Want to discover Barcelona? Let us explain the advantages of cycling.

*Discover the Parc de la Ciutadella by bike.*

Born Bike Tours Barcelona is a Catalan cultural tours company created in 2009 with a clear objective: to take advantage of our roots and origins, to combine our knowledge of Barcelona’s history and our passion for the world of cycling and culture.

The human factor is one of our values and we consider it our responsibility to achieve our collective goals with empathy and fidelity.

With 240 kilometres of cycle path, visiting Barcelona by bike allows you to drive to unusual places, emblematic or not yet known, to discover its history or its milestones.

Through these authentic guided tours. Born Bike Tours Barcelona offers you a historical, cultural, economic and sociological point of view.

Why choose cycling as a means of transport ?

Cycling is the fastest means of transport in the city and will allow you to stop regularly without constraints in places where cars do not pass in order to admire the landscape.

In addition, visiting the city by bike will improve your physical and mental health while reducing the stress that road traffic could generate.

These days, we must also take into account the economic factor.

Indeed, a bike does not need fuel to move forward, just the strength of your legs. Thus, you will reduce your carbon footprint, and the planet will thank you!

*A group taking advantage of a sunny day to cycle the Montjuïc.*

The bike is ideal for families !

If you have children, this is the opportunity to offer them a holiday around a pleasant activity that will be perfect to create unforgettable memories.

22-23 October: The Barcelona Architecture Festival reopens its doors!

The city of Barcelona opens the 14th edition of the ***“48h Open Doors” architecture festival*** from 22 to 23 October 2022.

This year’s festival highlights all the disciplines and professionals that make Barcelona’s architecture a collaborative and global work.
The aim is to bring designers, craftsmen, users and architects out of the shadows to share their collaborative design secrets and to raise awareness about these professions that build Barcelona’s environment.

Planning :

Visits to the most emblematic places in Barcelona will take place in all areas of the city.
For example, in the Centre you can visit

THE “APARTAMENT PICASSO”.

This is a complete remodelling of a small, very isolated house into an open flat, where the spaces interact and nothing is designed at random

“NNWALLERY: VALÈNCIA-ROGENT WALL”

On the Carrer de València at the corner of Rogent street, you can find the work of DXTR (Dennis Schuster, Berlin), an internationally renowned urban style artist who combines applications on city walls with advertising campaigns for well-known brands. It will be an interactive mural of over 50 metres in length and 2.5 metres in height.

You can also search for all other exhibitions on the festival website at

https://www.48hopenhousebarcelona.org/els-edificis/

Enjoy your immersion in Barcelona’s architecture!

CICLOBCN21

CicloBCN21 is a new international cycling event that will take place from 5 to 10 October 2021. This year’s slogan is “Pedalem ciutats i territori”, which means “We pedal cities and regions”. CicloBCN21 will include three bicycle congresses: the EuroVelo and Cycle Tourism 2021 Congress, the 17th Iberian Congress “Bicycles and Cities” and the 7th International Bicycle Congress.

These three events will include exhibition areas, meetings between professionals, technical visits and activities in various public areas. Most of the events will take place at the AXA Auditorium. Their aim is to promote the central role of bicycles and to reaffirm the commitment of the city’s institutions and inhabitants. Indeed, the bicycle appears to be one of the best ways to face the current and future challenges we are facing, especially from an environmental point of view. This is why these kinds of events are crucial today.

Bike friends family sunset nature tourism barcelona futur sport

EuroVelo and Cyclotourism:

EuroVelo and Cycle Tourism conference, organised since 2012, is the main forum on cycle tourism in Europe, promoted by the European Cyclists’ Federation. The event serves to highlight cycle tourism in Europe, and in particular the roll-out of the EuroVelo network, a set of fifteen transnational cycle tourism routes that cross Europe from one side to the other. The conference will bring together, among others, tourist operators from Barcelona, transport companies, universities, tourist organisations, public authorities and, of course, bicycle users.

In Catalonia, the development of cycling has many advantages. It allows us to participate in a more sustainable form of tourism, reaching a wide audience and, above all, being able to extend to all seasons. In addition, the project to extend and consolidate the EuroVelo 8 route between Cadiz and Cyprus, which passes through Catalonia, is a development asset that should not be overlooked.

7th International Bicycle Congress of Catalonia

The International Bicycle Congress is the main forum where public administrations, professionals in the sector, cycling organisations and users in Catalonia can discuss the latest developments and exchange experiences on the world of cycling.

The “Catalan Cycling Strategy 2025” will play a central role at this year’s congress. This is a document recently approved by the Government of Catalonia that proposes several actions to promote cycling as an active and sustainable mode of transport, both for daily travel and for leisure, sport and tourism. A strategy designed with the clear objective of gaining the support of the rest of the Catalan administrations and organisations linked to the bicycle sector.

17th Iberian Congress “Bicycles and Cities”.

This congress is a joint initiative organised by ConBici, the national coordinator for the defence of the bicycle in Spain, and the Portuguese Federation of Cycle Tourism and Bicycle Users (FPCUB). Its objective is to present the most important news and experiences related to cycling in Spain and Portugal. A congress organised by cycling organisations, with a special role played by social initiatives related to the world of cycling.

Auditorium Axa Barcelona congresse SPORT professional tourism

Tour in the botanical garden

A bike tour on the botanical garden

Ideal for the weekend plan!

The botanical garden is located on the mountain of Montjuïc, between the castle and the company of Olímpic Lluís.

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It has 14 hectares of surface and its shape recalls that of a large amphitheater. It retains the collections of Mediterranean plants around the world and offers a magnificent view of the Delta del Llobregat, the Olympic Ring and part of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area.

In the botanical garden you will find a large collection of plants, you will focus on the plants of the Mediterranean regions of the world, it is a vegetation linked to the Mediterranean climate that is characterized by a long summer, of mild winters and rains in spring and autumn.

The paths allow us to access the area of the region, from the Canary Islands at the entrance and rises to the west Mediterranean recognizable by the Botanical Institute, which stands out.

From the Northern Hemisphere, the region with a greater representation is the Mediterranean basin, following the way of a visit welcomed to the Californian coast of the Mediterranean climate.

Then there are the Mediterranean regions of the southern hemisphere where the Mediterranean region of Chile, South Africa and the two Mediterranean regions of South Australia are visited.

Are you ready for a bike tour and enjoy a day of plants?

We are committed to cycling

Passionate about outdoor activities, sports and bicycles, we have united to ride and enjoy Barcelona fun, healthy and different. The bike is also an alternative solution to circumvent the city and the most efficient means of transport in terms of energy. It is the most practical, healthy and durable: it does not produce smoke, does not make noise, it does not consume energy and helps to recover the streets, the spaces of coexistence of citizens.

