Visiting Cataluña and Andorra
Jun 4th, 2011, 01:15 AM
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Visiting Cataluña and Andorra
Part I
We flew American Airlines to Madrid and followed with an Iberia flight to Barcelona.
Coming down we got an upgrade to business class, the service is very good in American; Iberia has too many seats in the Airbus between Madrid-Barcelona.
Iberia has the most beautiful VIP room in the Satellite 4 in Barajas. offering the best food ever. The name of the place is Velazquez , and it is the best VIP I have ever been too.
We stayed twice in Barcelona at the beginning of the trip we were fortunate of being guests in a friend 's apartment in the heart of Passseig de Gracia. Location was tops and from there on everything seemed easier and everything was very convenient.
We could not help been delighted with the charm of its mini-paseos and rows of trees, we enjoyed late in the day to stroll along doing window shopping. We walked and walked everywhere carefully taking only once a bus( going to the Mount Montjuic), only once with outmost care we took a metro from Sagrada Familia to the Raval area, and we took also a couple of taxis (which are reasonable). I am happy to say that we were not chosen by the pickpocket artists that seem to floc to Barcelona from everywhere to join the local ones. We believe that not taking the metro on a regular basis helped a lot.
Museums
We arrived on the 17 May, only to find out that the 18 May was International Museum Day...NO entrance FEES....so we tried to take advantage within reason, we visited first and early the amazing MNAC, the Museu Nacional d'art de Catalunya,
this ia must for anyone visiting Barcelona. it houses many beautiful pieces of Romanic and Gothic art from nearby little villages. Mural paintings were bought and and transported from all these little romanic churches in the Pirineos between 1919 to 1923 to avoid loosing them by being exported and also of been stolen by adventures who very often exchanged real treasures for almost nothing from the local priests.
Among so many, there are beautiful pieces like the apse from Santa Maria de Aneu, with welcoming angels and their unusual wings and many more.
The museum is huge and covers the 19 th and 20 th century decorative art and paintings. In all it is a fascinating place, when we were there there was an exhibit of Torres Garcia 's work
Joaquin Torres Garcia born in Montevideo, Uruguay has in common with other great artists as Picasso to have been nurished by a wonderfully creative adopted city.
From the MNAC the views are amazing, from there we flagged a passing taxi and for
3 euros he took us to the MIro which is also located in the Parc of Montjuic.The collection
donated by the artist himself is so huge that only a portion of it can be shown at any one time.
Being lunch time we took a taxi to nearby the Placa of the Olies hoping to get into
Cal Pep ( 8 euros) , but his was impossible, it has becamed so famous that people lines behind the stools hoping to get one. Frankly, I could hardly eat with someone anxiously waiting on my back,
unfortunatelly we tried another day with same luck. It seems all tourists in Barcelona go there early. It was a disapointment.
Instead my friend took us to a more formal restaurant who specializes in rice, called Senyor Paellada, with wine and desserts etc we paid 61.78 euros for three.
it was good, but not exciting. Later we had coffee in a little plaza waiting for Santa Maria del Mar to be opened, it is closed between 1 and 4.30 PM. So we walked around and after coffee in a cafe in a tiny plaza,we stopped in really nice bar, totally empty except for a pintoresque owner and had an Orujo,...
I think the name Orujo is from Galicia, anyway it seems to be alcohol with added herbs and served cold , I am sure everybody knows what an orujo is. With the orujo came a lot of chatting with the owner which was very pleasant while time went by. Orujo was 3 eur each.
Finally we had an ice cream 2.50 eur each across from the Catedral del Mar, and eventually got in.
I have read the wonderful book The Catedral of the Sea, I highly recommend to read it
before going to Barcelona. Being at this beautiful church was awesome, I made my business to come back a couple of times during this trip.
That day we rushed to the Picasso Museum, free entrance as well, this museum is absolutely fantastic not only for thePicasso collection but because of being located in
in five medieval mansions in a row.
From there the whole Barri Gotic is at your feet, and it is a fascinating place where we came back as many times as we could. From our apartment we simply walked passing by the huge Plaza Catalunya , choosing different routes.
