I love closed shops!
Well, for one, it saves me lots of monay… And also, they so often have very groovy curtains, like this one. Excellent job!
The electrician
An electrician must be some kind of Greek god, according to this shop front! Zeus himself!
Where is home?
Here is one suggestion.
And I love the lamps!
Please visit Mandarin Orange Monday, by Lorikart
Tintin et Milou
A little piece of Belgium, inside the Arenas shopping center. Dedicated to Luna, Leia and Cezar, in Belgium, and not in Luxembourg anymore.
Probably the best bookshop in the world…
I never do publicity for anything commercial, and this is THE exception: Altair. Simply the biggest travel bookshop in Europe, and one of the biggest in the world. They have everything you can dream of, and even their own travel agency! Wanna find out how to go to Gavdos, Aitutaki or Fakaofa, this is the place! And it’s just around the corner! Been coming here for 30 years.
What is your best bookshop in the world?
Sweets for my sweet…
We both love oriental sweets, and you can get them everywhere here. Dangerous!!!
 The keeper
 CDP December theme: our street
Our street is the theme for this month on the CDP portal, and this is the photo we chose, a photo about the street around the corner from ours.
Click here to see other people’s streets.
The great sea
The Maremagnum (great sea) shopping center, seen from Montjuic hill. A shopping center with a normal cinema, an IMAX cinema, many restaurants, painters, artists… A very lively place in the Port Vell, the old port.
Quite a spectacle!
Well… A pretty colorful shopfront! And a sight for sore eyes…
English word of the day: grammar…
word history: Although the two concepts are rarely associated with each other, grammar and glamour are linked. Recorded in Middle English, the word grammar came via French gramaire and Latin grammatica from Greek grammatikē (tekhnē) ‘(art) of letters’. In the Middle Ages Latin grammatica was often used to mean ‘learning’, and because many people associated scholarship with magic, grammar seems to have taken on the meaning ‘enchantment, magic’. It was in Scottish English in the 18th century that the spelling change from grammar to glamour occurred, and the form glamour became fixed in the meaning ‘magic’ and later ‘an attractive and exciting quality’. Similarly, grimoire ‘a book of spells’ derives from an alternative spelling of French grammaire ‘grammar’.
For the small pleasures in life…
Yet another shop in Barcelona… There are shops for everything here!
A new word…
As an English teacher, I absolutely like discovering new words. Found the very nice boustrophedon the other day…Â Â Anyway, fashion made of trash? TRASHION, of course! In this case, bags made of recycled plastic.
La señora de la tienda de abanicos
Aka the lady from the fan shop. It is still quite hot here, 28 to 30 degrees most days. So hail to this most Spanish of all inventions!
A night on the town
Getting up most mornings at 6 or earlier, I don’t really get much out in the evening. But there are some exceptions… The old bullfighting arena, now a trendy shopping mall. Bullfighting is illegal here in Catalunya, unlike the rest of Spain.
The golden ant
La Formiga d’ or, or golden ant, is one of the nicer bookshops in town. We just love the place, being giant bookworms. There are 2 of them in town, one in the cathedral’s cloister, and one nearby. Both have a very medieval feel. What’s your favorite bookshop like?
Monthly theme day: bakeries
Came across this open air ecological bakery, during last week’s earth day celebrations.
This is for our monthly theme day.
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants
Tomorrow, we will post something about dragons and bakeries.
And here is the bread
One for the trendy lady about town
Nice bags, wouldn’t you agree?
 http://cdpbthemeday.blogspot.com.au/
Candles
A very nice candle shop, just behind the cathedral shown yesterday. I will come back to the cathedral and it’s inside in a few days.
Our World Tuesday, right here.
Woodstock/Barcelona
According to the press, we have here in town Europe’s only museum of Rock. Many interesting artifacts in there, this poster, for example. Mandy took the photo, but it brought back some nice memories to me, Rob.
I mean, get the picture a bit bigger, and read the names of the bands present! The best ever concert, ever,ever! No?
Should you want to go there, it is in the Arenas shopping mall on Plaza de Espana.
The bag shop
A trendy bag shop nearby. Don’t you just love the desk?
With a little help from HDR, Photomatix Pro. See more black and white photos here.
Happy anniversary!
Our yearly Christmas market, the Fira de Santa Lucia, is 225 years old! Congratulations!
Our World Tuesday, right here.
Indios
Indios in Barcelona. Not exactly what you might be thinking. Indios, Indians, were people from Catalunya who emigrated to the West Indies, mainly Cuba, during the 19th century, made a fortune there, mainly with cane sugar, rum, and so on. They later came back rich, and built many of the fine buildings in Barcelona. One of them opened this shop in the Raval, where you can still buy good quality sheets, linen, blankets…Many of the rich merchants who helped the struggling modernist architects such as Gaudi at the begining of the 20th century were Indios.