Une image contenant vélo, extérieur, bâtiment, terrain, born bike tours barcelona

The bike has many advantages and here are five of them:

1. Increased safety: The bike is a safe transportation that helps reduce the number of car accidents through variation in speed. However, we must not forget to circulate with caution and pay attention to other users of the road.

2. Better mobility: Did you know that the bike is faster than the car over short and medium urban distances? In the city center with all the prohibited senses and pedestrian spaces, the bike is the fastest transport.

3. Take care of the environment: Cycling is a key factor in reducing environmental contamination levels.

4. Greater pleasure: a cyclist occupies five times less space than a motorist, whether he is stopped as if he moves. These data have very deep implications in the well-being of residents, who can enjoy more peaceful, quieter and safe spaces.

5. Healthier: Cycling is one of the most beneficial exercises for health because large muscle groups are mobilized during the effort. If it is practiced regularly, it allows to keep in shape. In addition, it helps prevent coronary heart disease, hypertension, cholesterol and diabetes.

To book a tour or rent a bike nothing simpler, contact us
Born Bike Tours Barcelona
Carrer de la Brandsa n ° 1 08003 Barcelona
50 meters from Barceloneta metro station L (4) Yellow
✉️info@bornbikebarcelona.com.
🔹www.bornbikebikebarcelona.com.
📲 (+34) 93 319 00 20

Barcelona and photography

Many of the people who live in Barcelona are passionate about photography, but many tourists are too. We invite you to experience a photographic exhibition of the city where you will find all the magic that Barcelona hides.

Seventy photographs taken by women that explore the links between the history of the city and the images that women photographers have built.

The exhibition, which includes seventy images distributed chronologically, is a unique opportunity to vindicate the role that women have played in the history of photography in our city. Because, although the historical narrative has left them in the background, without them, without the photographers, it is impossible to know the real Barcelona.

The exhibition makes visible the line of continuity of the photographic practice of those women who placed the city at the center of their creative works, in a period ranging from the thirties to the early nineties.

You can visit this exhibition focused on women, photography and the city until June 6, 2021. In the Plaça Comercial, al savant d’El Born CCM (Plaça Comercial, 12 – Ciutat Vella – Barcelona)

Benefits of cycling

This is not a novelty that we are fanatics of bicycles. Go walking, take the air, see the city that surrounds us, the landscape, the sea. Mounted on the bike everything seems to have another perspective, we want to tell you the benefits it gives you a walk or to do Bike sport.

image of a blue bike, sea, boat, hotel W

1. A good way to exercise: the bike is a good exercise to work almost all our body and not just the legs. A bike ride makes us do cardio-cardio exercise and strength, especially legs, abdomen, back and arms.

2. Help our posture: Walk or pedal helps improve our posture. People passionate about yoga can go to their bike class. Adopt a sport routine!

3. A transport on time and available immediately: between bottling, pedestrians Parking, everything becomes a chaos and more if you go to the center of Barcelona, which is why the bike is a great allies that facilitates your daily life .

4. Take care of the environment and your leaflet: a car and public transport generate an additional expense per month. You simply move by bike: fast and good for health.

5. A much faster brain: The bike improves the functioning of your brain, influencing cognitive function, mental health and well-being, as has confirmed a study by the University of Oxford. The study, led by Dr. Leyland, investigated the impact of outdoor pedaling. The parameters, the cognitive function and the well-being, were measured before and after the period of use (for 8 weeks, at least three times a week and at least 30 minutes per session) and it was observed that not only The physical impact of cycling improves, but at the level of mental activity, the benefits are more important.

6. Sleeping more, the dream of all: exercise Every day helps to reconcile with sleep, about 20 to 30 minutes of pedal will help you better rest and eliminate the stress of everyday life.

7. Eternal Youth: The increase in blood circulation caused by the pedaling exercise transports the oxygen and nutrients required to epithelial cells more efficiently while eliminating toxins or other waste. Moderate exercise helps to optimize collagen production, reduce the appearance of wrinkles and accelerate the healing process.

8. Take care of your joints: the bike is a less risky sport than run for our joints, and the result is very similar.

9. Improve your performance in any type of sport: many athletes use cycling as a support sport to improve their muscle or respiratory performance. Objective 30 days of bike and see the difference!

10. And finally, the best advantage of cycling is that it will make you happy: Try it because it really works. Stroll, pedal, admire nature, city, beach, beaches, you will see how it changes ideas.

Do you already have your bike ready to travel Barcelona?

To reserve the Tour or rent a bike nothing simpler, contact us
Born Bike Tours Barcelona
📍Carrer de la Marquesa No. 1 08003 Barcelona
50 meters from Barceloneta metro station L (4) Yellow
✉️Info@bornbikebarcelona.com.
🔹www.bornbikebikebarcelona.com.
📲 (+34) 93 319 00 20

House of the Punxes

The house of the Punxes stand out among the buildings that were created during the golden age of Barcelona, with Gothic inspiration and created in the modernist era of the early twentieth century, the work of architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch, this house was built at the request of Bartomeu Terradas Brutau for each of his three daughters, Angela, Josefa and Rosa, receiving the name Casa de los Punxes by the needles that crown the six towers that crown the building.

The architect’s intention was that structurally it would look like a single architectural ensemble, but also included features characteristic of each of the owners, a fact that indicated to which of the daughters the house belonged, as can be seen on the facade of the corner that belongs to number 420 of the Diagonal, there is an interesting sculptural panel in which an angel is represented, a figure that alludes to the sister Ángela Terradas. The preparatory drawing made by Monserdà is in the archives of the Royal Catalan Academy of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi in Barcelona. Other decorative details that refer us to this property are found in the anagrams that, distributed as if they were a border, repeat the letters ATB, in reference to Ángela Terradas Brutau.

Josefa’s property went from Diagonal to Rosselló street, in whose back front we can find another ceramic panel drawn by Monserdà himself, where St. George is represented killing the dragon and we can read: “Patron Saint of Catalonia give us back our freedom”.

Right in the frame of this panel, in a strategic situation for the meaning that the figure of ST. George could represent, we find a familiar face sculpted. The male figure, with round glasses, large receding hairline and full lips, represents the great author of the project, the architect Josep Puig I Cadafalch.

On the facades of Bruc street, we find two more ceramic panels. One depicts a vase full of roses, with the initials RTB, and the other, the figure of a girl surrounded by roses. This property belonged to the sister Rosa Terradas Brutau.

Visiting Park Güell

For those who still do not know the Park Güell, located in the foothills of the Collserola mountain range. The park was designed by the architect Antoni Gaudí, commissioned by the businessman Eusebi Güell. Built between 1900 and 1914, it was inaugurated as a public park in 1926.

image containing trees, building, view of barcelona city

Park Güell is a reflection of Gaudí’s artistic fullness: it belongs to his naturalistic stage, a period in which the architect perfected his personal style, through inspiration in the organic forms of nature, for which he put into practice a whole series of new structural solutions originated in his deep analysis of the ruled geometry, there you will be able to see.

