Our top choice would have to be to explore the city. Some of the most famous architecture in the city was designed by Antonio Gaudi. Easily the most famous buildings can be found along the Passieg De Gracia which contains such buildings like La Pedrera and Casa Batlló.

Alternatively you could go down to the Parc Guell, again designed by Antonio Guadi. After seeing these great buildings you should go to the arguably the best building by him, the Sagrada Familia. It is a huge but unfinished temple that is well worth a look.

How about Teatre Grec. Once you have wandered around there you should head up to the Fundaló Joan Miró which is a great museum that has loads of things to look at: 225 paintings, 150 sculptures and some graphic pieces made by the Spanish surrealist artist.

For the family,  the Zoo in Parc Citudella is easily entertainment for an entire day. Guided tours are available, alongside educational courses based on Zoology for adults and 20 different types of diversionary workshops for children. The zoo is very popular with over 50,000 children visiting the zoo each year, hence the reason why the zoo has such an emphasis on education.

Not so perfect for families rather more for the 18-30’s are the clubs that Barcelona prides itself on. Clubs and bars are typically open till 3am so there isn’t a rush and you can freely wander around and move to different clubs. Most are your typical pop-blaring clubs but some are different are certainly worth visiting. One such example would be the l’arquer that even has some lanes for archery and is well known for being a novelty bar.

Into something a bit more energetic,, why not climb up the mountain Montjuïc. There are great views on the way up and scattered along the path are the 1992 Olympic Games buildings such as the Santiago Calatrav’s Olympic needle. All in all it is a great place to visit and you are rewarded with such great views both on the way and at the top.

As you can see Barcelona is a great city with a large amount of things to do regardless of your age and interests. A lot of the things are completely free and the others are quite cheap regardless.  We hope you enjoy your visit.

As one of the may destinations of Luton Airport, we at Parking Luton Airport thought we’d not only save you money on Parking at Luton Airport, but give you a kick-start guide to Barcelona aswell – Enjoy!

Whilst immersing myself in Spanish conversations, which I have to admit were quite hard to follow, I had the opportunity to try this heart-warming fabada and learn more about Spanish food. Food forms an integral part of Spanish culture. Spanish food is uncomplicated, based on locally available ingredients and mainly involving cooking on a low heat for several hours to allow the flavours to infuse. This dish in particular was delicious!

Here are some fabada recipes that I found online:

• Fabada asturiana recipe at Spanish-recipes.com
• Pork and white bean fabada (stew) recipe at Delicious magazine
• Simple Asturian Bean and Sausage Casserole at about.com
• Hotpaella.com – you can find the recipe as well as history of fabada in this website.

Please note – I have not tested any of these recipes.

Other related posts:

• Spanish tortilla – grandma’s secret recipe
• Eat your way round Latin America with Empanadas

My colleague Lauren, who took a language holiday in Seville in September, shares with us her experiences learning Spanish in this beautiful Andalucian city. She tells us how her Spanish has improved and gives us her all-important tips for a holiday of this type.

Why did you choose Seville?

I have visited other Spanish cities but never Seville. I had heard many positive things so wanted to make it the next destination to see in Spain. I also wanted to go somewhere that would still be warm in September, and it certainly was – 43 degrees!

Did the course meet your expectations?

The course was challenging as other people in my class were slightly more advanced, but I was very keen to remain in this class as I wanted to improve my Spanish. It definitely helped as I had to think more and express myself in Spanish if I didn’t understand.

How is your Spanish after the language holiday?

I feel that I have improved, but there has been one month since I took the language holiday to beginning my next evening course. I think the things I have learnt will come back to me once I begin the next level, but I need to do my own reading and research to keep on top of it.

Food recommendations…

I tried pescado frito (fried fish) which is a local favourite, although it was not to my liking. I tried tapas too and liked some of them, but I am quite fussy with food so did not enjoy everything.

Top 5 things to do in Seville…

1. Visit the Alcazar. It has amazing gardens and architecture and you can spend hours there walking around and taking it all in.
2. Sit by the river with a cold drink and watch people row or walk by.
3. Walk around the maze of narrow cobbled streets to find hidden buildings not shown on the map.
4. Spend time in Parque Marie-Luisa and see the magnificent Plaza de Espana whilst riding in one of the boats.
5. Visit the bodega on the corner of Calle Rodrigo for authentic tapas where your bill is written on the bar in chalk.

Do you have any advice for people wanting to go on a language holiday?