Next day,May 19 , we took the Bus Turistic , we hopped in right across our apartment, we did not get off at the Sagrada Familia because although it was fairly early in the morning there was like a mob waiting to get it, so we left the Sagrada Famila for the next day. It was a wise decision because we were going to be there before opeing and minimized the waiting to ten minutes. The bus took us on upper Paseo de Gracia,our first stop was Park Guel, we were on the blue route. From the bus stop it is a long walk up the hill to the Park Entrance . The park was initially a real state venture of Gaudi's friend Count Guell who planned to make this a modern garden city community of 60 dwellings. It was never completed.
The park is interesting, Gaudi 's imaginative creations are everywhere. Innvolves a lot of walking and it is full of tourists , street vendors that rushed out in front of our eyes when the police approached, and so forth.
Next we got off at the Monestir de Pedralbes, located in an upscale area, the Monestir
was founded in 1326 by the wife of Jaime II, the name of theQueen is Elisenda de Montcada, this is the same noble family that houses part of the Picasso Museum.
Everything is beautiful in this monastery, the Cloister, the main rooms, and so forth. Also the entrance and nearby buildings are very nice. It was lunch time and we looked for a place to have lunch, we found a nice restaurant a couple blocks away called Restaurante El Mato,
fixed menu was 18 euros and food was very good. Lunch for 3 added to 64 eu with wine. Across the street we cought back the
Bus Turistic , we got off at Palau REial to stroll on its park, then we got the bus again going into the Soccer Stadium of the Barcelona, ( a great team to become later during our trip champion of Europe) we choose not to step down, however many soccer fans did.
Later we switched to the red line who took us to the beach area. We got off and stroll by the beaches and many cafes, bars and music places. We got into one and had some drinks and coffee. They had music and the whole atmosphere was very lively.
We caught one of the last buses who took us back across the street from our apartment.
It was a lovely day, and we felt we put to good use the 23euro ticket.
From the bus we had a full view of the protesters that had camped in the Plaza de Catalunya. There is a lot of disspointment on all political parties going on.
Will continue
We flew American Airlines to Madrid and followed with an Iberia flight to Barcelona.
Coming down we got an upgrade to business class, the service is very good in American; Iberia has too many seats in the Airbus between Madrid-Barcelona.
Iberia has the most beautiful VIP room in the Satellite 4 in Barajas. offering the best food ever. The name of the place is Velazquez , and it is the best VIP I have ever been too.
We stayed twice in Barcelona at the beginning of the trip we were fortunate of being guests in a friend 's apartment in the heart of Passseig de Gracia. Location was tops and from there on everything seemed easier and everything was very convenient.
We could not help been delighted with the charm of its mini-paseos and rows of trees, we enjoyed late in the day to stroll along doing window shopping. We walked and walked everywhere carefully taking only once a bus( going to the Mount Montjuic), only once with outmost care we took a metro from Sagrada Familia to the Raval area, and we took also a couple of taxis (which are reasonable). I am happy to say that we were not chosen by the pickpocket artists that seem to floc to Barcelona from everywhere to join the local ones. We believe that not taking the metro on a regular basis helped a lot.
Museums
We arrived on the 17 May, only to find out that the 18 May was International Museum Day...NO entrance FEES....so we tried to take advantage within reason, we visited first and early the amazing MNAC, the Museu Nacional d'art de Catalunya,
this ia must for anyone visiting Barcelona. it houses many beautiful pieces of Romanic and Gothic art from nearby little villages. Mural paintings were bought and and transported from all these little romanic churches in the Pirineos between 1919 to 1923 to avoid loosing them by being exported and also of been stolen by adventures who very often exchanged real treasures for almost nothing from the local priests.
Among so many, there are beautiful pieces like the apse from Santa Maria de Aneu, with welcoming angels and their unusual wings and many more.
The museum is huge and covers the 19 th and 20 th century decorative art and paintings. In all it is a fascinating place, when we were there there was an exhibit of Torres Garcia 's work
Joaquin Torres Garcia born in Montevideo, Uruguay has in common with other great artists as Picasso to have been nurished by a wonderfully creative adopted city.
From the MNAC the views are amazing, from there we flagged a passing taxi and for
3 euros he took us to the MIro which is also located in the Parc of Montjuic.The collection
donated by the artist himself is so huge that only a portion of it can be shown at any one time.
