Apartment in Barcelona

Once the sun goes down in Barcelona, most shops are closed and the lights shut off.  At this time when many doors close, many open as well, and the night has begun in Barcelona.  Barcelona, famous for its nightlife, is unlike any other party scene. The factor that makes Barcelona’s nightlife unlike any other is the fact that every night besides Sunday, you will be able to find a great club with a huge crowd. If you are studying abroad in Barcelona, you will learn that people do not start going to the clubs until 1:30.  This means that you will be leaving the club around four or five o’clock in the morning.  I have grown up in New York and have been going to New York City every weekend, and Barcelona simply has a better nightlife.  When you are in Barcelona you must go to my favorite club in the city.  This great club is called Opium Mar.  The best part about Opium is that it is located right on Barcelona’s beach. Every once in a while, the club will hire a live violinist or saxophonist to play for the crowd, and playing over the music. It is very exciting when this happens.  The wild part about the nightlife in Barcelona is that you can find an after party starting at 8 in the morning.  When you are leaving the clubs, do not decide to walk. You will be able to find a cab on every corner of the city. They cabs are cheap, and the drivers are nice people (unlike the drivers in NYC.). If you have been following my Blog, you should be interested in experiencing the wonderful City of Barcelona, and if my previous Blog entries have not reached that goal, I Hope this Blog entry will. Be safe, and stay tuned for my next Blog entry.

CARNIVAL! One of the most popular and historic holidays is quickly arriving.   Starting on February 16^th and running until February 22^nd, both tourists and locals will be dancing on the street, fully celebrating the spirit of carnival and enjoying traditional local dishes during this festival.  The Mediterranean town of Sitges, located only 35 km south from Barcelona, it is regarded as a real paradise for tourists and artists. Here you will find the well-known Carnival de Sitges, the most famous carnival in Catalonia.  When celebrating at the festival, be aware of your surroundings at all times.  Many people will be celebrating and partying. It can get out of control for some tourists. www.apartmentsbarcelona.com

I am currently studying abroad in Barcelona and am enrolled in five courses.  I have to say my favorite class by far is an architecture course titled: Modernism in Architecture and Design.  It is only the second week of classes, and I have learned a great amount. Once class begun, my professor jumped right into the history of Barcelona, and the creation of the modern city.  The Romans originally founded Barcelona, and named it Barcino.  The city of Barcino had a population of 2000 people and was built in order to send veteran soldiers to a peaceful land for their retirement. Evidence of this ancient city is still visible today, and it is the most characteristic aspect of the district of Ciutat Vella.  Learning about Ildefons Cerdá was a simply, an enlightening experience.  Ildefons Cerdá is spent twenty years planning, and designing the modern city of Barcelona, initially adding 520 city blocks.  The most characteristic feature of Cerdà‘s plan is the 45º-angled corner of each block (chaflanes). The idea behind this was to ensure more fluid traffic for public transport.  Comparing to a typical intersection in New York City, the chaflanes design makes transportation more efficient, and open up the city.  When I arrived to the city, I was curious if there was a reason why every building was the same height being four stories high.  Luckily, my professor told me.  Cerdà envisioned each block of the new city to have 45% of its surface area reserved for plant life.  For this to be possible, sunlight would have to reach the areas reserved for plant life. If the building were more than four or five stories tall, the building would block the sunlight.  Next week, our class is taking our first field study to an attraction in Barcelona. I do not where we will be going yet, because my professor insists for it to be a surprise! Stay tuned, for I will contunue to share my experience in Barcelona!

Hello, I have arrived in Barcelona three weeks ago and I have finally taken my first of many visits to the famous park, Park Guell. Three weeks has been a long wait, but I am finally here! Located on the outskirts of Barcelona resides the world famous park designed by Antoni Gaudi, Park Guell.  The park was originally part of a commercially unsuccessful housing site, the idea of Count Eusebi Guell, whom the park was named after.  Once visitors enter the park, they are surrounded by stone structures, stunning tiling and fascinating buildings.  At the top of park Guell is the largest terraced area where you get a wonderful view of the park and of Barcelona City.  At this focal point, a long bench in the form of a snake surrounds the main terrace.  Beyond the look out point, you will find joggers and dog walkers enjoying their sunny afternoon in the beautiful woods. When you visit the park, make sure to bring your camera!