Choose a destination with fewer English tourists to ensure you are immersed in the language. This allows you to practise your chosen language at every opportunity. Also, think carefully about the type of accommodation you want to stay in. Although it provides full immersion in the language and culture, and a chance to sample real home cooking, a homestay may be too ‘full on’ after spending four hours in the classroom. I preferred to have some time and space to myself after intense studying and so I stayed in a shared apartment.

What would you do differently if you visit Seville again?

I would go at a cooler time of the year as it was still reaching the mid-forties in September. There are lots of attractions within an hour and a half of Seville that I would like to visit, although I would consider these for a different holiday as the travelling time would be too much to fit in with studying.

Related articles:

Learning Spanish in Brighton & Seville : Cactus Staff Review

Click here for more Halloween related words in Spanish.

Along this coast are fisherman’s villages; some are largely geared towards tourism, but others are more typical where we can sample really tasty fresh fish in restaurants at the port. In the land, or rather, on the rocks, there are old fortified villages which offer a spectacular view of all the regions.

The “Costa Brava”, meaning the wild coast, also boasts a wonderful scenery where

Pyrenean mountains meet the Mediterranean, offering some splendid coasts,

creeks, and places where we can practise diving, strolling or simply sunbathing.

Spanish artists’ favourite region, Costa Brava is for all tastes. Whether you like the sea or prefer mountains, its historic past or its beaches, its touristic and very bustling towns, or its villages where the time has stopped, it deserves to be visited!

Culture: The Dali Museum of Figueres

Figueres is a small city 100km north of Barcelona. The city is famous for being the

birthplace of the artist Salvador Dali. It’s there that his museum has been established. You could admire most of his pieces which don’t leave anyone indifferent!

Many paintings are exhibited, as well as his jewels, and his huge installations like the Mae West room or the rainy Cadillac. The building itself is an impressive structure!

Beaches: The Creeks

On the Costa Brava, the most famous beaches have sand. They are often next to the cities, and as a consequence, they are really practical but often small and quickly fill up.

For the fearless, there are gorgeous creeks along the coast. The most beautiful creeks are hidden and require navigating rocky paths, but it’s definitely worth the effort!

The beach is tiny (just enough space to lay your beach towel) and, apart from a few pleasure boats far away, there is only you and nature. You can savour the tranquility of the place and enjoy the channels of Pyrenean water entering the blue turquoise water.

History: Tossa de Mar and its fortress

Lovers of old stonework will enjoy walking along this massive fortification. Tossa de Mar is the only remaining example of a medieval town on the Catalonia coast today. Classified as a historical national monument, its 4 towers are very famous. But Tossa de Mar is also a seaside town with sandy beaches, where it’s pleasant to go for a walk in the shade of the alleys or to enjoy its lively evenings.

Sport: Diving in the Medes Island

From more than 1 kilometre offshore of Estartit town, the Medes Islands constitute an archipelago with 7 isles. In the past, they were a favoured place for pirate attacks, but today they are a haven of peace and a hangout for both amateur and experienced divers.

This natural and preserved area is one of the most beautiful European diving spots.

It’s the meeting place for Mediterranean fauna with an abundance of fish, cave-like cathedrals raised by the nature and also astonishing fauna like the bloody-red coral of gods.

Several sites are suitable for all levels of diver. But we can also kayak here, take out a pleasure boat or simply relax on one of the untouched creeks.

The unmissable place: Cadaquez

Once an old fishing village, Cadaquez is now the equivalent of the French St Tropez and by far my favourite place. To describe this small paradise in a few words, Cadaquez offers:

• brilliant white houses
• floral and narrow alleys
• fresh fish restaurants
• local art galleries

It is as pleasant to go for a walk through its shady streets after an afternoon on the beach as it is during the evening along the port, when the lights of the village are reflected in the water.

Cadaquez is a really unmissable place on the Costa Brava with picture-postcards scenes on every street corner.

This article is written by Amandine.

News in Slow Spanish – You can listen to the weekly news in very slow Spanish, they also provide the transcripts.

Spanish TV – You can watch Spanish programs here. I feel watching programs is the best way to learn spoken Spanish.

Free lessons online – You can find some free lessons here.

Verb Conjugations – This is a good site for checking verb conjugations.

E-spanish – They have lot of learning resources such as games, verb conjugations, basic vocabulary lists and useful expressions.

Digital dialects – They have games to learn vocabulary and phrases in several languages including Spanish.