Une image contenant extérieur, un banc en mosaïque, par guëll

The Dragon Staircase, when you stand in front of it you will find a staircase that is organized in three sections, the one on the right served as a refuge or waiting space and is supported by a magnificent central column of conical shape, on the other hand Halfway up the staircase is the coat of arms of Catalonia and higher up is the dragon – or salamander – covered in trencadís, which has become the most popular image in the park.

The Pórtico de la Lavander, on the east side of the Greek Theater square, there is an original iron gate that leads to where the gardens of the Casa Larrard were, the old stately farmhouse that Güell adopted as his own house and that since 1931 is a college.

The Greek Theater or Plaza de la Naturaleza: in the middle of Park Güell is the Plaza de la Naturaleza, formerly known as Greek theater, its original name responded to the fact that it was planned for holding large outdoor shows, which could be seen from the terraces that surround it.

The Hypostyle Hall formed by 86 fluted columns that are inspired by the Doric order. The outermost ones lean, in an undulating movement and openly contrary to the rules of classical composition, while reinforcing the perception of their structural function. The colonnade is crowned by a cornice on which the undulating bench is located. A pipe arranged inside collects the rainwater that leaks from the square to store it in a large underground cistern, which has as a spillway the dragon’s mouth of the staircase.

Recommendation: spend an afternoon exploring the corners of Park Güell and enjoying the nature of Barcelona

Let’s rent a bike and discover !

If you want to know more about Barcelona, follow our social links
Born Bike Tours Barcelona
📍Carrer de la Marquesa Nº 1 08003 Barcelona
50 meters from metro station Barceloneta L (4) yellow
✉️info@bornbikebarcelona.com
🔹www.bornbikebarcelona.com
📲(+34) 93 319 00 20

Walk in the Labyrinth of Horta

Barcelona is a city characterized by many qualities: history, architecture, nature and cycle paths. Neighborhoods are their own characteristic and the beauty of each different.

Une image contenant arbre, extérieur, jour, eau, parc, personnes

Today let’s talk about the Labyrinth of Horta, a park transformed into a museum garden, which takes an architectural and design journey through the duality between neoclassicism and romanticism.

To get to know the park, you will find a Chinese gate, a vestige of an oriental garden which has now disappeared, and continue through the boxwood garden (Buxus sempervirens), a furtive garden that preserves the spirit of the Italian designer, landscaper and gardener Domenico Bagutti., creator of the park commissioned by Antoni Deszanjas, Marquis de Llupià i Alfarràs. From this garden, born of careful pruning, there are paths leading to the temples of Ariadne and Danae, to the domestic garden and also to the romantic garden, which occupies the entire left flank of the park.

An interesting fact is that Sundays are free, you can enter with family, friends or alone and walk through the different parts of the park.

Modernism and Barcelona

Barcelona is a city that is characterized by its architecture and beauty, since 1984 UNESCO has declared 9 architectural works as world heritage, seven of them by the architect Antoni Gaudí, along with 2 buildings by Lluís Domènech I Montaner.

The first buildings in the Catalan capital that entered the UNESCO list were Park Güell and La Pedrera, both by the architect Antoni Gaudí. The next to enter the list was also the work of Gaudí, the Palau Güell, built in 1889 on behalf of Gaudi’s great patron, Eusebi Güell.

The two great architectural works of the architect Lluís Domènech I Montaner, the Palau de la Música Catalana (1908) and the Hospital de la Santa Creu I de Sant Pau (1930) were declared World Heritage Sites in 1997 and are the only buildings in Barcelona with this classification that are not the work of Gaudí.

The list is closed by the Sagrada Familia, Casa Batlló, the Crypt Colònia Güell and Casa Vicens, which were declared World Heritage in 2005.

The athletic tower in Barcelona

In our bike tours Barcelona we have climbed the Montjuic mountain where we find the athletic tower built by the architect Santiago Calatrava, between 1989 and 1992, it is one of the best known elements that are part of the so-called Olympic Ring, referring to the whole of facilities that were built and remodeled on the occasion of the Barcelona 92 Olympic Games.

An image containing sky, exterior, exterior object, windmill

Its enormous white and curved silhouette, reminiscent of an Olympic torch celebration, can be seen from many points of the city. Its avant-garde design and original shapes have made it a famous element of Montjuïc and a symbol of Barcelona.

The tower is a clear tribute to the modernist architect Antoni Gaudí. Its promoter was the Telefónica company, which is why it is also known as the Telefónica tower.

A curious fact is that, due to its shape, the tower is also designed to act as a sundial, as the shadow of its central spire is projected on the Plaza de Europa, which is next to it.

In addition to its functionality, its futuristic style of sloping lines and modern materials that evokes a moving image has made Torre Calatrava an architectural landmark in Barcelona.

If you want to discover Barcelona on wheels, don’t miss our tours
Born Bike Tours Barcelona
📍Carrer de la Marquesa Nº 1 08003 Barcelona
A 50 metros estación metro Barceloneta L (4) amarilla
✉️info@bornbikebarcelona.com
🔹www.bornbikebarcelona.com
📲(+34) 93 319 00 20

Live the Barcelona’s parks

The city of Barcelona is characterized by having large parks, full of nature and very beautiful structural designs, that is why we leave you a list of five parks, where you can enjoy a bike ride through Barcelona and beautiful sunny days in winter.

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Ciutadella Park

Built at the end of the 19th century, it was the first park designed specifically as a public park, and it is a space widely used for all kinds of recreational and cultural activities. It has more than a hundred plant species, with many hundred-year-old trees and interesting sculptures.

-The address so you can visit it is passeig de picasso 21 of the Ciutat Vella district.

Guinardó Park

The Guinardó park has three well differentiated parts: an urban, which becomes the prelude to the great space that this green area occupies, another historical one and, in the highest part, the lush forest vegetation. Its landscaped terraces and pine forests make this place one of the most refreshing and placid green spaces in the city.

-This park is located in the district of Horta-Guinardó.

Botanical Garden

The current Botanical Garden houses the legacy of a long tradition of gardens designed with the aim of studying, maintaining and preserving plant species. A space specialized in showing the biodiversity of the flora of the Mediterranean climate. It allows locating, in the proper geographic context, dozens of species that can be found in all the gardens of the city. They are plants that have adapted perfectly to the temperate climate even though they are typical of other latitudes.

-To visit the botanical garden you should arrive at the Sants-Montjuïc district, carrer Doctor Font i Quer, 2.

Gardens of Mossèn Costa i Llobera

It is one of the most important gardens specialized in cacti and succulents in Europe. Facing the sea, sheltered by the Montjuïc mountain that welcomes them, they are located in a privileged viewpoint and a few minutes from the city center.

