Full of culture, history and art everywhere you look, Barcelona makes a wonderful day-long city break for those looking to immerse themselves in its charm.
By: Lukas Johannes
Barcelona is an ideal destination for a day-long city break. Although you could probably spend weeks exploring it in depth if you wanted to, visiting the city’s best bits in just one day is surprisingly doable. If you are fascinated by the cultural, artistic, historical background of the places you visit, Barcelona is like a dream come true.
With plenty of wonderful highlights spread throughout, it can be difficult to make up your mind when figuring out an itinerary for your daytrip. That is why I have put together some of my favourite destinations – from buildings to parks to promenades – so that you can get going without wasting any time.
Las Ramblas
No visit to Barcelona is complete without a leisurely stroll down the Ramblas. A vibrant boulevard that travels through the city’s heart, it is surrounded by lovely buildings and it is full of stalls selling traditional artefacts, like hand-held fans, human statues, and plenty of locals pottering about. Moreover, just off the Ramblas, you can find La Boqueria – the city’s best food market – where you can see (and smell!) first-hand some amazing local produce, as well as have a mouth-watering snack while you sit on a bench and people-watch.
Barri Gòtic
This striking neighbourhood will make you step back in time. With some breath-taking, wonderfully-preserved buildings, Barcelona’s Gothic quarter is quaint, bustling borough filled with cobbled streets, narrow almost-secret passages, and historical structures dating back to medieval times.
Furthermore, if you want to get to know the area’s history better, you can step into the Museu d’Historia de la Ciutat, in the Plaça del Rei, and immerse yourself in Barcelona’s past. Once you come out understanding the city better, you can head to the Plaça Reial and the Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulàlia. The latter is actually perfect if you’re seeking refuge from a hot summer’s day, as you are welcome to sit down on the pews and cool down whilst admiring your surroundings.
Gaudí’s Creations
You can’t truly know Barcelona without having visited the impressive works left behind by Antoni Gaudí. The Passeig de Gracia holds two of Gaudí’s outstanding houses – the Casa Batlló and the Casa Milà – the former famous for its amazing roof terrace (with a dragon on it!) and the latter better known for its wavy façade and wrought-iron balconies.
Finally, head to the Sagrada Familia, Gaudí’s as-of-yet unfinished masterpiece. It is a must-see for all art lovers and history enthusiasts as, whether they love it or despise it, it represents something truly unique about the man, the time, and the city in which this cathedral was built. The council aims to have it finished by 2026, the centenary of Gaudí’s death.
Fundació Joan Miró
A wonderful final stop before saying goodbye to this beautiful city, this museum celebrates the life and works of the artist Joan Miró. Barcelona-born Miró was a prolific painter, sculptor, and ceramicist that belonged to the Surrealist movement, but dabbled in cubism and magical realism too. His Foundation has over 200 paintings and 150 sculptures on display, as well as an impressive 5000 drawings. Additionally, in line with Miró’s desires, the Foundation’s Espai 13 is a space dedicated to exhibiting contemporary art by young, experimental artists.
How to Get from Lloret de Mar to Barcelona
The drive between Lloret de Mar and Barcelona is very quick and easy. A taxi can have you there in just over an hourFree Web Content, during which you can enjoy the lovely views of the Mediterranean Sea from the car windows.
Lukas Johannes is a driver for Shuttle Direct, the number one provider of shared and private airport transfers all over Europe and northern Africa. If you’re looking for an affordable transfer from Lloret de Mar to Barcelona, Lukas and his colleagues can make sure that you and your luggage get to and from the airport swiftly and safely.
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By Paul Jones
Brussels is an ideal destination for British holidaymakers. With its location in the crossroads of different cultures, and as headquarters to many European institutions, it fits the archetype of a melting pot city, yet still manages to retain its own flavour. Renowned for its landmarks, chocolate, waffles and beer, it is just a short trip away on the Eurostar, perfect for a relaxing and fulfilling weekend getaway. In order to make a trip to Brussels more enjoyable, this article outlines some of the things to see and do while in the Belgian capital.
Brussels has two official languages, French and Dutch, meaning all streets have two names, but most citizens and tourists use the French. English is also becoming a commonly spoken language due to the international institutions, such as NATO and the European Commission based in the city. You can find out about upcoming events in Brussels by visiting the Brussels Agenda website.
In the heart of the city is the Grand Place, a central square surrounded by the city tower and a range of beautiful buildings. It is popular with tourists, and a good starting point to explore the city. The famous Manneken Pis statue, of a little boy piddling, is a short walk away, as is the town hall, Hotel de Ville. Dating back to the early 15th century, the striking gothic architecture makes it a popular landmark in the city, and during the summer months the city organises evening entertainment, including fireworks, light and sound shows free of charge. Other landmarks worthy of a visit are the Palais Royale and the Cinquantenaire Museum and Autoworld Car Museum.
