"My Barcelona" a Barcelona Travel Page by Elisabcn

The 1992 Olympic Games transformed Barcelona; The 2004 Forum of Cultures reformed it...
Modern, renovated and cosmopolitan, Barcelona is between the first five european cities to do business. The Catalan creativity is well known too. But above all these changes Barcelona has managed to retain its traditional charm, its welcoming character and its historical and architectural treasures.

Passion and imagination, the driving strengths that move Barcelona, tireless whirl where people go to sleep at 3 am when pubs close; where you take breakfast at 8am, on the way to work, quickly; Barcelona endless source of surprises where nothing is strange, where the word “exotic” has no sense; the Mediterranean city that maybe plays better the role of the sea: different civilizations, interchange of knowledge and fusion between different peoples. World capital of the pollution in the nicest sense of the word which means impregnating each culture with the bright colours of the others.

Welcome to Barcelona, the pearl of the Mediterranean

MY TOP TEN OF BARCELONA

-Get lost on the little streets of the Barri Gòtic
-Walk along Passeig de Gràcia very early in the morning when there are no tourists
-Les festes de Gràcia (one week from 15th August)
-The mimes of La Rambla
-Photography in Barcelona
-El Born at night
-One night at El Liceu Theater
-The sea
-Eat tapas in some tascas,bodeguetes and little bars (ha, unknown by tourists but the bests!) of the Barri Gòtic and Centre
-Gaudí and the Modernisme

Some useful links:
The website of Barcelona city

*I'm updating continuosly this page. Be patient please . . .I've a life outside VT :-))
If you need any information about Barcelona that it's not written here don't hesitate to send me a mail ;-)

Barcelona is together with Madrid and San Sebastian one of the three most expensive cities in Spain. But if you comare it to other capital cities in Europe it should be less expensive.
However if your budget is not very high here are some tips that can be helpful to you:

TRANSPORT
The weather of Barcelona and the city itself are perfect for walking. If you don't like walking avoid taxis and use the public transport. There are different kinds of travelcards. You can use them for bus, metro and tram and you can save money (prices 2009).
T10 10journeys: 7,70€
Tday unlimited journeys during 1day: 5,80€
Other tourist leisure tickets for 2, 3, 4 and 5days: 10.70€, 15.20€, 19.50€ and 23.10€
For more info check the tmb website tmb website

HIGHLIGHTS
You can learn about Barcelona and its history for free! Not all the historical and artistic places have an admission fee. Some examples are:
Roman times: almost everything on my page about Roman times is free. Just walk along the Barri Gòtic and try to find the Roman walls, necropolis, towers . . .
Medieval churches: Pi church, Santa Maria del Mar, Santa Anna, Monestir de Santa Maria de les Puelles . . . are charming churches that you can visit without paying anything. If you want to visit the cathedral without paying go from 13.00 to 17.00 from Monday to Saturday and from 14.00 to 17.00 on Sundays
Modernisme: you won't pay anything in Casa Ametller, or Parc Güell. You can also visit Saint Paul's Hospital and see the Casa Mila's rear façade from the shop "Servei Estació" :-)

ART AND MUSEUMS
There are interesting sculptures from well known artists in the open air. Some examples are Miro's "Woman and Bird" in Parc Joan Miró, Botero's "Cat" at Raval, Chillida's works in Barri Gòtic or Parc de la Guineueta, Mariscal's huge "Prawn" in Passeig Joan de Borbó . . .

If you prefer Museums, the list is very long! Here are my suggestions:
Always free entrance
-Caixa Fòrum, my favourite! always with very interesting temporary exhibitions www.lacaixa.es
-La Pedrera (only the cultural centre, not the house itself!), also interesting temporary exhibitions www.fundaciocaixacatalunya.org
-Palau de la Virreina www.bnc.cat/virreinaexposicions
-Ethnographic Andian-Amazonic Museum. But you have to call to visit it (+34 93.204.35.58)
First Sunday of every month free entrance
-Museu Picasso www.museupicasso.bcn.cat Only the permanent collection
-MNAC-Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya www.mnac.es You cannot miss it, especially for its Romanesque paintings from Boi churches!!
-Cosmocaixa www.cosmocaixa.com
-Museu Barbier-Mueller d'Art Precolombí www.amicsmuseuprecolombi.org
First Saturday of every month free entrance
-Museu d'Història de Barcelona www.museuhistoria.bcn.cat Small but very interesting. Only from 16h to 20h
-Museu Marítim www.museumaritimbarcelona.org Even if you are not interested in the exhibition it is a good opportunity to visit the Dressanes free! Only from 15.00h

Apart from this list you can visit all the museums in the city free on 18th May, the International Day of Museums :-) :-) :-)

RESTAURANTS
In general terms I can suggest you to avoid places like Las Ramblas or Passeig de Gràcia (most of them expensive and the quality of food is not so good . . .)
If you like tapas avoid places like Sagardi and other big chains and look for the genuine places, maybe not the most fashion places but of better quality