-The gardens are located at Ctra Miramar, 38.

Laberint d’Horta Park

The Laberint d’Horta park includes the oldest preserved garden in the city. Born as a neoclassical garden with a touch of Italian physiognomy, it ended up as a romantic garden.

The d’Horta labyrinth is located in the Horta-Guinardó district, in Passeig Castanyers, 1.

Gaudí’s Barcelona

If there is an architect associated with Barcelona, that is, without a doubt, Antoni Gaudí. His mature works, such as La Pedrera, Park Güell and the Sagrada Familia, are internationally known icons that attract thousands of visitors daily. However, in the city there are also several works by this great artist that are not so well known and that often, due to being far from the usual circuits, go unnoticed and make up a little-explored route, but no less spectacular.

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Like the ones we list here:

The Pavilions of Finca Güell
The gate of Finca Miralles
The pavement of Sant Pacià
The Bellesguard Tower
The Vicens House

If you want to know more about the architectural works of Antoni Gaudí you can do a bike tours with us.
Born Bike Tours Barcelona
📍Carrer de la Marquesa Nº 1 08003 Barcelona
50 meters away from the Barceloneta L (4) yellow metro station
✉️info@bornbikebarcelona.com
🔹www.bornbikebarcelona.com
📲 (+34) 93 319 00 20

Walk around the Arch of Triumph by bike

We started a new month and went out to walk the streets of Barcelona in search of new adventures.

Today we will make a tour by bicycle through the Arch of Triumph which was built on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition of 1888, the Arch of Triumph led the way to the main entrance of the fair, in the park of the Ciutadella, which had just opened.

During the last third of the 19th century, the universal expositions were events of enormous social impact, since they allowed everyone to get to know the city that hosted them, as well as the cultural, economic, scientific and industrial potential of each country. In this sense, the Arch of Triumph was not only the access to the Universal Exhibition of 1888, but also the symbolic entry of Barcelone into the modern era.

At the height of the modernist movement in much of Europe, constructions inspired by previous eras were very common: the Neo-Gothic, the Neo-Mudejar in Spain or the Neo-Romanesque were some of the predominant styles.

Following this trend, the architect Josep Vilaseca designed a monument 30 meters high and of classical proportions, but with a very colorful decoration and full of symbolism. Thus, the artists who sculpted the decorative friezes represented, on each of the faces, a theme related to the city: Barcelona welcomes the nations (on the side of Passeig de Sant Joan, work of Josep Reynés), the Distribution of rewards to the participants of the Exhibition (on the side of Passeig de Lluís Comanys, work of Josep Llimona) and the allegories of Industry, Agriculture and Trade, on one side, and of Science and Arts, on the other. The famas (the winged figures of the buttresses) were sculpted by Manuel Fuxà and Pere Carbonell.

Finally, in the curve of the arch, the coat of arms of Barcelona can be seen, flanked by the coats of arms of the remaining 48 Spanish provinces, 24 on each face of the monument.

Ciutadella Park

We continue with our Tour in Spanish and now we find the Ciutadella Park, being the first park specifically designed as a public park and was built at the end of the 19th century. It is a space widely used for all kinds of recreational and cultural activities. It has more than one hundred plant species, with many hundred-year-old trees and interesting sculptures.

Full of hundred-year-old trees, the Ciutadella Park contains a great diversity of elements: the monumental waterfall, 19th-century buildings now converted into museums, a lake for rowing boats, walks and numerous sculptures. Share space with the zoo.

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The Barceloneta Tour

We continue with our tours in Spanish and we tour Barcelona by Bike.

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Until the middle of the 18th century, La Barceloneta was a practically uninhabited area. In 1754 fishermen began to settle in this area of the city due to its proximity to the sea.

Despite having acquired a more modern look, currently La Barceloneta still retains its special charm. Its narrow streets and facades darkened by the salt of the sea have made this area one of the most appreciated in Barcelona, a place with a quiet, maritime and family atmosphere that remains foreign to the big city.

One of the main attractions of the neighborhood are its beaches, the largest, best known and busiest in the city. They have a great atmosphere and excellent services.

If you want to know more about our tours you can stop by our place
Born Bike Tours Barcelona
📍Carrer de la Marquesa Nº 1 08003 Barcelona
At 50 meters Barceloneta metro station L (4) yellow
✉️info@bornbikebarcelona.com
🔹www.bornbikebarcelona.com
📲 (+34) 93 319 00 20

The Cathedral of Barcelona

Cycling through the streets of the Gothic Quarter, we come across the current Barcelona Cathedral, it is Gothic in style, but it was built on the foundations of an early Christian basilica and a later Romanesque Cathedral. The works began on May 1, 1298 and lasted a century and a half.

It was temporarily finished in 1417 with a simple wall, and it was not until the late 19th and early 20th centuries that the façade that we can see today was built.

On the occasion of the Universal Exhibition of Barcelona (1888), the works were resumed thanks to Manuel Girona i Agrafel and his sons, who were the promoters of said reforms, where the competition for the construction of the façade was called in 1882, establishing as a stylistic criterion to follow the Gothic. It was awarded to Josep Oriol Mestres, titular architect of the cathedral since 1855, who was inspired by the plans made in 1408 by Carles Galtés de Ruan.

Sí quieres saber más sobre la catedral de Barcelona, pregunta por nuestros tours y te contaremos todo lo que sabemos de ella.
📍Carrer de la Marquesa Nº 1 08003 Barcelona
A 50 metros estación metro Barceloneta L (4) amarilla
✉️info@bornbikebarcelona.com
🔹www.bornbikebarcelona.com
📲(+34) 93 319 00 20

Spanish village in Barcelona

El Pueblo Español is a museum that offers contemporary art, architecture, crafts and gastronomy. The site is made up of 117 full-scale buildings, which make up a typically Spanish town with its streets, houses, squares, theater, school, restaurants and artisan workshops.

statue of a woman in blue clothes from Pueblo Espanyol, in Barcelona

It was built for the international exhibition that was held in Barcelona in 1929, an idea promoted by Joseo Puig I Cadafalch (Catalan architect) where they created a small town that brought together the main characteristics of all the towns in Spain. They also worked together with Joseo Puig, Francesc Folguera and Ramon Reventós, and the artists Xavier Nogués and Miquel Utrillo, in order to achieve this exhibition, they made various trips through Spain taking photographs, drawings, observing the styles and creating concepts of the different places. 

Today there are various activities, exhibitions or events.

Tourists can visit it by taking their ticket on the website  : www.poble-espanyol.com 

Our recommendation is to rent a bicycle and tour the mountains of Montjuic, where you will find various monuments, museums and historical buildings.

