So by now, you must have heard that Barcelona has plenty to offer: legendary nightlife, stunning architecture, fascinating culture, mouth-watering cuisine, beaches- the list goes on and on. However, did you know that Barcelona is not just a great city for adults to let loose and play, but a fabulous destination for family trips and kid-friendly activities? One of the first things I noticed upon arriving in the city and exploring my neighborhood, Gracia, is the plethora of children’s shops in the area- they are seriously the majority of stores and once or twice I have walked past a window and seriously considered trying to squeeze myself into the largest size available! This certainly explains all of the well-dressed children I have seen here- be them running around in the large playground/ park in the middle of Via Augusta, splashing in the water at the beach, laughing hysterically as they navigate the maze in the Labyrinth Park, or simply enjoying a meal with their parents. Okay, so you get the point that if you bring your children here, you will be able to take them shopping- but for most people that does not really make for an enjoyable family vacation. So what else is there to do with the kids? I have already briefly hinted at certain activities, such as the beach, Labyrinth Park, and eating, of course. However there’s so much more - check out the “mornings at the zoo” organized just for kids in Park Ciutadella, the Barcelona Aquarium, the amusement park at Tibidabo for fun with an incredible view of the city, Bubbleparc in Maremagnum, expose your children to some of the fabulous culture with special art programs run at the MACBA, and, if you all can stay awake, the Magic Fountain show at Montjuic is a must-see! Barcelona never fails to offer something for everyone, on any given day and if you somehow can’t find something just right for you or your family, we’re up for the challenge, so just ask us!!

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The Easter Week is just about to begin and it’s a great time to find out the origins and traditions of the most important religious Spanish public holiday. The Holy Week (“Semana Santa” in Spanish) starts on Palm Sunday, one week before the Resurrection Sunday, and it lasts till Easter Monday – this year it runs from 28^th March till 5^th April. During the Holy Week there are six big processions in the city center as well as in the suburbs of Barcelona. The main attraction of the processions are big, beautifully decorated platforms carrying huge wooden sculptures of Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary or other saints and biblical figures. The processions are called “Pasos” in Spanish, which means “steps” or “passage”. The whole tradition of “Pasos” involves a special procedure. The super heavy floats are carried by 30-50 men - called “costaleros” in Spanish. Their leader, “capataz”, is responsible for determining the breaks in between carrying the platforms and the signal to lift or set down the platform is given by the crier, “llamador”, who knocks on the front of the float.

The tradition of Easter procession began in Sevilla, Andulucia. It is also Andalaucians who began the processions in Catalonia. They wanted to bring some Easter traditions from home and in 1977 they started their own processions, native to these ones from the south of Spain.

Although the Easter Processions are a great attraction many locals escape from Barcelona to nearby villages during the Holy Week. Usually even up to 600.000 people decide to leave. Many of them go by car causing extreme traffic. This mass exodus, called “Operation Exit” (“Operacion Salida”), gives the tourists a good opportunity to visit the city, which becomes less noisy and perhaps even more pleasant.

Very nice “Pasos” are held on Good Friday along the city center of Barcelona with the mass in Saint August (“La Iglesia de Sant Agustí”) and Saint Jaume (“Iglesia de Sant Jaume”) churches. You can find other Easter celebrations in the cathedral Santa Maria del Mar and in Calle Ferran in the Gothic Quarter, they are usually held at 17.00.

“Mona de Pascua” (The Easter Gift) is the most important culinary tradition in Catalonia. The word “Mona” comes either from a Moroccan or Latin word meaning “gift”. According to the 15-century-tradition a Mona is a gift from a godfather or godmother to their god-children for Easter. Legend says that committed Catholics were not allowed to eat eggs during the 40 days before Easter. For this reason, they saved the eggs until Easter to use them for baking cakes. The original Mona is similar to a donut in shape, with some boiled eggs in it.

Today´s Monas differ in shapes and forms. The typical Catalan Mona has a shape of a monkey as “mona” means monkey in the Catalan language. Some of them are covered with chocolate, some with cream. Easter time is a great challenge for the Catalan chocolate producers and bakers who compete to make the most original Mona de Pascua in the hope of being mentioned on Easter TV News.

The following is the timetable of the processions.

Enjoy - Happy Easter!

All six Cofradia processions usually start at Placa de la Bobila or Carrer del Moli (Metro station: Can Vidalet, L5 Blue Line)

Sunday 28th March 2010. Domingo de Ramos. Palm Sunday
11:00 The first Easter procession
18:30 Paso de Jusús Cautivo

Friday 2nd April 2010. Viernes Santo. Good Friday
08:30 Procession of Jesus from Nazareth Paso and Our Lady of Sorrows
21:00 The Atonement of Christ

Saturday 3rd April 2010. Sabado Santo. Easter Saturday
20:00 Procession of The Holy Tomb and Our Lady of Solitude

Sunday 4th April 2010. Domingo de Resurrección - Resurrection Sunday - Easter Day
18:00 Processions of Resurrection of Jesus and Our Lady of Remedies

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While searching for some cultural attractions in Barcelona, I found many interesting exhibitions and galleries. I have to admit that some of them were pretty amazing and Barcelona surprised me one more time offering another way of spending spare time completely for free! Let me tell you something about my latest discovery: exhibitions at Palau Robert (Passeig de Gracia, 107). “Catalonia in the world” is the name of a photo reportage, made by Gustau Nacarino, presenting different events in Catalonia, Spain. The exhibition shows that Nacarino is not only a photographer but more a journalist and a correspondent in his own country who tries to contribute to “raising the world’s awareness of Catalonia”. And not just as a tourist destinantion. His pictures present various places in Barcelona throughout 40 years, which is very interesting to see how, for example, Estacion Nord (North Station) looked like in 1965. But this is only one part of Naracino’s exhibition. A great part was dedicated to the musicians that visited Barcelona in a certain moment in time – great pictures of artists like Queen (79), Bob Dylan (81), Bob Marley (78) or Boy George (83). Exhibition includes music and videos as well.

