Tag Archives: vacation

Sunsets on bicycle

Barcelona is one of the most bike-friendly cities in Spain, with almost 200 kilometers of bike lanes, used both for those who use the bike as a means of daily transportation or for those who are just walking around the city, getting to know it and discovering its streets.

In Born Bike Tours Barcelona we propose a tour of the beach and the Barcelona neighborhood. Where you will find a complete tour, passing through the following points:

  • Christopher Columbus Monument
  • Drassanes
  • Port Vell
  • Palau del Mar
  • Barceloneta neighborhood
  • Olympic Port
  • Forum of Cultures
  • Parc Diagonal Mar
  • Poblenou neighborhood
  • Olympic Village (Olympic Games 1992)
  • Ciutadella Park

The tour runs almost entirely on peaceful roads without traffic, bike lanes and zones 30, very safe for all ages.

We accompany you with experienced guides who know the city and its history. In the course of the tour we will make several stops to liste, contemplate and enjoy each point and where you can take your pictures and your memories of the tour.

Live Barcelona on wheels!

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.

Photography by Barcelona.cat

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)

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.

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

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. 

Une image contenant extérieur, arbre, plante, immeuble résidentiel

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.

Bicycle repairs and rental in Barcelona

Barcelona is one of the most beautiful cities to travel by bicycle with more than 200 kilometers of bike lanes, where you can enjoy a walk along the Mediterranean coast, through the Gothic streets or enjoy a day on the Collserolla mountain.

If you are still in doubt about repairing that old bicycle, or renting one to enjoy Barcelona on wheels, we leave you five tips that will help you make that decision.

  • Enjoy a safer ride

The bicycle is a safe vehicle, you will walk through the city of Barcelona enjoying great views and places, using the safety of the bike lanes.

  • Easier and simpler

Mobility by bicycle is easier than in other means of transport. Did you know that the bike is faster than the car in short and medium urban distances? Through several door-to-door competitions, with the city center as the destination, it has been found that, in general, the bike is the fastest transport. in addition to being faster in short distances, it is ideal to combine with public transport

  • Be more sustainable and collaborate with the environment

The bicycle is a key factor in reducing the levels of environmental and noise pollution in cities. An, at the same time, it is the most energy efficient means of transport: it uses twelve times less energy than a car, even if it is full, to move a person over a kilometer, and fifty times less than a car occupied by only one person.

  • To enjoy more space

A cyclist occupies five times less space than a motorist, whether he is stationary or in motion. This data has very profound implications for the well-being of residents, who can enjoy peaceful, calmer, safer and noise-free spaces.

  • To always be on the move

Going by bike is one of the most beneficial exercises for health, since during the effort large muscle groups are mobilized. Of practiced regularly it can reduce resting heart and breathing rates.

If you want to know about bike rental or repair you can stop by our store 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

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. 

image of the Cathedral of Barcelona

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. 

image of the cathedral of Barcelona

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

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 

Bike Tours in Spain

image of a groupe of people with there bike in front of a building in Madrid, rent a bike

We are passionate about bicycles and luckily we are not the only ones  

That is why we decided to take a tour of Spain to visit different cities by Bicycle And today we arrive in Madrid where the guys from Rent & Roll (www.rentandrollmadrid.com)  

They will take you to know the city with their exclusive tours  

  • private tour for work agencies or family groups.
  • For those who want to visit Madrid at night
  • For those who travel at Christmas time and want to discover the magic of the lights of Madrid

And Surprise for wheel lovers!  

Because you can also rent your bike or go out to explore the city on skates  

image of a website named Rent & Roll Madrid, bikes rent

You can find them in
Calle Felipe IV, 10 28014 Madrid, Espagne
Or by phone (+34) 911484967 – (+34) 686178462
contact@rentandroll.es / www.rentandrollmadrid.com/

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

  1. Collserola Park: The Collserola Park extends over 8,000 hectares. Forest areas with a great variety of plant formations of valuable biological diversity predominate.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Maritime Front: The Ronda Verda runs along the maritime fronts of Barcelona, Sant Adrià de Besòs and Badalona.
  5. 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.
  6. Llobregat Route: This route approaches the Llobregat basin, allowing connections with the river glare, the delta area and the Collserola Park.

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.