Pointless post
I went to a shopping mall nearby yesterday, and guess what? I saw some strange things going on.
Dude, where is my chicken?
 Some Tshirts hanging on a wooden wall… Want to know more? You can go there:
I didn’t check it out. I mean, what’s the point?
Catalan vs Spanish: BIG trouble in little Catalunya!
This is what Wiki has to say:
Catalan (English pronunciation: /kætəˈlæn/, /ˈkætəlæn/, /ˈkætələn/; Catalan: català , IPA: [kətəˈɫa] or [kataˈla]) is a Romance language, the national and the only official language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian (valencià , IPA: [valensiˈa]), as well as in the city of Alghero on the Italian island of Sardinia. It is also spoken, with no official recognition, in the autonomous communities of Aragon (in La Franja) and Murcia (in Carche) in Spain, and in the historic Roussillon region of southern France, roughly equivalent to the current département of the Pyrénées-Orientales (Northern Catalonia).
Although recognized as a regional language of the department Pyrénées-Orientales since 2007, Catalan has no official recognition in France, as French is the only official language of that country, according to the French Constitution of 1958.                 Â
OK, thank you Wiki. Now… BIG trouble! Since 1982, teaching in catalan schools, kindergardens, universities, is in the Catalan language.
But since there are some Spanish people (…) living in Catalunya as well, some of them protested. They want their kids to be tought in Spanish, the language of Cervantes and Lorca.
So, what happened? This week,the highest tribunal in the country (meaning Catalunya, not the other one, not Spain) decided that, to respect a tiny minority’s wishes, teaching will from now on be done exclusively in Spanish, in schools, universities, kindergardens, etc.
The Catalan majority literally exploded, as you can imagine!
To be continued…
Meanwhile, in Barcelona… I took this photo in February, long before this story started. The owner of this shop, with an originally Spanish sign, tried to ‘ catalanise ‘ it, transforming escritorio into escriptori, papeleria into papereria. He might be a member of one of the few political parties here fighting for independance from Spain.
Many economists say that without Catalunya, Spain would long be bankrupt… As I said earlier, TBC. We’re living interesting times.
… and now over to the weather report…
Facing the Corte Ingles, on the Portal del Angel, there is probably, according to several of our guidebooks, the tallest thermometer in Europe.
It comes complete with a small weather station underneath.
 
Skywatch Friday
And another SOOC, straight out of the camera, photo. The Plaza de Espana, late one evening, with the Barcelona Arena, former bullring turned into the latest shopping center in town.
Check out what my blogger mates did for Skywatch Friday!
HOG days: the ones for sale
 
You gonna get the blues with that one!
Love, sex and diamonds…
…is the name of a shop we walked in one day, selling clothes, gadgets, lamps, guitars, flower pots… Anything really.
Fira per la Terra 2011: shopping
Many nice stalls for shopaholics and others were there, of course. Everything slightly or more so alternative. Or not.
This was, I think, the smallest of them all…
The bullring
Right. We’re in Spain. In Spain, we have bullrings. Here is a different kind… After being built in the early 20th century, after a long onslaught, it closed down, and was remodeled into what it is now, a brand new shopping center, Las Arenas. It wasn’t easy. Due to the worldwide economic crisis, the works stopped for almost a year. But it finally opened 3 weeks ago. Inside? The same high-street shops you can find everywhere else, plus the first ever museum of rock in Europe. And a great view over Barcelona from the top, or so they say: too many people when we tried to go there.
Here is what inside looks like.
About the museum of rock, I will show it to you when it will be possible to enter the place without having to queue for endless hours. Soon!This shop on Good Luck Square…
…sells handbags made of recycled stuff.
The shop’s furniture looks kinda groovy, but is it recycled?
Anyway, welcome to Good Luck Square, la plaza del Bon Succes.
Post 615: Mc Merry-go-round???
…as seen near the Maremagnum shopping center, in the Port Vell.
Once again, I’m having header problems: tried to change it for a new one, but whatever I put comes out blurred. Anyone knows what’s happening?
Weekend Reflections 70
Oh look, that’s us! Let’s take a photo!
Another weekend reflection. Want more? Click here!
Experimenting some header problems. Will try to fix it ASAP. Although it might be a good idea to K.I.S.S. for a while…
Do you need any…
 … scissors?
 … bottle openers? This is the place to go, on Plaza del Pi!
This is My World, on Tuesday! Please click here to see more worlds from this world!