Barcelona’s beaches were developed for the Olympic Games in 1992 and are now voted some of the best city beaches in Europe.  The Barcelona city coast consists of 7 beaches stretching  5 km from Port Vell Marina to Port Forum Marina. It takes 10-20 min by public transport from the Centre of Barcelona to get to the beaches of Barcelona. But even better, www.apartmentinbarcelona.net have apartments in the beach area of Barcelonetta! Be close to the beautiful beaches, nightlife and a 15 min walk or a 2 stop metro ride from the Old City Centre. Email us at info@apartmentinbarcelona.net

Summer Beach Season in Barcelona is from mid April until Mid September. Lifeguards, Toilets, Bars, Red Cross and Beach Hawkers selling drinks stay in operation until September. After September the weekend beach services are open on the weekends until the middle of October.

Barcelona has good beach nightlife because of the amount of foreigners, students and tourists and most of all the ‘Fiesta’ gene in the Spanish. Summer nightlife for many clubs means terraces, tents, some have a beachfront or sea view. Check out these beach clubs in Port Olympic Yatching marina with beach views and terraces! Nice in the summer when most of the bars have outdoor terraces open. Catwalk (famous club on the beach with amazing go-go dancers), the notorious Shoko (Beachfront),  Opium (massive and stylish with 3 rooms) and  CDLC (restaurant and lounge bar beach club).

Maremagnum waterfront shopping center is Barcelona’s biggest mall – half shops – half clubs. By day it makes for a nice stroll with friends or family over the narrow wooden walkway from the end of the Rambla. By night the many clubs, pubs and bars take over. There is everything from Techno to Irish pubs to Salsa.

Clubbing/Going out tips in Barcelona

Barcelona is very gay friendly. In fact Gay clubs are packed with straight people acting gay. Enjoy the go-go dancers, flamboyance and shows put on in the Clubs. Check out Arena  www.arenadisco.com (Arena Group now have 5 clubs due to massive demand from mainstream music to Spanish pop to a Lesbian club). Gay Day at Space is on Sunday night for men. Dance shows, strippers and cool interior decoration.

When to go out.

Nightlife starts very late, particularly on weekends. As a tourist, make sure you don’t rock up to a club before 12pm or be disappointed that no one is at the club by 1am.  Early comers start entering the clubs at 1am and only by 3pm will the club be at its peak capacity. Clubs close around 6 or 7 am and usually people will have breakfast together before going home to sleep.

Bars get busy at 12.30 and restaurants for locals start serving at 8.30pm at the earliest. So have dinner at 9.30 pm, go to a bar at 11.30 pm, then head to the club around 2am and you’ll be on Spanish time.

PR people are always handing out free passes on weekends around the clubbing areas, especially on the beach. You will be offered a free entry pass every 3 minutes or so, so take as many passes as you want and choose where you want to go. But usually this means you have to enter before 1am or 1.30am. And you still have to pay for your drinks! Tip! Head into the club of choice with your free pass before 1am, then come out after 10 minutes but don’t forget your Pass Out Stamp. Do the same with another club you have a free pass to. Then for the whole night you can skip between the 2 depending on which one you prefer at any given moment!

Yes. We´ve been there. We gotta face it, we loooove to eat and drink properly. As you may have noticed, we are still on the track of “try, like it, talk about it”. therefor, we couln´t miss telling you about the “Cruixent”.

This is a friday night, a celebration, a group of colleagues and the will to eat a lot, but specially good.

It may be a hidden spot, but as all secrets, it defenetly has its charm. Behind a wooden and glass door, you come into a very fine “ambiance”. As you enter, to your left, a bar where you may have a drink if you like and on to the back part, tables are set to make a business, friend or romantic dinner, their specialty.

Now, if you are a group, you´ll be taken upstairs to a very cute and classy “interior balcony” where they´ll make your group-meal a pleasure.

In spanish, the “pica-pica” is the best part. They´ll bring to the table all types of tapas (here is some spanish vocab you should defenetly memorize): embutido. This is the very best of this country: jamón, chorizo, lomo embuchado, salchichón, etc. All these partnering with “pan con tomate”… hungry already?

Oh, and the salads, and the “ensaladilla rusa” (russian salad) and mmmm… “the empanadillas” (tuna pasty) filled with egg! And sangría everywhere! And desert.

Desert deserves a blog post on its own, I must say. Let´s leave the Mistery to 2 words: Chocolate heaven. There.

If you are a group, this is your place. If you are a bussiness group, this is your Great place.

Cruixent: http://www.cruixent.net/

Thanks for reading!

Alexia

AIB Staff