Being lunch time we took a taxi to nearby the Placa of the Olies hoping to get into
Cal Pep ( 8 euros) , but his was impossible, it has becamed so famous that people lines behind the stools hoping to get one. Frankly, I could hardly eat with someone anxiously waiting on my back,
unfortunatelly we tried another day with same luck. It seems all tourists in Barcelona go there early. It was a disapointment.
Instead my friend took us to a more formal restaurant who specializes in rice, called Senyor Paellada, with wine and desserts etc we paid 61.78 euros for three.
it was good, but not exciting. Later we had coffee in a little plaza waiting for Santa Maria del Mar to be opened, it is closed between 1 and 4.30 PM. So we walked around and after coffee in a cafe in a tiny plaza,we stopped in really nice bar, totally empty except for a pintoresque owner and had an Orujo,...
I think the name Orujo is from Galicia, anyway it seems to be alcohol with added herbs and served cold , I am sure everybody knows what an orujo is. With the orujo came a lot of chatting with the owner which was very pleasant while time went by. Orujo was 3 eur each.
Finally we had an ice cream 2.50 eur each across from the Catedral del Mar, and eventually got in.
I have read the wonderful book The Catedral of the Sea, I highly recommend to read it
before going to Barcelona. Being at this beautiful church was awesome, I made my business to come back a couple of times during this trip.
That day we rushed to the Picasso Museum, free entrance as well, this museum is absolutely fantastic not only for thePicasso collection but because of being located in
in five medieval mansions in a row.
From there the whole Barri Gotic is at your feet, and it is a fascinating place where we came back as many times as we could. From our apartment we simply walked passing by the huge Plaza Catalunya , choosing different routes.
Next day,May 19 , we took the Bus Turistic , we hopped in right across our apartment, we did not get off at the Sagrada Familia because although it was fairly early in the morning there was like a mob waiting to get it, so we left the Sagrada Famila for the next day. It was a wise decision because we were going to be there before opeing and minimized the waiting to ten minutes. The bus took us on upper Paseo de Gracia,our first stop was Park Guel, we were on the blue route. From the bus stop it is a long walk up the hill to the Park Entrance . The park was initially a real state venture of Gaudi's friend Count Guell who planned to make this a modern garden city community of 60 dwellings. It was never completed.
The park is interesting, Gaudi 's imaginative creations are everywhere. Innvolves a lot of walking and it is full of tourists , street vendors that rushed out in front of our eyes when the police approached, and so forth.
Next we got off at the Monestir de Pedralbes, located in an upscale area, the Monestir
was founded in 1326 by the wife of Jaime II, the name of theQueen is Elisenda de Montcada, this is the same noble family that houses part of the Picasso Museum.
Everything is beautiful in this monastery, the Cloister, the main rooms, and so forth. Also the entrance and nearby buildings are very nice. It was lunch time and we looked for a place to have lunch, we found a nice restaurant a couple blocks away called Restaurante El Mato,
fixed menu was 18 euros and food was very good. Lunch for 3 added to 64 eu with wine. Across the street we cought back the
Bus Turistic , we got off at Palau REial to stroll on its park, then we got the bus again going into the Soccer Stadium of the Barcelona, ( a great team to become later during our trip champion of Europe) we choose not to step down, however many soccer fans did.
Later we switched to the red line who took us to the beach area. We got off and stroll by the beaches and many cafes, bars and music places. We got into one and had some drinks and coffee. They had music and the whole atmosphere was very lively.
We caught one of the last buses who took us back across the street from our apartment.
It was a lovely day, and we felt we put to good use the 23euro ticket.
From the bus we had a full view of the protesters that had camped in the Plaza de Catalunya. There is a lot of disspointment on all political parties going on.
Will continue
Jul 6th, 2011, 07:31 PM
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Hi Graziella 5b.. glad you had such a wonderful time!
Don't be too frustrated about Cal Pep.. It's OK.. not worth standing in line too long for.. and the owner seemed a bit full of himself to me. There are so many other places in Barcelona.. if it is full.. give it a walk by.
Don't be too frustrated about Cal Pep.. It's OK.. not worth standing in line too long for.. and the owner seemed a bit full of himself to me. There are so many other places in Barcelona.. if it is full.. give it a walk by.
Jul 7th, 2011, 04:49 PM
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Hi, Thank you Lincasanova ..... I do not feel frustrated anymore because as you are implying we had many good meals elsewhere.