Another exhibition available in Palau Robert is called “Xarxes, un viatge per ler infraestructures de Catalunya” (In Catalan) which means “Networks, a journey through infrastructures of Barcelona”. It presents the urban side of Barcelona, including statistics, music, videos and real objects like metro carriage placed right there in the middle museum – very authentic! I picked up interestingly quirky information such as the amount of refuse produced each day in Barcelona… 57.500 tons! Want to know more? Palau Robert – from 10 till 19h every week day.

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You can’t have failed to notice that the world is going through a bit of a tough patch at the minute and it seems that everybody is feeling the pinch. But here at Lifestyle, we firmly believe that you should still be able to inject a little bit of luxury into your life, no matter what your budget, so we’ve been working hard to provide you with a selection of Summer Special Offers. Check out a few of our favourites below.

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I can almost guarantee that, at some point in their life, every girl has been reading a celebrity gossip magazine and seen Jennifer Lopez, Paris Hilton, etc. relaxing on a yacht, with a glass of champagne in hand as they drift along the French Riviera, surrounded by gorgeous men. And I can also guarantee that every single girl has thought, why can’t that be me? Probably every man as well (we all know how they secretly like to read our magazines!). Well, we’re here to make dreams come true, and with our new Romantic Night on a Luxury Yacht experience, you can enjoy the lifestyle of the rich and the famous and share it all with your loved one.

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Here at Lifestyle, we’re always looking for new and exciting experiences to offer our customers. With over 350 unique activities on offer we’re doing pretty well so far, but we’re still not satisfied! So this month, the team has been hard at work searching for even more amazing experiences. Check out some of our favourites below…

Go Car Treasure Hunt

The Lifestyle Sales Team had the chance to try out this experience a few weeks ago, and it’s now a firm favourite in the office. You won’t stop giggling as you zip through the streets of Barcelona, wearing a red nose, singing Britney Spears and convincing unsuspecting locals to give you their bikes! The photos will provide enough blackmail material for a lifetime! Luckily, that Britney Spears video seems to have disappeared…

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Last year December, inspired by the fantastic movie The Bucket List, Tony Anagor (Director of Lifestyle Experiences Group) decided to do write a list of 100 things that he wanted to do in his life, very high on the list was a Parachute Jump. ‘ it is one of those crazy things that most people would talk about doing, fewer would think about doing and even fewer would actually do’ said Tony. Being the Director of the first truly dedicated experiences companies in Barcelona, for Tony it was more than just a passing possibility, it was a prerequisite of the job!!

So having decided that he would do the jump, he mentioned his desire to a friend Noelle who shared the similar desire, she encouraged him to place a post on the social networking sites a smallworld.net and internations.org…. a community was born.

To his surprise there was a flurry of responses from people who also had dreamt of doing a parachute jump but never had the resources or the gumption to actually make it happen.

The jump took place last Saturday 21st March and what an adrenaline pumped event it was!! ‘We left at 8am in the morning in a convoy of 4 cars headed for Girona’ says Raquel . ‘One of the best parts of the whole experience was bonding with 15 total strangers with whom you have one thing in common…the desire to jump out of a plane.’ The group of sixteen have now called themselves the bucket list crew and have formed a group on facebook. They have promised to get together at least once a month and share some once in a lifetime experiences, next on the cards, scuba diving, white water rafting, canyoning, bridge jumping swimming with sharks.

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Last month, I decided to spend some time visiting three of the top terraces in Barcelona. I went ‘undercover’ which is another way for saying that I went as a paying customer not as a researcher in dark glasses and a moustache. My findings were very interesting, so much so that I have commissioned myself to do another an in depth study next spring. Read the rest…

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Last month we had some fun with a group of bankers, corporate lawyers, and consultants from the UK. the group who were all childhood friends had one request… the best that Barcelona has to offer!! We accepted the challenge with relish and put together a program of top restaurants, VIP entry into some of the top clubs in Barcelona, a luxury spa morning and the Barcelona Luxury Car Experience.

At a pre-agreed, time we arranged for a fleet of cars including an Aston Martin DB7, A Maserati, Ferrari Modena, Mercedes 500 SL and my favourite the classic Morgan, to be waiting outside their hotel (Hotel Claris) to take them on a tour of Barcelona followed by a scenic drive along the coastline and through the hills of Garraf to an exclusive strip of Bars in Sitges.

The night went on till 7am in the morning… but that is another story….

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Barcelona has seven beaches which stretch for a total of around 2.5 miles (4km). Many of these created when the city’s waterfront area was refurbished for the 1992 Olympics. All the beaches have excellent facilities including showers, disabled access, sunbed hire and lifeguards (summer only). They are also well maintained by the local authorities.

Sant Sebastia

Platja de Sant Sebastia is the easternmost of Barcelona’s seven beaches. It is also one of the longest, measuring around 1km in length. Next to the beach is the Torre de Sant Sebastian. From this 78-metre tower there is a cable car across the port to Torre de Jaume I and Montjuic.

Metro station: Barceloneta

Barceloneta Read the rest…

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