Weekend Reflections 69
Barcelona airport, 5 AM…
This is for James’s Weekend Reflections meme. Please click here to see much much more!
Breaking news!
Mr Santa, aka Pere Noel, Nick Cringle, Weihnachtsmann, etc. Big guy, elderly, big belly, white beard.
We think we know all about him. And that’s a fact. Some of you don’t believe in him.
Well, I’ve got some news for you! He’s real! Want some proof?
None other than Mrs Santa told me! She was in town the other day, Christmas Eve, in order to finish her (much older) hubby’s shopping. Well, someone has to do it, he is quite busy, you know!
Anyway, I met her coming out of some trendy fashion shop on the Ramblas (whose present did she buy there???). Nice girl.
One thing though… Can’t stand that partner look thing!
This is for My World Tuesday. Click here to see more.
Please check also out the BIGGEST CAGANER IN THE WORLD EVER on my other photo blog, right here! Front and back!
It’s Christmas!
So, well: merry Christmas to all of you celebrating it, happy holidays to others, and, finally, have a good day at work to some others! You know who you are.
Incidentally, it’s my sister’s birthday today as well. Bon anniversaire, vieille branche!
Tomorrow, we’ll start talking about some very serious, very extreme sailing…
I want to break free!
Please set me free!
Been a while, but here we go… This is our friend Xavi’s garden (well, mostly) blog. Have a look, it’s fabulous!
Theme day: Time
You might remember the summer of 1982 (if you’re old enough, that is). This little guy came to visit us by accident. All he wanted to do was to phone home. He did indeed fly home at the end of the summer.
28 years later… TIME flies. But…What happened to him???
Well, and this is breaking news: we are very happy to report that he chose the beautiful city of Barcelona for his long awaited comeback!
His planet’s money not being worth peanuts here, he was lucky enough to get this job, selling TIMEpieces in the Raval, in Carrer Tallers. Bienvenido a Barcelona, tio!
PS: original picture reworked, as it was very dark, and as I somehow had to get rid of the reflections on the window.
This is for the monthly theme day, this month’s theme being TIME.
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants
This is also for ABC Wednesday, Round 7 hosted by Mrs. Denise Nesbitt and the ABC Team of Denise, Roger, Jay, Troy, Barb, Gattina, Sylvia, Annelie, Linda, Donna, Helen and all those I forget or don’t know about. To participate and view what others have in mind, please log on to this site.
Free
Barcelona is a very youthful city. For a person in his late teens or twenties, it is a paradise: beaches, bars, discos, many many concerts all the time. And surfboarding! Here is the little shop in our street, selling the free spirit.
Lady in red
Saw this lady in red, with dog, in a fashion shop near the cathedral. Wouldn’t you ladies want a dress made of roses?
The english cut
Night shot of the main building of the gigantic Corte Ingles, on Plaza de Catalunya.
El Corte Inglés (English: The English Cut as in tailor’s cut) is Spain’s only remaining department store chain, as well as owner of several associated businesses, such as supermarket chains Hipercor, Supercor; Opencor, fashion chain Sfera as well as a travel agency (Viajes El Corte Ingles) and telephone provider (Telecor).
It has a nice food corner, where you can find such delicacies as Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, black pasta, selected rare cheeses, very fine wines and cigars, and so on. Expensive for Spain, but worth a treat now and then. A must. And of course, all the clothes, IT stuff, photo stuff one can dream off. A dangerous place for our wallets.
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalà i Domènech, Marquis of Dalà de Púbol
 
It’s good to be the King!
We’re away for the weekend, to the beautiful city of Lourdes, in the french Pyrenees. But no worries, the King of the Frogs himself has gently agreed to keep you company, for a price (75 euros). Thanks, Froggie!
PS: please call him His Maj!
Jack!
We’re away for the weekend, to the beautiful city of Lourdes, in the French Pyrenees. Jack Nicholson graciously agreed to keep you company meanwhile. Thanks, Jack!
Window shopping
It is still too hot for me to go out a lot during the day, so we went for some window shopping the other night, at a safe hour, after most of the shops closed. They usually close at 10 PM. The windows actually look nicer at night.
Why do they put handbags behind bars? To protect them from bag snatchers? If they knew me, they would rather put the candies behind bars!!! 🙂
The dog is hot
Right, we moved to the Raval, and it wasn’t too bad or tiring. We even came across a nice special offer on internet, but… it will take 10 to 20 days for a technician to come and to set it up. Meanwhile, I am sitting here at the terrace of a famous Seattle-based coffee company, with free wifi, posting a hot dog place. Amazingly, you can even have your hot dog with some choucroute/sauerkraut, (xucrut in catalan)which is quite rare in Catalunya!