I 'll try to highlight some aspects of our trip.
After a few days in Barcelona , a friend drove us to Ripoll where we have several friends.
Ripoll is well know for the Monastery Santa Maria de Ripoll, this is a Benedictine Monastery
founded in the IX Century , it was a major cultural center during the Middle Ages. It sustained a big fire, so some parts have been rebuilt, the main feature, which was not damaged by the fire, is its Romanesque front facade dating from the XII Century in which Biblical , historic and allegorical scenes are depicted.
We have been before in Ripoll and nearby charming small towns like Besalu, this year we stayed in Ripoll on two different week ends, before and after visiting Andorra.
Having so many friends there, they kept inviting us and driving us to several charming places in nearby towns.
One day we took the a special mountain train ( very modern) to the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Nuria. It is surrounded by mountains that reach 3.000 meters in altitude, and it is a very popular destination.(www.validenuria.cat)
WE bought discount tickets for seniors, round trip for both =36 euros and enjoyed tremendous views going up and down. A very nice gentleman in a nearby seat told us not to miss a visiting Chorus from a nearby town
giving a concert after that morning 's mass. Indeed it was fantastic. There are many facilities in the area where the new church is located , some are commercial like a restaurant, cafeteria, little shops etc. We chose to follow trails in the mountains which can easily be done. After the concert instead of having lunch in the restaurant in Nuria we took the train back getting off at Ribes de Fresner for lunch . There is a very nice restaurant in this town
always crowded, it is called El Casador, food was delicious, we had wild mushrooms, great trouts from right there , lovely desserts. .
We stayed in two different hotels in Ripoll, one week end we stayed at the HOtel El RIpoles which has a great location right in town but it is a very basic place, nevertheless was 75 euros without breakfast, the other one was Solana del Ter, which is like 20 ' from downtown , however it is a nice place
in the middle of huge gardens, with a pool, tennis courts , mini golf, etc and very good restaurant with good food.It also has a nice bar. THis hotel was cheaper than the El Ripoles, the week end we stayed there it was only 70 euros with a decent breakfast. To show how Spaniards are, we actually had reserved in Hotel Solana del Ter for both weekends, but sometime later I got a mail from the manager, this hotel is family owned,
telling me that they wish as to know that there was going to be a big event that weekend in the hotel and the noise might bother us. They add that, of course, we were invited to the party....however they thought we might find it reasonable to cancell. So we did.
When we stayed in the hotel Ripoles, we had coffee , juice and delicious mini sandwiches and pastries at Costas which is the best confiteria in town, located in the main plaza facing the monastery. I highly recommended it.Besides it is lively and it is the in place.
From Ripoll we were invited to several places, we had lunch, typical food, in the town of Ogassa,
and also in other restaurants in the mountains. We visited nearby towns like Camprodon hAVing tea in a very nice hotel called El Grevol.
From Ripoll we drove to Andorra we had four outstanding days in Andorra. Weather was perfect and we spend most of the time walking in the mountains following well signalized paths.
We liked Restaurant L Era d en Jaume in LLOris, Andorra.
Andorra has many shops in which I was not interested but it has much more to offer ,
small Romanesque churches all over, tiny villages with a few houses in the mountains, and fantastic views all over, including lakes.
From Andorra we went one day to France but because we did not wish to go too far it was not a day well spent.Unluckly we ate worse than in Spain.
After staying the second week end in Ripoll we drove to Girona for two nightws and had a wonderful town. We liked the Hotel Peninsula, great location,very nice rooms almost a jr suite, very good breakfast and paid 80 euros which we thought was a very good rate.
I highly recommend making some time to stay one or two nights in Girona versus a short day visit. This is a charming place for many reasons.
From Girona we took a train to Barcelo, got off at Paseo de Gracia .
I 'll try to highlight some aspects of our trip.
After a few days in Barcelona , a friend drove us to Ripoll where we have several friends.
Ripoll is well know for the Monastery Santa Maria de Ripoll, this is a Benedictine Monastery
founded in the IX Century , it was a major cultural center during the Middle Ages. It sustained a big fire, so some parts have been rebuilt, the main feature, which was not damaged by the fire, is its Romanesque front facade dating from the XII Century in which Biblical , historic and allegorical scenes are depicted.
We have been before in Ripoll and nearby charming small towns like Besalu, this year we stayed in Ripoll on two different week ends, before and after visiting Andorra.
