Anyone who has ever wandered the streets of Catalonia’s capital, knows that Barcelona shows off its rich history and art-centric culture with justifiable pride. Wherever you look you sense there’s a story to tell – from the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Canaletes fountain to the jaw-dropping Sagrada Familia, this is a city that needs more than a weekend break to truly discover. Visitors looking for total historic immersion in the city are well suited to the more than a century of stories behind the doors of the neo-classical Hotel Continental. Here’s a few of our favourite historical curiosities. Embracing Change – In 1931 when the Malagarriga Vallet family acquired the hotel from the…
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EXHIBITION: PUNK – Its Traces in Contemporary Art
This July MACBA museum (Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona) is celebrating the exhibition of PUNK – Its Traces in Contemporary Art. In fact, already from last May the MACBA is offering a tour all along the punk artistic movement and its influence in contemporary art. This July, the exhibition is specially lived with a programme in which every Thursday and in different formats as multiple documentary traces, photographs, video and painting the PUNK Art is depicted. Placing ourselves in the story line, we can say that punk art is found coming from 1976 and 1978 in London and New York. It appeared as a response to the social and…
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NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: MUSEU NACIONAL D’ART DE CATALUNYA
Last 21st May we went through a magic night in Barcelona with all its museums open as a courtesy of The Art Factories, launched by Barcelona City Council’s Culture Institute. Next Saturday, 16th July the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (National Art Museum of Catalonia) and from now on MNAC, will also celebrate open doors from 8pm to 1am. The MNAC is located in Montjuïc hill, right next to Plaça Espanya and at the top of the stairway of Barcelona’s biggest ornamental fountain, the Magic Fountain. For five hours, you’ll enjoy an evening of open house with free entrance and accompanied by art, music, cuisine and circus performances. Among the…
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Adele in BCN
Will you experience the exhilaration of Adele live? Within the extensive tour throughout Europe (Adele 25 Tour), which started in Belfast last February, Adele is now performing in Barcelona. The upcoming concert scheduled firstly for 24th May has featured another night (25th May) to present her new “25” album to all her fans in the city, an album which has become the fastest-selling release of 2015. You’d better had hurried up in getting the tickets because they are all gone since last year. This latest album of her “25” happens to be the thrid in studio recording. It has been an unprecedented success worldwide after selling over 2.5 million of copies…
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Welcome Back to Barcelona, Bruce Springsteen
Next 14th May, Bruce Springsteen is back onstage in Barcelona. As in 1988 and 2008, the legendary show will take place in Camp Nou, FC. Barcelona stadium. Unsurprisingly, tickets were already gone only few minutes after they were available online. Although online tickets are already sold out, you may be lucky and get one in resale in the streets of the city. For his distinctive voice and his lengthy and the energetic stage performances, the American songwriter and singer and musician and so on has received a big number of awards. For exemple: 20 Grammy, 2 Golden Globes and even 1 Oscar. The evening of 14th May will be unforgetable…
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It Rains Plans and More
We could actually say that in Barcelona it rains down 4 days in April. However, in one of those what seemed to be a sunny morning becomes a grey and overcast sky. Suddenly, instead of 4 drops, we are facing a tremendous downpour. Do not despair. We know you have been planning your trip for days and finally your getaway weekend and your plans have been boiled as the weatherman played a trick on you. Again, do not despair. In the following lines we are giving you some PLAN B to your scheduled visit to Park Güell, the wander down Las Ramblas to the Port… Still go have a drink!…
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Barcelona Jogging & Running
It seems that the runner fever has gone one step further and has also become a practice of tourism in the city. Some Travel Agencies in Barcelona offer urban routes while jogging around the main attractions of the city accompanied with an English, French or even German speaking guide-coach. Among others, there is one sports center piloting this initiative. The Wellness Club 33, located in Aribau Str. 33, at only 7 min walk from our Continental Palacete Hotel and at barely 15 min from the Continental Barcelona. This recently opened center puts the streets of Barcelona at the complete disposal of tourists (or just outdoors and sports lovers). The Catalan…
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Christmas with you is the best of us
Welcome to the fact that Christmas changes all of us. From the very first lights, the first bite of a gingerbread biscuit to the very first George Michael´s Last Christmas of the year… all this changes us. We wish it is cold to light the coal on the stove or the wood in the fireplace. To take out the blankets and cover the whole of ourselves but the nose and the eyes. We love wearing woolen hats and globes plus kilometric scarfs. We do enjoy endless table talks after a large meal and we welcome the excess because the occasion worth it. Christmas changes us. At this special moment of…
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Barcelona, or one of the most photographed cities in the world
This autumn, Google Photos ranked Barcelona in the third place among the most photographed cities on the planet, only surpassed by New York and Paris. Google Photos is currently the largest online storage space where 100 million people let their pictures rest. Have you ever wondered why? If one thinks of Barcelona as a collection of iconic monuments and spots, it would be undoubtedly easy to understand the magnetic attraction exerted on tourists by historic streets like the Ramblas, commercial venues such as Passeig de Gràcia, temples like the Sagrada Famìlia, thrilling parks like the Park Güell or the incredible modernist façades that dot the whole city. YOU HAVE TO…
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Christmas Shopping Offer
Do you fancy a Christmas shopping break in Barcelona? The great city combines both precious architecture and culture with entertainment and designer shopping. As an appetizer, we would like to highlight four classy names reference worldwide you can find in Barcelona: The famous Italian brand Prada with their bags, leather skirts and their flattering fit wide-sleeved coats. Louis Vuitton with their old-time clothes and snazzy high-heeled shoes. The king of haute couture Valentino who uses Barcelona as a big showcase of his designs. And our audacious tip: go check Stella McCartney prêt-à-porter store in Paseo de Gracia and look up her fresh winter collection. As the icing of the cake,…
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George Orwell en Hotel Continental Barcelona
One of the greatest British writers of all time, Eric Arthur Blair spent more than a few days in Barcelona. Better known by his pen name George Orwell the novelist was born in Bengala, British colony, in 1903. Orwell arrived in Barcelona in 1936 to be sent to the front during the Civil War in Spain. From those experiences of war, most of the essentials were gathered together in 1938 in “Homage to Catalonia”, a personal account of his involvements and observations in the Spanish Civil War. The book, along with “Animal Farm” (1945) and “1984” (1949) became one of the writer’s most famous and best-selling works. Ever since Orwell…
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A Walk Through the Barcelona Gothic Quarter
At this time, when the temperature rises the spring gives us warm sunshine, longer days and the first flush of green. Therefore, another fantastic recommendation for this breezy season is a walk through the Barcelona gothic quarter and its more emblematic Places (the Catalan Squares). Plaça Sant Felip Neri Taking our Continental Barcelona and Continental Palacete Hotels as a starting point, the Sant Felip Neri Square is a must when strolling around the former Jewish quarter. In this Romantic with a hint of decadence plaça there is a baroque church from which it is honored its name. The Plaça Sant Felip Neri tells more to pedestrians when it is silent…