Free museums in Barcelona

Barcelona is a city full of life and culture, the good thing is that we have free museums so that we can all enjoy them, it is only a matter of knowing the hours and days.

image of a blue bike of Born Bike Tours Barcelona in front of the National Museum of Art of Catalunya

Picasso museum

The museum has a collection of 4,249 works by the Malaga painter Pablo Picasso in the multiple media that he addressed, which is the most complete in the world in works of his youth.

You can enter for free every Thursday from 5:00 p.m., the first Sunday of each month and on February 12 (Santa Eulàlia), May 18 (International Museum Day) and September 24 (La Mercè Day)

www.museupicasso.bcn.cat 

Museum of the History of Catalonia

The museum was created in 1996 by the Government of Catalonia, with the idea of narrating the history of Catalonia.

You can see it for free It can be visited for free during the Sant Jordi and Santa Eulalia festivities, the Museum Day, and the days of the Catalan and Mercè days.

 www.mhcat.cat 

Barcelona Center for Contemporary Culture (CCCB)

Located in the Raval, its main theme is the city and urban culture. It bases its success on quality, a certain eclecticism, attention to a wide range of audiences and a singularity in the way it treats things, and its function is to link the academic world with creation and citizenship.

You can visit it for free on Sundays

www.cccb.org 

Catalonia art museum

A must-see in the city with a tour of works of art from the 10th to the 20th century, highlighting above all its collection of Romanesque art, considered one of the most complete in the world.

It can be visited for free on Saturdays from 3 pm, the first Sunday of the month, Museum Day and Catalonia and Mercè Days. 

www.museunacional.cat

Get your bike ready and enjoy Barcelona

Get your bike ready and enjoy Barcelona

We really like healthy life and the city, that’s why we look for the perfect combination so that you can enjoy this summer of Barcelona by bike.

We carry out repairs and maintenance
We have answers and accessories
Review hardware and adjustments
Washing and greasing
Punctures and wheel centering

That is why we invite you to give life to that stored bicycle and accompany us to visit La Ronda Verda de Barcelona, a circuit that has about 72 kilometers of route and crosses different municipalities such as L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Esplugues de Llobregat, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Montcada I Reixac, Santa Coloma de Gramenet and Sant Adrià de Besòs. There is also a variant that extends the round and incorporates the city of Badalona.

This route can be divided into six sections

Collserola Park: The Collserola Park extends over 8,000 hectares. Forest areas with a great variety of plant formations of valuable biological diversity predominate.
Parque Fluvial del Besòs: This section of the Ronda Verda connects the Parque de Collserola and the Front Marítimo. It has an approximate extension of five kilometers.
Park of the Cordillera de Marina: This natural space is part of the Cordillera Litoral and has a total area of 2,086 hectares. The visitor has the opportunity to envoy Iberian villages, hermitages, monasteries and numerous fountains and recreation areas.
Maritime Front: The Ronda Verda runs along the maritime fronts of Barcelona, Sant Adrià de Besòs and Badalona.
Montjuïc Section: The itinerary in this section of the pool is numerous museums, sports facilities, parks and gardens. The tour has splendid views of the city of Barcelona and its surroundings.
Llobregat Route: This route approaches the Llobregat basin, allowing connections with the river glare, the delta area and the Collserola Park.

The best views of Barcelona

Today we are going to talk about some of the best views of Barcelona

A route that you can take by bike or walking

It is going up the castle of Montjuic (Mount of the Jews)

For all those fans of adventure I recommend that you do not miss this wonderful trip

You can stop by our stores and rent a bicycle or start from the Montjuic fountain.

Along the way you can visit the Montjuic castle where the National Museum of Art of Catalonia is located, the botanical garden, the Spanish town, the Olympic stadium or go up on the cable car that will take you even higher so that you can appreciate the entire city and a Privileged view towards the port area of Barcelona.

view of barcelona port, buildings, boats

One of the things we like the most is being able to appreciate the city, the buildings, the set of streets and monuments from the top.

El Mirador del Alcalde, is one of those places where we can appreciate all the beauty of the city, it is located on the Montjuic mountain, between one of the cable car stops and the castle, you can find there large green spaces to rest, admire the view of the city from one of the viewpoints and hear the noise of the water falling from a waterfall-shaped fountain.

Don’t miss the best views of Barcelona and to know more about this city remember to visit our blog.

A bicycle, a companion

We cheer you to take out that stored bicycle and rediscover the city on wheels, with its more than 200km of bicycle lanes to safely enjoy your ride.

Barcelona is an incredible city for cycling, walking the streets of Barceloneta, getting closer to the Parc de la Ciutadella, walking the wide streets of the Eixample such as Paseo de Gracia or visiting the neighborhoods and meeting friends.

That is why in Born Bike Tours Barcelona we carry out bicycle repairs so that you can enjoy a summer full of adventure, do sports or simply visit Barcelona.

We do review and maintenance so you can go for a walk without worries

Wash and grease so your bike is always ready

We repair punctures and also perform wheel centering

SURPRISE!

Because we are very anxious we give you a preview of our next blog post and we show you some of the routes you can do by bicycle.

From the Barcelona coast to Badalona.

It is a route of approximately ten kilometers, where you can see the entire seafront of the city, very easy to navigate since the entire itinerary is flat and you can surely enjoy incredible views. Starting near the Colón monument, passing by the Wy Hotel through the Forum area where you will find the “Diagonal Mar” shopping center and we will continue passing through the coastline until we reach Badalona.

It is an ideal route to do in the afternoon and end up enjoying the colors of the sunset next to the Mediterranean.

Bicycle Routes

We won the TripAdvisor Travelers of the Year award and we don’t want to stop posting cool things about Barcelona.

That is why we decided to create different routes so that you can go cycling.

bike, born bike tours barcelona, blue bikes, six bike, barcelona, Spain

The Mountain of Montjuic

The Montjuic mountain (name attributed to the Montjuich etymology ”Mount of the Jews”) being a fortress, created as a strategic place to defend the city, where in 1751 the current castle was built, the work of Juan Martín Cermeño, who during the war of the Spanish Independence it was occupied by the French.

Nowadays and thanks to the 1992 Olympic games we can find around it the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium (next to which is the Fundació Barcelona Olímpica Museum).

Walking down Lleida street, you will find the old Palacio de los Deportes, now converted into the Barcelona Teatre Musical. You can also walk through various places of tourist interest such as the Pueblo Español, an enclosure built for the 1929 exhibition and which includes streets, squares and characteristic places from all over Spain, the Montjuic Telecommunications Tower designed by Santiago Calatrava. The Joan Brossa Gardens or the magic fountain of Montjuic that offers a night light show.