It’s still summer in Barcelona

September 1st, 2018

Although the summer holidays have finished with the August’s month for a lot of people, for other ones, who have suffered the hot weather in the work place while they saw how the work mates departed to remote countries, the good time starts now.

Photo by Katerina Zhang

Barcelona is not going to disappoint all the people who have been waiting for the arriving of their well-deserved vacations. On the contrary, the activity of the city is not going to let anyone to get bored.

From refreshing ridings through the beach by bicycle, to the challenge of getting to the top of the hill of Montjuïc, where you will be awarded with the amazing views of the city. Everything with the nicest weather and avoiding the July and August build-ups –overbooking in hotels, in restaurants and, even worst! in the streets-.

And, if it was not enough, we cannot forget that the great fiesta of La Mercè 2018 is very close. A festivity that, as always, will get you closer to the culture and tradition of the city.

Barcelona is waiting for you with open arms, take your bicycle and come to pedal!

The end of August is arriving, but not the end of vacation on bicycle

August 30th, 2016

Photo by Alex Blăjan

With the ending of August we also say goodbye to the summer, but we shouldn’t forget that September is a perfect month for planning long weekends on bicycle. At least in Barcelona.

More pleasant temperatures

If in August the most recommended routes were the ones around the beach so that we could have a necessary swim, in September the degrees decrease so that we can get lost on our bicycle in any place.

Looking for routes on the weekends, be this in order to increase our culture or to the mountain to disconnect from the hustle and bustle, it’s the best way to get rid of the post vacation depression.

Less is more

Sadly, fewer people in the more touristic cities will allow you to move around easier and with much more economical prices. Something inevitable also has its positive part that we should take advantage of.

Take advantage of the increase in energy that we get travelling during vacation in order to continue enjoying different places during different weekend escapades.

Experience Barcelona from one celebration to another

July 18th, 2016

As we always say from BornBike, there isn’t a better way to enjoy the city than introducing yourself directly into the traditions and the culture, and, where is a major concentration of these two ingredients? In the festivities. Summer is the season of the different celebrations in the neighborhoods of Barcelona per excellence.

Photo by: Feradz

The 16th of July the Festa Major of Poble Sec, in the district of Sants-Montjuïc, was inaugurated, but if you haven’t had time to enjoy the activities, you have the opportunity to do it until the 24th of this month of July. Coinciding with these dates, the Clota’s fiesta is also going to be celebrated, in the district of Horta-Guinardó, a place a bit further away from the center of the city.

From the 22nd to the 16th of August, Sant Roc, the Festa Major of the Gótic neighborhood in Ciutat Vella, is the most ancient celebration of Barcelona with more than four centuries of history. You can find it easily, because it is centered mainly in the Nova square.

And we love the Gracia fiesta, this year it will be celebrated from the 15th to the 21st of August. We love it for its activities, but, especially, because of its neighbors making works of art in every one of its streets. Although, if you want to avoid masses of people, the best for you is to wait for the Sants celebration, from the 20th to the 28th of August, it also is a great example of a good team work between neighbors.

If you are the kind of people who prefer to travel during September, you also have the opportunity to enjoy the celebrations of Vallcarca, Horta, Poblenou and the great fiesta per excellence: La Mercè.

¿How could you win a good vacation by pedaling your bicycle every day?

Photography by Javier Calvo

JAE Ingeniería y Desarrollo, a company from Logroño, La Rioja (Spain), clearly knows how to take care of the workers who make themselves responsible for the environment: even one week of vacation can be earned by them for riding the bicycle to their work every day.

The importance of the workers’ motivation has been heard by a lot of companies and, each one looks for the best way to award the employees. This week we have found the company who, in our point of view, has won the first place: JAE Ingeniería y Desarrollo has thought up a system in which, for every day that you go to work with a non-motorized vehicle you accumulate 10 minutes of vacation and in this way until you have reached one week.

In conclusion, a great system to thank all the people who are concerned about the environment, about the city and about the tranquility of a lot of people, because, in the end, what is more tranquil, quick and less polluting than a bicycle?

This initiative is similar to the other one that the French government announced last October, which has not yet been put into practice, but which is planning to pay 0,25 cents for each kilometer ridden to work.

It seems that the bicycle is going to continuously win more allies and maybe we, using it, will be able to earn some paid vacation, but, of course, on bicycle.