Having so many friends there, they kept inviting us and driving us to several charming places in nearby towns.
One day we took the a special mountain train ( very modern) to the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Nuria. It is surrounded by mountains that reach 3.000 meters in altitude, and it is a very popular destination.(www.validenuria.cat)
WE bought discount tickets for seniors, round trip for both =36 euros and enjoyed tremendous views going up and down. A very nice gentleman in a nearby seat told us not to miss a visiting Chorus from a nearby town
giving a concert after that morning 's mass. Indeed it was fantastic. There are many facilities in the area where the new church is located , some are commercial like a restaurant, cafeteria, little shops etc. We chose to follow trails in the mountains which can easily be done. After the concert instead of having lunch in the restaurant in Nuria we took the train back getting off at Ribes de Fresner for lunch . There is a very nice restaurant in this town
always crowded, it is called El Casador, food was delicious, we had wild mushrooms, great trouts from right there , lovely desserts. .
We stayed in two different hotels in Ripoll, one week end we stayed at the HOtel El RIpoles which has a great location right in town but it is a very basic place, nevertheless was 75 euros without breakfast, the other one was Solana del Ter, which is like 20 ' from downtown , however it is a nice place
in the middle of huge gardens, with a pool, tennis courts , mini golf, etc and very good restaurant with good food.It also has a nice bar. THis hotel was cheaper than the El Ripoles, the week end we stayed there it was only 70 euros with a decent breakfast. To show how Spaniards are, we actually had reserved in Hotel Solana del Ter for both weekends, but sometime later I got a mail from the manager, this hotel is family owned,
telling me that they wish as to know that there was going to be a big event that weekend in the hotel and the noise might bother us. They add that, of course, we were invited to the party....however they thought we might find it reasonable to cancell. So we did.
When we stayed in the hotel Ripoles, we had coffee , juice and delicious mini sandwiches and pastries at Costas which is the best confiteria in town, located in the main plaza facing the monastery. I highly recommended it.Besides it is lively and it is the in place.
From Ripoll we were invited to several places, we had lunch, typical food, in the town of Ogassa,
and also in other restaurants in the mountains. We visited nearby towns like Camprodon hAVing tea in a very nice hotel called El Grevol.
From Ripoll we drove to Andorra we had four outstanding days in Andorra. Weather was perfect and we spend most of the time walking in the mountains following well signalized paths.
We liked Restaurant L Era d en Jaume in LLOris, Andorra.
Andorra has many shops in which I was not interested but it has much more to offer ,
small Romanesque churches all over, tiny villages with a few houses in the mountains, and fantastic views all over, including lakes.
From Andorra we went one day to France but because we did not wish to go too far it was not a day well spent.Unluckly we ate worse than in Spain.
After staying the second week end in Ripoll we drove to Girona for two nightws and had a wonderful town. We liked the Hotel Peninsula, great location,very nice rooms almost a jr suite, very good breakfast and paid 80 euros which we thought was a very good rate.
I highly recommend making some time to stay one or two nights in Girona versus a short day visit. This is a charming place for many reasons.
From Girona we took a train to Barcelo, got off at Paseo de Gracia .
Jul 8th, 2011, 02:30 AM
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Correction, for anyone interested in staying in Ripoll the basic hotel we stayed in downtown close to the Monastery is called La Troabada Hotel, not the Ripoles .www.latrobadahotel.com, the one which we prefered located a few miles out of town is called Hotel Solana del Ter.
Apr 12th, 2012, 02:14 PM
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Not sure if you'll get this since it's been a year since your trip, but can you tell me where you stayed in Andorra? We'll be there two nights this May and have two small kids with us. Glad to hear you thought it was worth the trip!
Feb 12th, 2013, 02:12 PM
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Gills,
In 2008 we stayed in the Andorra Center hotel. The room was rather plain but it was clean and very large. I think we paid about 100 euros. My wife and daughter reported they enjoyed the breakfast.
The place was fine for an overnight stop. The public cark park is a short walk away.
In 2008 we stayed in the Andorra Center hotel. The room was rather plain but it was clean and very large. I think we paid about 100 euros. My wife and daughter reported they enjoyed the breakfast.
The place was fine for an overnight stop. The public cark park is a short walk away.
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