Because visiting a country shouldn’t stay in a superficial approach of just doing the sites, but should also take you more in depth in the essence of the land so you can go back home with a more meaningful understanding of the society you visited, we sometimes publish posts in our blog that will help you understand the Catalan identity. In this tag you’ll find all of them, covering special traditions that are cherished by the locals, but we’ll also go a bit more daring and share our insights about the local politics. Anything we consider it’s crucial for you to get a broad understanding of Barcelona and Catalonia and its relationship with Spain.
ARE THERE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CASTILIAN SPANISH VS CATALAN? A Spanish student arrives to Barcelona, gets out of the plane and the first thing they notice is that… they don’t recognize the words in the signs! Were all their lessons rubbish? No: the signs are in Catalan! (Actually, in the airport Spanish and English are also …
WHAT DOES THE NATIONAL DAY OF CATALONIA CELEBRATE? Today is September 11, a day that for Catalans means something very different from what it mean for the rest of the world. Today we celebrate La Diada, the National Day of Catalonia. And while most nations have picked a victory day for their own National Day, we …
NO FEAR I had a post ready to go with a refreshing Gazpacho recipe for today, but in the light of the recent tragic events in Barcelona, I felt I had to do something else. This is in memory of the people who perished in La Rambla and the fishing town of Cambrils after the attacks …
EVERYTHING YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT CATALAN HUMAN TOWERS The tradition of building human towers in Catalonia has existed for over 200 years: we call it Castellers. Castellers are people who build towers with their bodies and make different constructions called castells (castles). It’s such a deeply rooted tradition that there are even competitions between teams of Castellers to see who …
FLAGS FROM SPAIN, CATALONIA AND OTHER YOU’LL SEE IN BARCELONA Unless you are very familiar with all the flags of Spain, when you come to Barcelona you are likely to get confused when you see all the difference lacks we have here. Plus many of them are yellow and red flags… How can you tell which …
THE BEST CATALAN RESTAURANTS IN BARCELONA Catalan food has inherited flavors from a rich variety of landscapes and the cultures that we’ve been in contact with during our history. A taste range of vegetables, meats, fish and seafood, eggs, pasta, rice… with a Mediterranean flavor but a local touch. But how can you tell where you …
ROSES AND BOOKS FOR SANT JORDI IN BARCELONA On April 23rd we celebrate “La Diada de Sant Jordi”. If you are in town, you will see that all of a sudden Barcelona is much more busy: there are people all around buying flowers and books. What’s going on? It’s the April 23 Holiday: St. George’s …