Fira Mercat de Bellcaire, aka Encants
I know: it says one photo a day. Well, today, we’ll do an exception. Rules are made to be broken, innit?
Anyway, before moving out of the area, I went back to this magical place which is the fira mercat de Bellcaire, the Encants flea market. Quite an amazing place, I suppose you can find pretty much everything there. Very old place, been around since the 14th century. Christopher Columbus wasn’t even born yet! Open 4 days a week, over 100.000 visitors a week…
Here is some of the things you can see and/or buy, from doorstoppers to matrasses, air guitars, clothes by the kilo, any doll ever made… And so much more!
Many of the stall owners hate photographers, so be careful when you go there, as they’ve been breaking some people’s cameras. Just play the part of the stupid tourist, as I usually do: it works.
Diversity
We are currently exploring the Raval part of Barcelona a bit further, as we will be moving there this saturday. Some of the things we really like in the area is the cultural and gastronomic diversity.
This one below is specially for our many filipino blogger friends: the first ever filipino restaurant we’ve really noticed in Barcelona.
Unfortunately, as they seem to have mostly fried dishes, and as my doctor say I should NOT (!!!), not sure we’ll ever eat there.
Different shopping
Well, let’s face it: you can get everything in Spain.
Not smoking this stuff ourselves, I’m not quite sure about the legal side of this shops (been told it’s a chain). Must be legal, I suppose. Photos taken in Valencia, but there are Mr H shops in Barcelona as well.
Gracia market scenes
Many many covered markets in Barcelona, and we love them. Here are a few scenes from the one in Gracia.
My world tuesday
…and there is also this slightly surreal shoe shop in the Barri Gotic. Selling shoes. Or should I say: selling one shoe, in many different colors and materials.
This is for My World Tuesday. Please click here to see other participant’s worlds in pictures.
Different worlds?
Did a bit of window shopping lately, and I came across these 2 very different mannequins. The first one was in some trendy alternative shop in the popular part of the old town…
… and the second one is the latest trend from Chanel, on Passeig de Gracia, Barcelona’s Champs Elizees. Yep, topless.
Which one would you prefer?
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Emotions
Emotions. Mute dreams. Emptyness. Space. The space of a second. Loving without forgiveness. To lose the innocence of being.
Emotions, by Antonio Iglesias.
A shop window.
Faster, food!
Quite a common sight in Barcelona, tshirts, jackets, bags with a supposedly funny picture or slogan.
I actually rather like this one, on someone’s jacket.
Run, pussycat, run!!!
My apologies to Luna (click HERE!) if this picture is traumatising. I’ve read somewhere that you can now get shrinks for pets, should you need it.
Plaza de toros
This is one of the 2 bullfighting arenas I know of in Barcelona.
Bullfighting. Whatever you might think of it, the news here are that many people try to stop it. Some want to stop it entirely, some want it to be just a sport, with no actual killing of the toros, the way they do it in Portugal.
Well, this arena is being transformed into a giant shopping center. Due to the crisis, the works stopped for a year, but they started again. The complex should open early next year.
And once again… Sorry for having so little time to browsing your blogs. Will try to come back as soon as possible.
Jamon serrano
Ubiquitous jamon serrano… Wherever you go in Spain, you’ll find it, in shops, bars, restaurants, everywhere.
The name means mountain ham.
The way it works. You buy a whole leg, and the special outfit to hold it. Take a very sharp knife, keep it as flat as possible, and start cutting the finest possible stripes of delicious ham.
One thing though: you’ll need some good ans sharp teeth to eat it.
Recipes? Hundreds, probably thousands!
More info here!
Mannequins
Mannequins. Getting weirder and scarier everyday. Would you cook, dressed like this??? Would you wear your nicest lingerie and a … chef’s hat???
Click on the links to see similar posts in Olympia,  Ocala, and Tampa.
2.28PM, the latest weather update: sunshine, 19 degrees, 66F. We did it, we survived the winter!!! Yeah man!
We want to be free! A reflection.
This is a window of a shop on Passeig de Gracia, famous french brand whose initials are LV.
And yes, they cage bags! What a shame! Please everybody, take your (fattest) wallet, and set them free! This will be your good action for the day. And you or your wife/girlfriend will be happy! Guys, 8 days to Valentine’s day!
Thank you, Leia and Cezar!
MMB
One of my favorite places in Barcelona is the MMB, Museu Maritim de Barcelona. Actually, mainly for the museum shop, a fantastic place for a photographer. I just love what can be done with a maritime theme. And I could buy the whole shop! OK, I confess, I was a fanatic model boat builder as a kid, and I feel suddenly much younger in this shop!
