What you think parenting is like versus what it is actually like
What you think parenting is like versus what it is actually like

Amanda Cassidy

It may appear tiny from the front, but this Ballsbridge cottage on the market for €750,000 is surprisingly spacious
It may appear tiny from the front, but this Ballsbridge cottage on the market for...

Megan Burns

How to give your home a wellness makeover (without spending a fortune)
How to give your home a wellness makeover (without spending a fortune)

Amanda Cassidy

Does disordered eating fuel our consumption of ‘What I Eat in a Day’ videos?
Does disordered eating fuel our consumption of ‘What I Eat in a Day’ videos?

IMAGE

Irish designer Jonathan Anderson named among TIME’s people of the year
Irish designer Jonathan Anderson named among TIME’s people of the year

Sarah Gill

Do you know what the pill is actually doing to your body?
Do you know what the pill is actually doing to your body?

Sophie Morris

This Clontarf home has been transformed with a spacious extension full of delicately dappled light
This Clontarf home has been transformed with a spacious extension full of delicately dappled light

Megan Burns

New life has been breathed into this Victorian Portobello home thanks to a revamp that’s full of personality
New life has been breathed into this Victorian Portobello home thanks to a revamp that’s...

Megan Burns

Supper Club: Grilled Caesar salad with chickpea croutons
Supper Club: Grilled Caesar salad with chickpea croutons

Meg Walker

Outdoor table and chairs sets to order now for summer
Outdoor table and chairs sets to order now for summer

Megan Burns

Image / Editorial

Five Good Reasons To Visit Barcelona


By Eoin Higgins
24th Nov 2016
Five Good Reasons To Visit Barcelona

EATING From restaurants such as Albert Adria’s Tickets to his take on the Mexican oeuvre in eateries Hoja Santa, or Niño Viejo, Baria is a lush larder of decadent deliciousness. There is also an abundance of edible retail morsels to pick over. Make a proper meal out of Sunday picnicking in Parc de la Ciutadella (where you’ll also find a zoo, rowing boats and a grotesque fountain) with a basketful of tasty takeaway soupçons from the famous La Boqueria food market.

hoja-santa-barbate-shrimp-taco

BEACHES Life’s a beach, or at least it can be in the capital of Catalunya, or very close by. The city’s most popular, La Barceloneta, sits alongside the neighbourhood of the same name – a working-class gem packed full of tiny apartments and family-run fish restaurants. Further afield, the rainbow oasis of Sitges is home to 17 individual lidos. Whether you seek small, large, quiet, busy, naturist, or family-friendly, you’ll find a playa to suit your choice of bathing/birthday suit.

playa-barceloneta-barcelona-t0801968-jpg_369272544

GAUDI A true Modernist metropolis, the city is pierced with enough precious stones to pique even the snootiest 19th-century neophiliac’s interest. From the fantasy landscape of Parc Guell in the north of the city to the sculpted beauty of Casa Mila, Casa Batllo and Casa Figueres, Antoni Gaudi has made his mark all over town. Perhaps most impressive, yet still unfinished, the architect’s Sagrada Familia cathedral is a true monument of modernist construction.
662px-parc_gu%cc%88ell_by_antoni_gaudi_barcelona_spain

MAGIC FOUNTAIN The fountain show at Plaza Espanya is the essence of Spanish spectacle. While the frequency of the event seems to change with the seasons – be sure to check out timetables online, beforehand – there is typically at least one daily evening show in the summer months. Light, colour, music, water, intensity and calmness are all there to be absorbed. Particularly cheesy, yet absolutely goose-pimpling, is experiencing the display when it’s accompanied by the beauty of Freddie Mercury’s Barcelona blaring in the background.

Spain, Catalonia, Barcelona, Spectators watching Fountain of Montjuic located at the head of Avenida Maria Cristina

CAMP NOU Home to FC Barcelona since 1957, the Camp Nou football stadium is a verified city icon. With a capacity of nearly 100,000 it is also the most accommodating stadium in the country – take that Bernabau, Madrid. Tickets to see the venerated Barca can be purchased online at fcbarcelona.es but, if you can’t swing a ticket to a game, the hour-and-a-half stadium tour is almost as exhilarating, from €25 approx.

640px-camp_nou_-_interior_2005