WINE SHOPPING:

CORTE iNGLES: you can try at the "club del gourmet" more exclusive or at the supermarket.

 

opens from 10:00 to 22:00.

 

You have three options:

 

-Plaça Catalunya

 

-Diagonal/Gran Via Carlos III (shopping bus line

 

or Maria Cristina metro stop line 3 green)

 

-Diagonal/plaça Francesc Macià (shopping bus line).

 

 

LAVINIA: spectacular and modern wine store on the Diagonal 605, just betwen Corte Inglés Diagonal and "La Illa" a good shopping center.

 

 

 

LAFUENTE/COLMADO QUILEZ

 

Ferran, 20 the street from the Ramblas to the

 

Town Hall square (Sant Jaume)

 

Rambla Catalunya 63, you will enjoy this one, lots of history.

 

9 to 14h and 16:30 to 20:30 h.

I hope this will help.

 

An alternative tour for those willing to do sommething with less crowd:

 

From Via Laietana/Jaume I square, take Argenteria st to the Santa Maria del Mar Churh, this is my favourite, Beatiful gothic style without barroque decorations inside, wich is extremly rare. You will find your spirit fly there. Take the Passeig del Born and walk around all the little streets on your left. All the coolest designers and shops are there. There's also little restaurants to eat.

At the end you can take Montcada st. on your left. This is a borgeoisie st in the XV century, very nice. You can find 2 or 3 museums and art galleries. On the top the Picasso's Museum, even if you are not interested on modern paintries the building itself is wonderful. Nice and fresh restaurant too.

Then to finish the tour take Princesa st left that will bring you back to Via Laietana.

 

And Please, please and please again, don't eat or dirink at the Ramblas, it's expensive and bad, nothing to do with tapas or paella!!!

 

Not bad for my first time....

 

 

 

How far from Las Ramblas should we go to eat? We are staying at Hotel Continental and will not have car.

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How far from Las Ramblas should we go to eat? We are staying at Hotel Continental and will not have car.

 

S&B,

 

Bea (BCNLady) has been providing a lot of great information but my impression of her message here is that Las Ramblas has a lot of the "tourist trap" type places and there are hundreds of wonderful, local places to get a taste of Catalan food and culture.

 

I think this applies both to atmosphere and value for money.

 

Wouldn't you like to enjoy the local culture and cuisine without another tourist at the next table? Get off the beaten path and live like a local!

 

You don't have to go far off the main streets to find nice, local places; they're everywhere.

 

A couple of years ago, my wife and I found a nice, small family owned restaurant near the Cathedral. There were no tourists and no English spoken but the owner was glad to make the effort to communicate with me in my very rough Castilian Spanish. He made us a special, deluxe dinner based on the seafood freshly caught that morning and recommended his favorite local wine. It all was at a cost about half of what the prices were on Las Ramblas and we had an experience we will never forget.

 

Stop along Las Ramblas for a beer or coffee to watch the people and then keep moving onward to find the real Barcelona.

 

In my opinion, this was what Bea was recommending.

 

Mike in Ohio (who will be back in BCN in November).

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can someone tell how far it is to walk to Plaza Joaquim Xirau from Hotel Continental Palacete?

 

According to multimap, thats by the Placa del Teatre near the bottom of the Ramblas. Using the gmap pedometer thats 0.98 of a mile.

 

Simon

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My 11 year old was asking where the movie was shot.

On the subject of Flamenco. Are 11 year old children allowed at the Flamenco Shows? If so, can you give the names of one or two.

Many thanks

 

My daughter and I both study flamenco dancing at a studio here in AZ. She is 10 and totally into the Cheetah Girls. The CGII movie was filmed all over Barcelona. Most notably Las Ramblas, Parc De Guell, and Mont Juic. You can even go on youtube and type in Cheetah Girls Barcelona and a music video will come up with highlights.

 

Most of the flamenco shows that are "shows" (and not bars) permit children. We are leaning to Tablao de Carmen, because it seems to be authentic and takes place in the "Spanish Village" in the Mont Juic section of town. They do not have children's prices listed on their home page, but I have seen a children's price listed on several booking agent pages including expedia. http://www.tablaodecarmen.com/index_a.htm

 

Just keep in mind that Flamenco is an import so to speak in Catalan. You might compare it to seeing a Flamenco show in Puerto Rico or Mexico, or a Touring Broadway show. I'm guessing that the performers are all either Andalusian or trained by Andalusians. My own teacher is Mexican, but she was trained in Mexico by Adalusians. We will be attending a flamenco show with our kids, heck how can you be a student dancer and not see a professional show when you have the chance.