Collserola

You will find the great natural treasure in the ”Collserola Natural Park”, with more than eight thousand hectares of surface, where you can enjoy a bike ride through the mountains, one of the main routes is called “La carretera de las Aigües” where it begins on the Pla del Maduixers route (accessed from Avenida del Tibidabo) and ends in Plaza de Mireia. It is a path of low difficulty, since it is mostly flat, and it is where you can get to know one of the best views of Barcelona and the Mediterranean Sea.

The good thing about this tour is that it is suitable for all bicycles and you will be able to visit emblematic buildings such as the Collserola tower and the Fabra observatory.

Greenway of Llobregat

Greenway of Llobregat  is the old route of the Manresa-Olván railway. It runs through a natural environment shaped by the passage of the Llobregat river. It is a route suitable for families and children due to its flatness and ease of travel, on it you can pedal along the Llobregat river, crossing tunnels and visiting the Gothic bridge or the Pedret Monastery.

On this road you will find both vehicles, people walking or cyclists, since it is a route suitable for all kinds of walks and at the end you will cross the Llobregat river through a small bridge until you reach the Baells reservoir dam.

You can find the face of Barcelona a few steps from our local Born Bike Tours Barcelona, From the metro station Barceloneta L (4) amarilla🚇
Visit our web www.bornbikebarcelona.com
Or write to info@bornbikebarcelona.com
📍Born Bike Tours Barcelona find us Carrer de la Marquesa Nº 1 08003 Barcelona A 50 Mts.

Come to the activities in Barcelona during the month of August 2018 by bicycle

July 31st, 2018

Photo by Enes on Unsplash

Here you have a list of activities in Barcelona during this August, in order you don’t miss anyone during your trip.

Music in Barcelona!

2018.07.31 – 08.31 – Mas i Mas

The Mas i Mas Festival returns to Barcelona in the summer with jazz, flamenco, classic, techno and much more.

2018.08.10 – 11 -DGTL – Festival Barcelona

The DGTL Festival will make you dance in Barcelona at the rhythm of music house and techno.

2018.026.02 – 08.30 – Music in the Parks

This season, 2018, the program includes 49 concerts and all of them free. From June to the end of August you can listen to music in the parks of Barcelona. These have been taking place for the past 15 years and include best quality music. Not only this, it is also great for sitting in a pleasant place at night with good music, friends and family.

2018.07.01 – 09.16 Brunch in the Park

Take your picnic basket, your plaid table cloth and get ready to …. Dance without stopping until the 17th of September..

Outdoor movies in Barcelona

2018.07.06 – 08.31 – Mecal Air, outdoor movies

In summer we all want to spend a lot of time outdoors -and what a better way than watching short films with friends while having a glass of wine. Mecal Air is a summer alternative to the classical cinemas, It is the one preferred by the Barcelona neighbors. The good part is that there is a combination to “short films” and a gastronomical offer. The entrance is free.

2018.06.29 – 08.03 – Outdoor movies – Sala Montjuïc

Important recent films and concerts that take place outdoors.

2018.06.28 – 08.02 – Free films t the Barcelona beach

Free movies at the beach during the summer nights.

Other events

During summer from Thursday to Sunday from 9:00p.m to 11:30p.m. – The Magic Fountain of Montjuïc

In the summer from Thursday to Sunday from 9:00p.m to 11:30p.m. the spectacles take place every half an hour.

2018.08.09 – 19 – Circuit Festival

Don’t miss the most fun gay Festival in Barcelona.

2018.08.05 – 05 – Joan Gamper Trophy from the FC Barcelona

Experience the Barcelona Football Club Joan Gamper a the Camp Nou!

Have a good time!

A new bicycle route from the sea to the mountain in Barcelona

July 26th, 2018

With the inauguration of the bike lines in the streets of Bilbao and Jonquera, which have been added to the street of Navas -look at the map and you will understand it better 😉-, the axis which will allow us to go from the Parc del Guinardó to Marbella beach is completed.

Something very especial from Barcelona that we always try to remark is that this city is a sea and mountain city, where the landscape and the environments are very varied and it allows us to enjoys its different modalities.

Up to now, a very important bicycle route was the one where you can go from the Port Olimpic to Montjuïc mountain in the Sants-Montjuïc district. In just one day you can enjoy the sea breeze and the mountain views. Now, to this amazing route, we have to add another one from Guinardó to the Marbella beach, so we have a new one for changing the views and the environment of the beach.

The most important thing of these routes is the fact that now we can do that in a safe way thanks to the extension of the bike lane in Barcelona.

This summer experience Barcelona to the maximum and discover the last of its corners by bicycle.

A bicycle as your best trip mate

Photo by Autumn Studio

July 27th, 2018

This summer you shouldn’t forget your bicycle at home. It will be your best trip mate.

If you have kept yourself fit all year getting around everywhere by bicycle, this summer you cannot waste all this effort. Moving around the cities by bicycle is the best investment that you can make.

With the bicycle, you can get to know all the cities at street level, without any problem when you decide to park, and enjoying the city environment directly.

The respect for the environment, the noise and the neighbors are synonyms of bicycle. This will make you earn points with the local people who are sharing the city with you.

Flexibility of movement, especially in Barcelona, city of sea and mountain. By bicycle, the moment you wake up, you can decide if this a mountain or a sea day. It will make you enjoy the trip and allow you to stop anywhere you want. It doesn’t matter if you want to immortalize the moment by taking a photo or if you want to have some tapas -Spanish appetizers- in a bar that you like.

All these advantages, combined with the bike lanes which the city is taking from the space of the cars, make the bicycle the best trip mate during our summer adventures.

This summer, let’s share Barcelona by bicycle

July 3rd, 2018

We have to insist that the best way to travel is by the ecotourism, achieving that our passing through the city be the most sustainable and positive possible, and generating the best memories for us and for the people who live in the city and who turn it into a marvelous place.

Photo by Sergi Larripa

The City Hall of Barcelona has initiated a new campaign this summer: ‘Compartim Barcelona’ -Let’s share Barcelona- where they gather some tips for everyone who visits and lives in the city. We feel very identified with them, because they are something that we try to transmit in many of our mails.

Sharing the public places, taking care of the urban furniture, not obstructing the life’s rhythm of the people who live in the city, not making noise after a celebration and, in general, controlling the volume… these are some basic tips from the web site. It seems very logical, isn’t it? Well, these are annoyances that the people who live in Barcelona are experiencing continuously, and which complicate their day-to-day. For this reason, we are sharing it in our blog, in order to do our part to achieve a more habitable city for everyone.

To all these tips, obviously, we want to add another one: riding a bicycle when you visit the city. This means of transport doesn’t make noise, doesn’t dirty it and, thanks to the extension of the bike lane, we can practically move around the whole city in a safe way for us and for the pedestrians. Of course, in order to make this idea a reality, we need your help by respecting all the traffic sign, the places to stop and park and this rhythm of the people who live in the city that we have talked about. Because, they are sharing their bicycle routes, so try not to obstruct the rhythm of these.

