Risiboys

Description:

Location. The Hotel Prisma is in Barcelona, Spain's Eixample area, 200 meters from Francesc Macia Square and 500 meters from Sants Station. Montjuic Palace and the Nou Camp Football Stadium are all a kilometer away from the hotel and Placa de Catalunya and Las Ramblas boulevard are around three kilometers away. Barcelona Airport is 16 kilometers from the hotel.

Hotel Features. The glass entrance doors of the Hotel Prisma lead to the modernism of the lobby area. The floors are polished beige marble and the upholstered chairs are shades of olive green and apple red. The staff is multilingual and the front desk is open 24 hours. There is a coffee machine in the lobby and an elevator that accesses all three floors of the hotel. Wireless Internet access is available.

Guestrooms. This three-story Hotal Prisma has 27 guestrooms that feature the clean lines of modern furniture, tile floors and complimented by the same bright colors that are featured in the lobby. All of the guestrooms have minibars.

Expert Tip. The Francesc Macia Square, which is named after the former president of the Catalan government, Francesc Macià, is one of the city's most elegant shopping and business areas. The best international boutiques and the famous Spanish department stores "El Corte Inglés" are all part of the city's shopping line.

Description:

Noted architect Antoni Gaudi, a descendant of a line of such talented craftspeople, has dotted the city with his works of art, from 1883 onwards. This tour allows visitors to capture his labours in a camera lens while on foot. Enjoy a private walking tour to visit Gaudi's masterpieces: the Sagrada Familia Church, La Casa Batllo and a detailed tour to La Pedrera (Casa Milá), with visits to other modernist buildings: Casa Ametller and Casa Lleo Moreno. The trips go on throughout the year. Visit the website for more information, or call the local tourist office.

Description:

A veritable institution in Barcelona as it boasts an unbeatable central location. From its outdoor tables, you get a great view of Las Rambles and Plaça Catalunya, and this alone makes it worth stopping in for a coffee. After 100 years in business it finally recieved facelift in 1998 when the original building on the same corner was torn down to make way for El Triangle shopping center. Inside and out, it's always full of tourists, students, shoppers and office workers.

Description:

Chef Carles Gaig is very creative. He prepares what is considered haute cuisine, that is a combination of traditional Catalan cooking and his own innovative ideas. An outstanding example is his Pigs' Trotters stuffed with Duck Confit. The cellar offers an exceptional choice and holds over 10,000 bottles in stock. There's even a selection of fine Cuban cigars to tempt you. The building itself was an old inn and retains a hospitable atmosphere.

Description:

Font de Canaletes is also referred to as the Rambla de la Font de Canaletes as it is located on the Rambla. The fountain and the street both are very well known in Barcelona as they serve as an active spot of discussions and celebration for the Barça fans. Previously the fountain was fed by small pipes that threw water in a trough. However after the demolition of the old city the fountain was rebuilt and received its water from the Montcada mine. It is also said that 'whoever drinks the water from the fountain will forever keep coming back to Barcelona'.

Our Local Expert Says:

Calle Ferran in the Gotico, has some of the chicest and unique designer stores in the city. Watch your bags though, the Gotico is infamous for theft.

Description:

One of the oldest neighbourhoods in Barcelona, the Gotico remains at the heart of Barcelona's downtown district. Both grungy and trendy, this neighbourhood is filled with small nooks and crannies, bars, cool restaurants, niche shops and eclectic jewelers. Just a stone's throw from the Born and the beach, the Gotico is home to Barcelona's magnificent Cathedral which dates back to 14th century. It is also home to Placa Reial, the most well known square for backpackers as it's home to the ever so popular Kabul Hostel.