One happy little girl
I’m sure she will think of this for a long time, and it will make her smile.
I chose sepia to accentuate the timelessness of the picture.
I will put some new pictures on our Venice blog today. Just click on the picture above.
El Triangle
On Plaza de Catalunya, our main square, there is a small shopping center called El Triangle (well, the building has a triangular shape). The main bookshop in town is in there. These are their Christmas lights. Blue, of course, we’re in Catalunya after all.
And a big welcome to Suzanne, from New Haven, Connecticut, our 212th follower, this being our 218th post!
Rod? Cannot be!
Ohmygod! It’s HIM, it’s Rod Stewart in the flashy white car, with the yellow hair and the big nose! Can I have a (small) autograph please, Roddie, me boy? And who are the other guys with you? Groupies?
Vintage shop in Vintage Street
In the part of the Old Town called the Raval (aka Ravalistan), there is a street full of shops selling vintage clothes and furniture, dating back up to the 1920es. Prices? 21st century prices, of course!
Go green!
We decided to stay home today, as I’m not quite back to normal yet (wish there was a reset button…). So, this is from my archives.
Nice bags, all made from recycled stuff, old plastic. This was a temporary structure, set up at the Maremagnum shopping center. Demano also have a shop in the Barri Gotic, plenty more stuff, all made from recycled materials.
You might also notice the folded bicycle on the ladie’s feet, the latest trend here.
A special place for us is Goa, in India. Sachin has a very nice blog about this special place, you can visit it here.
Window shopping: India?
My wife treated me to a nice Pakistani reataurant last friday night. Nice food!
Anyway, en route to the Shalimar, we went down the Ramblas, the main tourist area in the city center, and passed in front of one of the many many souvenir shops (fans, Tshirts with different “funny”texts, ashtrays, etc). This one was different… Next to some Rosina Wachtmeister cats (in a future posting!), they were selling this. Quite a surprise to find this here, even though there are approximately 28.ooo Indians living in Catalunya!
Open? Closed?
This is a bar in Mataró. But is it open, or is it closed? You decide! Looks welcoming.
Glass, and a smile, please!
Despite of the massive attraction offered this afternoon by the final of the Redbull Airrace, 1.200.000 reasons decided us to go to a small medieval festival in Sants. Monks, priests, peasants, knights, doing a lot of medieval things, and selling even more (it was organized by the shop owner’s committee). Some nice things, like this guy trying to make a glass, and trying not to freeze to death under the icy stare of the lady in the back. She obviously didn’t like being on this picture.
Lots of food as well, of course!
Window shopping: THE POODLE!
You might remember this picture on the side, taken in what might well be my favorite shop in town.
Well, I went back. Same shop, same window.
Ladies and gentleman, I have the Honor and Pride of introducing: THE POODLE AND HIS COURT!
No much visiting your blogs lately, having a busy time, looking for a new flat, stuff like this. Sorry, will be back soon, hopefully!
Need a change
I need a change. So, today, something totally different. I almost got arrested for taking this photo, by 2 guards, armed with big old rifles.
And what is it? This is the Oberoi shopping mall, near Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, in june last year. Taking pictures inside a shopping mall is TOTALLY forbidden in India.
What does that have to do with Barcelona? Nothing really, except maybe that here, you can do it.
Oh yeah: I love Indian shopping malls!!!
White shop
It is official: we are having a heatwave. It is very very hot here.
And what do you do when you are hot? You dress light, and … white. You can see now more and more of these ”white shops””, where everything they sell is white. Nice.
And no, you can’t buy the plants. They are not white. And the lady in the back might be this guy‘s wife, who knows (one of my earliers posts).
Graffiti
Well, I’m sure everybody always wanted to know what the aliens from the Simpsons are doing during their time off stage.
I am now able to reveal theirwell guarded secret, as a world premiere, beating Reuters, AP, AFP, CNN and all the other acronyms!
They are making keys near the Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona!
Books: 1 kg for 3 euros!
Hello, everybody! Great day! I have found out how to put bigger pictures on the blog, thanks to Jilly, Hilda, Arnaud, from the CDP community! Thanks! Yep, bigger is sometimes better! Enjoy!
Rock’n’roll, baby!
Well yeah, rock’n’roll! Maybe not everybody’s taste, what concerns baby clothes, but they… rock!
Reflections
An interesting place for taking pictures… The Maremagnum shopping center in the Port Vell area. Cinemas, one of them an IMAX, restaurants, one of the biggest aquariums in Europe, all this on an artificial island right in the middle of the port.
Barcelona Daily Photo 