Take these tips with you and enjoy Barcelona by bicycle!

This holidays you can practice the ecotourism in Barcelona by the best means of transport: the bicycle

June 19th, 2018

Summer is very close and we cannot avoid to remember you some tips that will help you to plan an unforgettable trip, respecting the environment and people who you are going to visit.

Born Bike Tours Barcelona are very fans of ecotourism, this combination of activities that allow us to travel respecting the environment and the people who live in this place. But, although this point of view comes from the respect, ecotourism is much more. We are going to sum it up in the 8 tips presented by the International Ecotourism Society:

Minimize physical, social, behavioral, and psychological impacts.
Build environmental and cultural awareness and respect.
Provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts.
Provide direct financial benefits for conservation.
Generate financial benefits for both local people and private industry.
Deliver memorable interpretative experiences to visitors that help raise sensitivity to host countries’ political, environmental, and social climates.
Design, construct and operate low-impact facilities.
Recognize the rights and spiritual beliefs of the Indigenous People in your community and work in partnership with them to create empowerment.

You are going to see that a lot of these points are easy to resolve if you visit the place by bicycle 😉

Integrate yourself in Barcelona by bicycle

June 14th, 2018

One of the best ways to grade our trip experience is through the integration level. In order to reach the maximum grade in Barcelona -or anywhere- we suggest you to take a map of the bike lane and to get fit with your bicycle, the best means of transport to enjoy the city at street level.

Photography by Alejandro Lopez

June smells summer and, with the arriving of summer, we cannot avoid to start to think about our well-deserved holidays. For this reason, today we want to remember some ideas that we have set out in the blog, because we think that they are very important for achieving the best experience in Barcelona.

Bring us close tot the city people through their culture, their history and their social habits is a basic thing and, for achieving this, to move us at street level is very important, in order to don’t miss any detail.

When we know exactly our means of transport, the next more important thing is the destination. And for this part of the planning is very important to get informed before to leap to our trip. Be informed about the greatest monuments, to explore some more specialized corners and, above all, try to coincide with some popular celebration.

If you achieve getting into the plane, bus or train – whatever it is the means of transport that you use to come to Barcelona- knowing all the lessons, your trip will be incomparable. If you don’t have enough time for that, keep calm, the city is full of services where we can help you sharing all our knowledge.

Blogs and guidebooks, windows which show us the cities that we want to get to know

January 16th, 2018

This week, we have wake up with this marvelous mail’s blog from Silver Stories, by Caroline, where she explains its riding by bike through Barcelona together with Born Bike Tours Barcelona.

Photo by Judit Aranda

Before start a trip, long or short, it is essential to inform us about which kind of things are we going to find in our destination. This information that we used to find in guidebooks, now, we can also find it in an unlimited number of blogs, where people show their own experiences while they were traveling.

Just as when you visit a specialized bookstore looking for the guidebook which show you all the things in the littlest possible space, which has been actualized during the last year and which allows you to move as a local when you arrive at the city, more and more, people look for this specialization in a blog. Recently blog entries, updates and the experience of the person who has written it are the elements which give us the confidence to accept their tips and write it down in our trip’s notebook.

This is something that we find in blogs, as Silver Stories, where you quickly see that Caroline has a great experience traveling and, in addition, she loves it.

Always is a pleasure to meet people like she, for this reason we love our job.

These holidays, experience Barcelona like a local person

July 25th, 2017

Fiestas, gastronomy and architecture are the three keys that will help you to enjoy Barcelona as though you had lived here all your life.

Barcelona keeps its high level of activities during the whole year, but, during summer, coinciding with the fiestas of some of its districts is much easier.

During these fiestas, all families in the neighborhood work in the organization and in the celebration. For this reason, if you are looking for typical elements of the popular Catalan culture -sardanes, grallers, giants, music…-, in these fiestas, you will find them.

During the next weeks we will announce them.

Gastronomy is another one of the essentials keys, in order to get to know the culture and, in addition, this is one of the best pleasures which we can access easily. In Barcelona, walking through the narrow streets in the center, at the Gòtic or the Born, at the port or, even, in other neighborhoods like Gracia or Sants-full of pedestrian streets and squares- we will be surrounded by restaurants and bars, where we will be able to eat some tapas -Spanish appetizers.

Finally, architecture, the one which we can find walking at the street level, is the key that has converted Barcelona into the most important modernist city. You shouldn’t miss that.

The best of all of this is that you can achieve all these key points while you are riding your bike placidly around the city.

What should you keep in mind before doing a tour through Barcelona by bike during these summer’ holidays?

July 12th, 2016

During the summer, you can visit Barcelona in a thousand different ways. We want to give you some options, riding your bicycle, with which you will enjoy the hot weather.

30ºC of temperature (86ºF) can be a bit suffocating, especially if we are riding a bicycle. For this reason, there are two very interesting tours for these summer days, with which we can enjoy the landscapes and the culture of Barcelona (especially the gastronomic one) in a refreshing way.

Tour through the beaches of Barcelona

Barcelona has a long coast and with it a great diversity of beaches, which have been transformed throughout the years. Going through them by bicycle, discovering their history and breathing the sea breeze is something unique during the summer.

¡Now, of course! You should not forget a good sun-cream and wearing cool clothes.

Tapas Tour through the most symbolic neighborhoods

Close to the beaches, we can also find the most antique neighborhoods of Barcelona and they have a notable gastronomic variety, so you should not conform yourself with only one of them. The bicycle will allow us to go through these streets and stop at every one of the different terraces, in order to enjoy of a fresh drink with its respective tapa. You will get to know from the most traditional tastes to the most experimental ones. You or your stomach set the limit.

The best experiences for a refreshing Barcelona!

4 reasons for visiting Barcelona on bicycle this summer

July 05th, 2016

If you are someone of last minute planning and you don’t know where do you want to go these holidays, here you have 4 good reasons for coming to Barcelona and enjoying it by bicycle.

Mediterranean city

Weather, gastronomy, tradition… Barcelona doesn’t let determinants to chance. Whatever makes you travel, here you have a lot of everything. If you don’t want to ride your bicycle under the rain or under extreme weather conditions, this is your city. If you want an unlimited number of restaurants and bars where you can go to fill up on energy with a good price and a good taste, this is your city. If you want to get to know something different every time you go through a street, this is your city.

Sea and mountain

You can go through beaches and port by bicycle, but if you keep yourself pedaling you can go to the mountain. Everything in a day, from the Parc del Fòrum to Montjuïc and if it is not enough, you can lose yourself in Collserola. Every one of the views are amazing.

Almost 200km of bike lane

In order to make your visit as comfortable as possible, you can access practically every corner in the city easily. In order not to miss anything at street level, because, according to our philosophy, this is the best way to get to know a place from within.