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Has anyone been to the Tablao de Carmen?? What are the different menus like??? Is it mainly for tourists?? Any feedback will be appreciated.

 

If you type in Tabao de Carmen on YouTube sever videos of the show come up. While I am not totally an expert, I do study flamenco dancing and I can say that these dancers are definitely professionals and masters of their craft. I rented the movie "Flamenco" kind of an art film homage to flamenco and I would say the performances are comparable.

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My daughter and I both study flamenco dancing at a studio here in AZ. She is 10 and totally into the Cheetah Girls. The CGII movie was filmed all over Barcelona. Most notably Las Ramblas, Parc De Guell, and Mont Juic. You can even go on youtube and type in Cheetah Girls Barcelona and a music video will come up with highlights.

 

Most of the flamenco shows that are "shows" (and not bars) permit children. We are leaning to Tablao de Carmen, because it seems to be authentic and takes place in the "Spanish Village" in the Mont Juic section of town. They do not have children's prices listed on their home page, but I have seen a children's price listed on several booking agent pages including expedia. http://www.tablaodecarmen.com/index_a.htm

 

Just keep in mind that Flamenco is an import so to speak in Catalan. You might compare it to seeing a Flamenco show in Puerto Rico or Mexico, or a Touring Broadway show. I'm guessing that the performers are all either Andalusian or trained by Andalusians. My own teacher is Mexican, but she was trained in Mexico by Adalusians. We will be attending a flamenco show with our kids, heck how can you be a student dancer and not see a professional show when you have the chance.

Suzanne,

Many thanks for the information.

I am finding it hard enough to plan what to do during the cruise, even moreso in Barcelona.

Scott

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I'm not in flamenco in BCN, but I've been making some search from "cannaisseurs".

First of all if you make a search on internet look for "tablaos", this is the name of the places were flamenco shows are held.

Tablao del Carmen is reccommended.

Others would be:

Los tarantos (plaça Real)

El patio Andaluz (Aribau/Diagonal)

I would not recommend the one on Las Ramblas, I even don't remember the name.

 

Also at Teatre Poliorama (les Rambles) they usually have a show with flamenco and Opera pieces inspired on Spanish folklore (Carmen, Barbieri di Sevilla...)

 

Those coming during summer season, remember that during weekends there's music concerts (manly jazz) on the roof top of la Pedrera with a glass of Cava (catalan champagne), very nice.

 

Bea

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  • 3 weeks later...

Always searching, I've found those three articles from the NYT. I 100% agree with.

A tip, all sandwiches at Viena are perfect. They produce their own bread and sausages. There's another bigger one in Pelai st, a block from plaza Catalunya

 

 

http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/travel/04hours.1.html?fta=y

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/travel/03choice.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

 

 

http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/10/15/travel/15Bites.html?fta=y

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I'm not in flamenco in BCN, but I've been making some search from "cannaisseurs".

First of all if you make a search on internet look for "tablaos", this is the name of the places were flamenco shows are held.

Tablao del Carmen is reccommended.

Others would be:

Los tarantos (plaça Real)

El patio Andaluz (Aribau/Diagonal)

I would not recommend the one on Las Ramblas, I even don't remember the name.

 

Also at Teatre Poliorama (les Rambles) they usually have a show with flamenco and Opera pieces inspired on Spanish folklore (Carmen, Barbieri di Sevilla...)

 

Those coming during summer season, remember that during weekends there's music concerts (manly jazz) on the roof top of la Pedrera with a glass of Cava (catalan champagne), very nice.

 

Bea

We have reservations at the Palacio del Flamenco, they allow children and they have 2 shows per evening, one at 7.00pm which is ideal for our kids.

 

www.palaciodelflamenco.com/web/en/index

 

The reviews I've read have been good. BCN Lady, what do you think of this one?

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Always searching, I've found those three articles from the NYT. I 100% agree with.

A tip, all sandwiches at Viena are perfect. They produce their own bread and sausages. There's another bigger one in Pelai st, a block from plaza Catalunya

 

 

http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/travel/04hours.1.html?fta=y

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/travel/03choice.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

 

 

http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/10/15/travel/15Bites.html?fta=y

 

Thank you again for your insight and advise.

Mike in Ohio

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