Description:

Five medieval mansions on this street contain this museum of the work of Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). The bulk of the art was donated by Jaume Sabartés y Gual, a lifelong friend of the artist. Although born in Malaga, Picasso moved to the Catalan capital in 1895 after his father was awarded a teaching job at the city's Fine Arts Academy in La Llotja. The family settled in the Calle Merce and when Picasso was a bit older, he moved to the Nou de Les Ramblas in the Barrio Chino. Although he left Spain for good at the outbreak of the Civil War -- and refused to return while Franco was in power -- he was particularly fond of Barcelona, where he spent his formative years painting its seedier side and hanging around with the city's bohemians. As a sign of his love for the city, and adding to Sabartés enormous bequest, Picasso donated some 2,500 of his paintings, engravings, and drawings to the museum in 1970. All of these were executed in his youth (in fact, some of the paintings were done when he was only 9), and the collection is particularly strong on his Blue and Rose Periods. Many works show the artist's debt to van Gogh, El Greco, and Rembrandt.

The highlight of the collection is undoubtedly Las Meninas, a series of 59 interpretations of Velázquez's masterpiece. Another key work is The Harlequin, a painting clearly influenced by the time the artist spent with the Ballet Russes in Paris. It was his first bequest to Barcelona. In addition to the key works here, many visitors are transfixed by his notebooks containing dozens of sketches of Barcelona street scenes and characters -- proof of his extraordinary and often overlooked drawing talents. Because the works are arranged in rough chronological order, you can get a wonderful sense of Picasso's development and watch as he discovered a trend or had a new idea, mastered it, grew bored with it, and then was off to something new. You'll learn that Picasso was a master portraitist and did many traditional representational works before his flights of fancy took off. The exhibits in the final section ("The Last Years") were donated by his widow Jacqueline and include ceramic and little-known collage work.

Our Local Expert Says:

The servers here are generally knowledgeable about wines and can help you with their extensive list if you're not familiar with Spanish varieties.

Description:

Gaze at the Gothic Santa Maria del Mar, while you sip on a goblet of Spanish cava. Located in a touristy yet charming area, La Vinya del Senyor lets you sample hundreds of varieties of wine at your own leisurely pace. You can accompany your drink with a host of cheeses and coca (a pizza-like Catalan dish). Also available is the Spanish favorite - bread with olive oil and rock salt - as well as cold cuts like salami. Grab a table or a stool by the bar and enjoy your meal while you detach yourself from the surrounding hustle and bustle.

Description:

A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997, this concert hall welcomes an estimated 500,000 people a year to over 300 musical performances of various types: symphony, chamber, choral, instrumental, jazz and flamenco. It's also used for social functions and conferences. Leaders of the Orfeó Català choral society commissioned modernist architect Lluís Domenec i Muntaner to design the building in 1891. He gave free rein to his creative imagination, and the result is a masterpiece. The concert hall seats 1,970 people, it's perfectly proportioned and the acoustics are exceptionally good. The stunning interior decor changes continually according to the amount of light that streams through the huge skylight and the stained-glass windows.

Description:

Location. The Hotel Prisma is in Barcelona, Spain's Eixample area, 200 meters from Francesc Macia Square and 500 meters from Sants Station. Montjuic Palace and the Nou Camp Football Stadium are all a kilometer away from the hotel and Placa de Catalunya and Las Ramblas boulevard are around three kilometers away. Barcelona Airport is 16 kilometers from the hotel.

Hotel Features. The glass entrance doors of the Hotel Prisma lead to the modernism of the lobby area. The floors are polished beige marble and the upholstered chairs are shades of olive green and apple red. The staff is multilingual and the front desk is open 24 hours. There is a coffee machine in the lobby and an elevator that accesses all three floors of the hotel. Wireless Internet access is available.

Guestrooms. This three-story Hotal Prisma has 27 guestrooms that feature the clean lines of modern furniture, tile floors and complimented by the same bright colors that are featured in the lobby. All of the guestrooms have minibars.

Expert Tip. The Francesc Macia Square, which is named after the former president of the Catalan government, Francesc Macià, is one of the city's most elegant shopping and business areas. The best international boutiques and the famous Spanish department stores "El Corte Inglés" are all part of the city's shopping line.