Thanks Harriers9, got the guide book but does not tell much about the three things I wanted to know.

Dave

What I would like to know is, is there much of a push and shove to get this bus or would it be better to get a taxi

We got the bus and it was fine. Yes, it was busy but there was certainly no pushing and shoving.

good Cafes to look out for when we are in La Rambla's

Avoid like the plague, we had lunch in one of the cafes one day and found the service terrible and the food was very mediocre.
In the Gothic Quarter there is a restaurant called Cafe De L'Academia and it's fabulous. There is also a nice Japanese place towards the bottom of Avenda de Parrel near the port. I can't remember the name but it's just up from the hotel Auto Hogar.

As Harriers says, do watch out for pickpockets and make sure you take the usual big city precautions re: carry credit cards and cash.

the transport infrastructure is very good, reliable and cheap. We bought the T-10 bus/metro ticket for a few euros and travelled everywhere on the buses.

We got the bus from and back to the airport and it was fine.

I guess we are all used to the appaling state of public transport in the UK and expect the same in other countries. recently I have been to Rome, barcelona, Salou, bruges and brussels and found the transport facilities excellent and above all cheap !

Hi, thanks again for your replys I most agree on the transport in this country, I found in Lisbon it was very cheap with a good service, last weekend I was down in London and on the tube it was £3.00 for one stop and Red Ken wants us to use the tube more and not your car well at them prices I am glad I don't live there.
Well only a few days till we go (friday) and the weather is getting better may even have to take me sun tan oil

Dave

Hi All,

I am hoping someone can help me. I'm having a bit of a dilemma. We are coming to Barcelona this weekend for the Spanish Grand Prix (can't wait) and i had this great idea of making my own T-shirt for Race Day. I'm a McLaren / kimi raikkonen fan so I bought a little white vest and some iron on transfers and tried to put KIMI on the back. What a disaster that was. The iron on transfers didn't work and for some silly reason, I left it till tonight to try it out!! ive ended up with black ink all over the place! :-(

We are leaving from Edinburgh for Barcelona on Thursday so I don't have time to go out and try it again for a 2nd time. Also, I don't know of any shops locally that will sell a Mclaren t-shirt.

Basically, i am wondering (and hoping) that someone out there can tell me of a good Sports shop that will sell McLaren / Kimi t-shirts in Barcelona before race day. I know there are sports shops (we were over for the GP last year!) but mainly they all sell Renault (alonso) or Ferrari (Schumacher) merchandise!

Any help would be much appreciated.

Charlene
x

Hi

Oh dear, I do feel for you (I'm a fellow Kimi fan, I've just ordered my gear for the British GP!).

All I can suggest is that you get there early and have a look in the stalls. I've only been to Silverstone, but I imagine all the venues have the same merchandise stalls. You should be able to find one selling Kimi merchandise, either at the McLaren stand or a general stand.

Buy some face paints, even if you can't arrive at the circuit wearing a Kimi t-shirt, you can paint the Finnish flag on your cheek!

If you're really desperate, you could take a trip to the GRAND PRIX LEGENDS store, but as you're flying from Edinburgh, I assume you live in Scotland so that would be a very long journey.

Best of luck, and enjoy the race! I bet the atmosphere will be electric at Fernando's home race!

Pippy

If you can get into the city centre then you will find a very good T shirt shop in the Carrer De'lArgenteria just off the Via Leitana.

They might be able to knock one up for you for E15.

Just returned from Barcelona and would like to remind everyone to beware of pickpockets! We hadbeen warned but still our friend had her bag stolen. She had it over her shoulder between her and her husband but they knocked him to the fllor and yanked the bag from her
They went to the police station which was full,especially with Englsih victimes.
The police really do need to get this problem under control.
Apart from this had a lovely time. Excellent tapas,some nice scenery but found it too busy. Don't think we will return.
Had anice day out in Sitges - lovely Spanish resort with beautiful buildings and a nice beach and marina. Would like to revisit and stay a few days.

100% agree about the pick pockets .but don't stop going to this wonderful city
but i had my wallet stolen when shopping in birmingham .can happen anywhere!!!

Just returned from Barcelona. Our 2nd trip in the last year. We were very aware of the pickpockets but luckily we've been fine both times. I was a bit wary one night though as I had a handbag that wouldnt' go over my shoulder. We kept to the main tourist area's though and i had it round my wrist, holding my husbands hands.

Pippy and Harriers9 - I didn't get my Kimi t-shirt however, I got myself a lovely kimi cap so I was best pleased!! If i'd waited until we got to the Circuit on Race Day or Qualifying day then there was loads of stalls there selling mcLaren t-shirts (quite expensive though!). I decided to stick with the hat at the moment - got a feeling he's going to move to Ferrari next year so i will wait and get a t-shirt then!
We stayed in the Barcelona Princess hotel - a bit out of the way but a first class hotel, cannot fault it. The public transport systems in Barcelona are brilliant too so it doesn't matter if you are out of the way.

Not sure if anyone has previously mentioned this restaurant (haven't quite read all 26 pages of this post!!) but we visited Citrus on Passeig de Gracia on Friday night. We enjoyed it so much we went back on Sunday night too. Excellent food, not massive portions but just enough. A 3 course meal for 2 of us with a nice bottle Rose wine came to approximately £40. Not bad at all!