Belgium is to beer what France is to wine and its capital city as a great place to sample some of the vast variety on offer. The typical beers in Brussels are the bitter Gueuze, the sweeter, cherry based Kriek and the Trappist ale. Another local speciality is the "half-en-half" which is a mixture of champagne and white wine.
To sample the best beers Brussels have to offer, the Belgium Beer Tour is a great place to start. The tour covers a wide range of breweries and appeals to connoisseurs and novices alike. Some local breweries, like the Cantillon Brewery, also have their own sampling tours. The city is full of restaurants, cafes, and brasseries that offer a large number of beers along with the traditional national dishes. The famous Delirium Cafe, just a stone’s throw from Grande Place, claims to stock over 2,000 different types of beer, and is popular with tourists and locals alike.
Brussels is also popular with chocoholics, with many tourists flocking to the shops around Grand Place selling chocolate Manneken Pis replicas, but to really experience the best chocolates the city has to offer, head to Grand Sablon. Considered Brussels’ chocolate Mecca, it is a small square near the beautiful Notre Dame de Sablon church, and is home to, amongst others, the three most widely renowned chocolatiers in the city - Neuhaus, Pierre Marcolini and Wittamer, each with its own speciality.
Wittamer is the official supplier to the Belgium court, offering traditional Belgian chocolates and hot chocolate. Pierre Marcolini offers more exotic flavours, with cocoa beans sourced from around the world. Neuhaus invented the praline in 1912, and now offers over 60 different flavours in its shop. Other chocolatiers worth visiting in Grand Sablon include Godiva and Leonidas.
Gastronomes are also well catered for in Brussels, with approximately 1,800 restaurants, and local specialities include Belgian waffles, mussels, usually served with frites, and the frites themselves, locally known as fritkots. Waffles and fritkots can be bought from street vendors, and are ubiquitous in tourist areas. For the more adventurous, Belgian delicacies include river eels in green sauce and turbot fish in cream and egg sauce.
If you are planning on making a trip to Brussels on the Eurostar, remember that many hotels offer long and short term hotel parking offers near train stations, many with overnight accommodation, which can be a relief for early travel.
Hopefully this has given you some idea of what to do and see when visiting the Belgian capital and ensure you have memories and experiences to last a lifetime.
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By Gus Caje-Medina
Volunteering is something I have always enjoyed, ever since I was at school and used to help the younger pupils at an after school club. For me, in a world where most people seem to be largely concerned with pursuing their own selfish goals, there is something really amazing about giving up time to improve the lives of others. I have worked part-time for most of my professional life, and have balanced it with a variety of volunteering placements. When my work at a local school for the blind came to an end and I started considering my next move, I began to think about the possibility of voluntary work abroad.
This new stage of my volunteering career appealed because I felt it would be a fantastic opportunity to experience a different culture and learn about another part of the world – something I may never have had the opportunity to do otherwise. Even though I knew my time as a volunteer at home was put to very good use, I felt that there were areas in developing countries where I might be able to make even more of a difference than I had done here. As a lot of my volunteering experience was in working with children, I focussed my search for voluntary work abroad on placements which enabled me to work with children. It was eye-opening just browsing through the volunteering opportunities that were available, and got my thinking about the millions of children worldwide who are in need of help just to achieve a decent standard of living.
I lost my mother at quite a young age, so I felt particularly drawn to volunteer placements with children who had lost parents, and orphanages in particular. I had always wanted to see South Africa, and with the football world cup coming up, the media coverage of the country and all its issues had really sharpened my interest. I therefore narrowed my search to find orphanages in South Africa that were looking for extra help. For a country very much in the grip of HIV and AIDS, there was an unsurprisingly large number of young people who had lost parents due serious illness, and the organizations that looked after these children were clearly finding it a real struggle to provide the care and attention they needed.
I arrived to find what seemed like an adapted version of a boarding school, with only a fraction of the money behind it. A matron-type figure cooked dinner every morning for the sixty children, got them out of bed and ready for school, and cleaned their bedrooms and dormitories every day. With so much physical work to be done, one of the gaping holes in the work of this fantastic organization was finding enough time to give these children the emotional support and love that they would have got from their parents. For me to fill this role would perhaps have been slightly counter-productive, as when my two month volunteer period came to an end, I would have to leave the children behind, severing any bonds that had been formed and causing them to leave another person they had become close to. Instead, I took on all the cooking duties, which freed up the matron to pay the children the emotional attention they desperately needed.
This voluntary work abroad was a very different experience from anything I had done at home. The very scale of the care needed for the young people of South Africa was quite a shock, and I was just happy to be able to make a minor difference to these children’s lives in the small time I spent there.
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