Events, concerts and parties, almost every day

If your holidays don’t coincide with one of the neighborhood celebrations, you can enjoy, in a live way, the culture of the city in many other centers, theaters, museums and bars. Barcelona always has a good plan.

Moving around by bicycle, a way of life

June 28th, 2016

Everyone who uses a bicycle in his daily life to go to work, to shop, to take the children to school… They cannot leave it during the holidays.

Some people start to use a bicycle to avoid the sedentary life in which we live; some others use it because they have become sensitive about the problem of the high levels of pollution in the cities; others because of both reasons or, simply, because they love moving around without traffic jams, with a bit of fresh air and enjoying the views.

Whichever is the reason that pushes us to start pedaling in our daily life, it finally accompanies us everywhere. For this reason, leaving the bicycle during vacation is very difficult and, actually, there are no motives for doing that. Getting to know other places at street level, close to the people, stopping everywhere we want, moving fast through every corner… Practically, everyone who tries it, finally, transforms it into a way of life.

If you don’t yet see it clearly, take advantage at this beginning of summer to discover new and old places and, surely, without realizing, you will transform that into your best habit.

The greatest historical celebrities like (or liked) to ride a bicycle

A bike is the best means of transport for almost everyone, so, it is not strange that the greatest historical celebrities consider the bicycle as something else than a simple way of travelling.

“If you worried about falling off the bike, you’d never get on”, Lance Armstrong –professional cyclist-.

A tip which can help us during many moments of our life and, in addition, it is really illustrative: the person who gives us the advice has spent a half of his life on a bicycle surpassing challenges and almost every one of us, at a certain time, have taken the risk of riding a bicycle in our lives.

If in case of doubt we feel scared, the best thing we can do is remember the day we launched ourselves down the street on two wheels.

“Those who wish to control their own lives and move beyond the existence as mere clients and consumers, those people ride a bike”, Wolfgang Sachs – researcher, writer and teacher of environment, development and globalization.

If someone, who has dedicated his career and his life to theorize a more sustainable development, has said that, maybe it is true that the bicycle transforms us and make us freer from the consumption system in which we live.

Only the people who pedal to work daily can feel the sensation of well-being with the environment and with oneself, a sensation that is accentuated when you see what you save on petrol and the gym.

Albert Einstein riding his bicycle.
Santa Barbara, 1933

“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them”, Ernest Hemingway –journalist, writer and traveller-.

The contours and all the cities’ corners of the country. From BornBike we confirm this fact every day of our work. With the bicycle you will live an experience which is impossible to appreciate through another kind of vehicle.

And in order to keep up the level, here you have the last famous quotation which, we think, doesn’t need an explanation:

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving”, Albert Einstein –the most acknowledged scientist of the 20^th century-.

The Carnival arrives in Barcelona

If you are thinking about taking advantage of some days and coming to visit Barcelona, you cannot miss the opportunity of meeting the Reina Belluga (Belluga Queen).

From the 4^th to the 10^th of February, Barcelona dresses up its streets with activities and popular parties, starting with L’Arribo, a tour through different streets of the city, which will start at the Sant Cugat Square at 6 p.m. on the 4^thday, in order to receive the Reina Belluga with music, giants and fireworks. With this welcoming, the Queen of this Carnival will initiate all the events which will take place in a lot of centres, associations and institutions of the city.

Three other important activities which you cannot miss (and which will be held very close to our BornBike premises are El Ball del Molinet (The Little Mill Dance) on the 5^th at 7 p.m. at the Born Cultural Centre; the Taronjada on the 7^th at 4.30 p.m., which will start at the Comercial Square, it will be perfect for all the family members; and the carnival streets, there will be 30 of them distributed through the different districts of the city. You will need to pedal strongly if you want to see more than one.

Start looking now for the best costume in your wardrobe for this festivity, because the level will be very high.

The keys of the ecotourism

Although we have the sensation that an eternity has passed since we were on holidays, surely it has been only a month and a few days, enough time to get away from our experiences and analyze our trip in a critical way.

by Diogo Tavares

For this analysis, the definition and the seven principles on which The International Ecotourism Society bases itself can be a help for us. So the Ecotourism is not any other thing than: “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education”. In order to achieve this we have to:

1. Minimize physical, social, behavioral, and psychological impacts:

Obviously, at this point we cannot stop insisting on the kind of means of transport that we use. We, of course, prefer the quick, efficient and non-contamination bicycle, always knowing and respecting the each city‘s regulations.

2. Build environmental and cultural awareness and respect:

And an interesting way to do that is moving around the city to the maximum in order to get to know its history, its art and it culture, in addition to its surroundings, especially if they are a source of nature and always leaving a minimum physical trace of our visit.

3. Provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts:

Knowing local people and sharing experiences with them will always make our trip so much richer. In order to do that, it is usually enough to be respectful and friendly.

4. Provide direct financial benefits for conservation:

Collaborating, as well as possible, with these places which we love to visit.

5. Generate financial benefits for both local people and private industry:

To go and use local shops and services will get us closer to the people of the place and to the way that they live together. So, why do we have to go to the same shops, which, surely, are also in our city?

6. Deliver memorable interpretative experiences to visitors that help raise sensitivity to host countries’ political, environmental, and social climates:

The present context will indicate so much about the place and the people that we are getting to know.

7. Design, construct and operate low-impact facilities:

Something so basic that we surely will always intend to comply with it in our daily life.

8. Recognize the rights and spiritual beliefs of the Indigenous People in your community and work in partnership with them to create empowerment:

Something so basic that we surely will always intend to comply with it in our daily life.

So, now we have to ask ourselves: At how many points we have implemented these on the last holidays? And, in this way, trying to improve in each one, our next holidays will be have 10 points!

Convert yourself into one more citizen of Barcelona pedalling the bicycle

Getting closer to people of a city in a cultural, historic and social way is what will transform our journey into a unique trip. How should we do this? Get carried along the streets by someone who really knows them!

When we travel to new places, apart from breaking the routine, usually, we look for getting to know the city in detail. We look for all the information through guides and internet and, we leave with thousands of routes in our head to experience and to pass through. But all architectonic works, museums and corners of the city lack sense if we don’t know their history fully and, finally, we just forget them or we mix them up with memories of other trips.

In order to avoid this, the best choice is to look for a trip mate who knows all the details of the history, because he or she has lived with them all his/her life.

By travelling with local people, we will have a great opportunity to live a new experience, much richer and more authentic than all the notes that we could compile before and during the trip.

This, together with the opportunity of going through the streets on a bicycle, a vehicle which allows us to move through all the streets easily, much quicker than walking and appreciating more details than going by car, will be the perfect combination for assuring us that we are using our trip up to the limit.