Charlie, sorry I've just seen this and didn't get a chance to reply before you went. There is loads of merchandise at the circuit.
How did you enjoy your trip on the train to the circuit? It's a bit mad isn't it?? It's like Sivlerstone was about 10 years ago, needs a bit of an upgrade, especially the access.
We went 2 years ago and had a fab time, I'd imagine that this year the Spanish fans were even more wild were they?

Hi puddleduck,

this was our 2nd time at the spanish grand prix. This year was so much better than last year. the alonso fans went crazy when he won. Every time he drove past they were waving at him and blowing those airhorns. amazing atmosphere! (however, I did prefer last years winner - kimi!!).

We didn't get the train to Montmelo, we used the buses. They have like a park and ride that leaves from Sagales ticket booth at Passieg de St Joan every 10-15 mins going to the circuit. We done the same last year. Actually, last year was very disorganised, I think they weren't expecting such a big turn out as Alonso only started to become popular last year. This year, however, the buses etc ran like clockwork. Took us 45 mins to get to the circuit and just over an hour to get back after the race. Compared to last year we sat in traffic at the circuit for nearly 2 hours after the race, gridlock!!

We're already thinking of going back again next year. We've only ever been to the race in Barcelona - people are asking why we don't go to a different one but our favourite is the Spanish GP - nice weather, great atmosphere, great people, beautiful surroundings. What more can you ask for!

My hubby is a Schumacher fan so if he signs again for next year and kimi moves to Ferrari (rumour mills are in overdrive) then we'll probably be back again for the 3rd year in a row!

Our trip to Barcelona was really lovely although I did not realise the Spanish GP was on the following weekend and hubby is a great fan of motor racing. Tell me please, how did you get tickets for the GP? It would be nice to go back and also include Grand Prix.

Barcelona has so much to see that we couldn't cover everything we wanted in 4 days. We went to Sitges to a nice fish restaurant on the sea front with friends who live in Barcelona and enjoyed it very much. These friends also met us as a surprise at the luggage carousel (the wife works for customs) when we arrived and drove us to the hotel and then insisted on taking us back to airport too so we didn't use the airport bus but it seemed really easy to get on the bus. Although about 20 Euros for a taxi does not seem too much either.

One trick of waiters should be told: One day we had lunch somewhere between Picasso Museum and Parc de Ciutadella. We got our bill and paid and when waiter brought back the change, it was a different bill which was higher than ours and the change was obviously less. It was only a matter of about 4 Euros difference but fortunately we spotted it and when mentioned to waiter he was not at all apologetic. It was obvious from his reaction that it was no surprise to him. He just said that it was a mistake and then brought us our bill with correct change. So, please be aware of this trick presumably to get more money which would have gone straight into his pocket. I have to say, the service was very, very slow at this particular place and with the swapping of bills and change, this waiter got what he deserved - no tips.

Otherwise, everything was just perfect in Barcelona and I am sure we'll go back again, hopefully then getting tickets to the racing too.

Cic

Hi Cic

I've only been to Silverstone, but I know alot of people use Motor Racing International for packages to races abroad.

You can link directly to the Circuit de Catalunya website HERE, or contact them via telephone/fax or post.....

Tel: (+34) 935719700
Fax: (+34) 935723061

Real Automobil Club de Catalunya
AP de Correus 27
08160 Montmelo
Barcelona, Spain

More info HERE.

I'm glad you enjoyed your weekend Charlie!
I was thinking of you as I watched it

Pippy

Aww, thanks Pippy. As i said though, the weekend would have been perfect had Kimi won. It was still a great weekend!

Cic, the first time we went to the GP we got our tickets from Easy GPT. Check out their website http://www.easygpt.co.uk

The 2nd time however, we realised it was cheaper to book direct with the Circuit. You will find everything you need to know at the weblink Pippy listed. When booking direct with the circuit, you get the option to purchase the bus tickets at the same time (see my last post). the tickets are 6 euro's per day, per person. the tickets you buy are normally for the Friday practice session, Saturday Qualifying round and the race on sunday.

If you require any furhter info, let me know.

Cx

Thanks Charlie and Pippy. Will keep that info for next time.

Cic

We had a meal at a restaurant near the harbour - fully expected it to be expensive. There were 4 of us and all had 3 courses,one bottle of wine,4 beers and 4 irish coffees.
The bill worked out to about £165.00
We were going to pay as we did expect a hefty bill - however I noticed that one of the sweets that was 7 euros had been charged at 67 euros!
The waitress immediately corrected the bill but it does make you wonder?!

Charlie - it was bit disorganised when were there too. Going was OK (standing room only though) but coming back there was huge queues for some people who hadn't bought return tickets - I felt really sorry for them as we just walked straight through onto the platform and got on the train (we got seats this time) and were back to our hotel in double quick time!!

Cic, we booked directly with the circuit via the 'net and it was much cheaper that going through an agency. They just send the tickets directly to you by post. As we weren't just going for the race and wanted to do some sightseeing too this way worked out much cheaper as we just got 2 Easyjet flights for £80 return and a hotel via Alpha rooms.

One of my highlights of visiting Barcelona was a tour round the Camp Nou, and now of course they will have the champions league trophy on display for the next twelve months.