Archive for December, 2009
Snack 55, also known as “The Cubalirto-Bar”, or “Cubalitros”, is a bar around 5 minutes away from the metro stations Tetuan (L2 purple line) and Girona (L4 yellow line), located on Passeig de Sant Joan 55.
As a lot of bars in Barcelona, Snack has a small entrance and if it is not a Friday or a Saturday, it is possible that you pass the entrance without noticing it. On weekends, on the other side, you won´t even find a free seat near the bar to sit down. Even though, you can hang around the bar, sit outside (which is not that advisable in the winter), or, if lucky, snatch a table with chairs at the back, away from the every-minute-cubalitros-buying crowd. There it is also possible to watch a football game, or play table football.
But what the bar is most known for, are their Cubalitros. For 4,- Euros you can buy 1 liter of rum with cola, vodka with fanta, etc.. All in all, they offer more or less 5 different Cubalitros. As you can expect, for 4 Euros you won´t be getting the best rum, so they have the same offer with popular brands for 8 Euros. Another special is the 1 meter chupitos line. Ordering this one, you will get 1 meter =15 shots for 12 Euros. Not a bad deal, considering that a chupito usually costs around 2 Euros.
Hungry people can try different plates on moderate prices too.
Drink responsible. Cheers!
The Torre Agbar, is a 21st century skyscraper situated at Barcelona’s Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes. It was designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel, opening in June 2005. The King of Spain officially inaugurated it on 16 September 2005 . The tower has been named after its owners, the Agbar Group, a holding company whose interests include the Barcelona water company.
Barcelona’s Agbar Tower measures 144.4 m (473.75 ft) in height and consists of 38 stories, including four underground levels. Its design combines a number of different architectural concepts, resulting in a striking structure built with reinforced concrete, covered with a facade of glass, and over 4,500 window openings cut out of the structural concrete and looking over Barcelona.
The building is the third tallest building in Barcelona, only after the Arts Hotel and the Mapfre Tower, both 154 m. A unique feature of the building is its nocturnal illumination. It has 4,500 LED luminous devices that allow generation of luminous images in the facade. In addition, it has temperature sensors in the outside of the tower that regulate the opening and closing of the glass blinds of the facade of the building, reducing the consumption of energy for air conditioning.
This is an amazing sight to see at night in Barcelona, whether you are just driving by or on nearby sightseeing spots. It is recommended to check it out at night all lit up!
The National Museum of Catalan Art (MNAC) is, without doubt, one of the best sights of Brcelona. It is located across the Fountaing of Montjuic. The museum is among the seven most important museums in the city, along with CCCB, MCBA, Antonio Tapies Foundation, La Pedrera de Caixa Catalunya, the Picasso Museum and the Joan Miró Foundation.
The first Sunday of every month, many of the museums are free. I therefore rushed to get there, to save some money while enjoying my Sunday. In this museum, there are several different sections: Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance-Baroque, Modern Art, and each has its own characteristic. There are audio guides available in several different languages.
Here are the current exhibits:
- Roman Art: Exhibition of works of Catalonia between X and XIII century. This is a movement in which there are many murals, which makes this a special and different exhibit.
- Art-Gothic: Characterized by material wealth and wide variety of techniques, such as rural paintings, sculpture and woodcraft.
-The Renaissance and Baroque: Composed of numerous donations, this exhibition comes from all countries, and transmits an evolution of European art since the sixteenth century.
- Modern-Art: One of my favorites. There are the great artists like Dalí, Gaudí and many others. It is one of the most important exhibits of Barcelona with a mixture of realism and modernism.
To complete your visit, you can see the collections of drawings and photographs. Finally, you also have the temporary exhibitions. It is an immense journey through time, and you can learn a lot about the Art of Catalonia!
Address: Parc de Montjuïc, 08038 Sants / Montjuïc, Barcelona
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday: 10-19h and Sunday: 10-14h30
Price: 8.50 euros
Metro/ Bus: Espanya
A legend says that, about 400 years before Rome was build, Hercules founded the city of Barcelona and named it “Βαρκινών”. According to another legend, in the third century BC, a Carthaginian called Hamilcar Barca named the city “Barcino” after his family. The most credible version is the fact that in 15BC the Romans staked the city out as a military camp, or “castrum”, and named it “Colonia Julia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino”, with its centre being on a small hill near the modern day Plaça de Sant Jaume.
Although shadowed by its neighbour Tarraco (Tarragona), due to its excellent location and beautiful harbour, the city slowly expanded and grew in wealth, even making its own currency. In 400 years, the Visigoths came from the north-east and conquered the city, taking Barcelona as their own. 300 years later, the Moors rose up from northern Africa, and although they didn´t have the same impact on Barcelona as they had on southern Spain, they held the city for 100 years. Then came Charlemagne´s son Louis, who reconquered and instigated an Iberian Lordship status in the city as a Marca Hispanica (Spanish March), a bufferzone between the Frankish Kingdom and the Moors who occupated Al-Andalus (Andalucia).
After the 20th century dictatorship and fascist regime, Barcelona thrives and holds a status of a one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world. It combines old culture, marked with ruins and thousand-year-old building remains, and modern looks. The city was also one of the first big industrial centers in Continental Europe.
Short and to the point, if you want to see for yourself what Barcelona is like, you can consider a guided tour of the city.