Spanish language learning resources online – You can find links to materials such as Spanish flashcards, interactive quizzes and games as well as more in-depth grammar, vocabulary and verbs. They have graded each website according to the level it is aimed at.

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How to make language part of your everyday life – Sarah Gooding, Editor at Cactus, looks at how we can inject some foreign language fun into our lifestyles.

Foreign language courses – tips for best progress – Rod Mitchell shares his tips on how to make the best possible progress in your language learning.

Can I learn a language on my own? – Simon Ager, language enthusiast, assesses self-study methods.

How can online supplements aid your learning? – If you are currently learning a language and think it would be beneficial to gain some extra help outside the classroom, online supplements can be really useful.

Advantages and disadvantages of electronic translators – Many people disregard learning a new language on the basis that electronic translators are now widely available. While these translators are certainly convenient, they are nowhere nearly as good as actually understanding another language.

Ingredients

• 3 big potatoes – Maris Piper or some tasty type like it.
• One big onion
• 8 medium size eggs
• Mild olive oil or vegetable oil
• A teaspoon of salt

Method

Cut the potatoes into very small pieces like half a domino piece, and fry them in very hot oil until they are golden and soft but not hard and dry on the outside. Deep frying works best. While frying the potatoes, cook the onion in a separate pan until they start to caramelise, but don’t get to that point, just until they get clearer.

In a bowl, mix the eight eggs (you can remove one or two yolks and add one or two more whites instead if preferred) with the salt and stir until well mixed. Add the onion and the potatoes into the eggs when ready. It should mix well and there should be enough egg mixed for all the potatoes.

Put a frying pan on a stove with a bit of oil (you should have a flat plate/platter big enough to place it on top of the pan to turn the tortilla around).

When very hot, add the mix and make sure the potatoes and eggs are evenly spread and the top is left flat. Leave it on high for around 30 seconds to seal the outer edge of the tortilla and then leave at very low heat for around 5-7 minutes. After this, take the pan away from the stove, grab the plate/platter you are going to use to turn the tortilla and leave the stove at high heat again, and ready to seal the other side of the tortilla.

Place the plate/platter on the pan, quickly turn it upside down and very quickly let the tortilla slide from the plate/platter back into the pan and place it again in the high heat stove. This should be done very quickly to avoid spillage and so the raw side seals fast as well. Leave the pan on high heat for around 30 seconds and at low heat for 3-7 minutes, depending on how well-cooked you like the eggs.

Done!

Three years ago I had to do some research about Spain as a part of my work and I also got to know a few Spanish people which increased my interest towards the Spanish language. I enrolled on a Spanish course and quickly realised that learning another language as an adult is not as easy as learning as a kid, but I’m not going to give up. Many of my colleagues speak several languages and I admire them because I know learning another language is not easy and they must have worked hard to achieve the fluency, so I asked them what their motivation was to learn other languages and thought I’d share this with you now.

My colleague Sarah speaks 5 languages – Spanish (advanced), French (advanced), Italian (intermediate), Portuguese (conversational) and Japanese (did one 10-week course so very basic!)

She says her motivation behind learning these languages is:

Spanish: “I love how the language sounds, it’s useful to be able to speak it when travelling in Latin America and Spain, and I’m very interested in the culture/literature. Plus it’s a thrill to be able to communicate in another language!”

French: “Again, I love how the language sounds, and it’s useful and enjoyable to speak it when I have been travelling & working in France and Canada.”

Italian: “I love the sound of Italian, and found it much easier to learn once I knew Spanish & French. I also love the Italian culture (food, lifestyle, scenery, art, etc.) and think it’s important to be able to communicate with the locals when visiting Italy. By speaking some of the language you get so much more out of your stay and meet people you wouldn’t otherwise meet.”

Portuguese: “Portuguese was something a little different, and a useful skill when travelling in Portugal and Brazil”.

Japanese: “I did an evening course in Japanese just to try something different. It was totally different to the Romance languages I’ve learnt so far, but fascinating. I haven’t done any since my 10-week course but would definitely learn more if I ever went to Japan.”

Ninnett speaks German, English, Spanish and Bahasa Indonesia (I never heard of this language before)

German is Ninnett’s mother tongue. She lived abroad and wanted to improve her English, she just loves the Spanish language and wanted to learn it for that reason, and she studied Bahasa Indonesia as a part of Southeast Asian Studies.

Lauren speaks English, learnt some French at school, and is currently learning Spanish with Cactus.

She wants to be able to communicate when travelling abroad and she always wants to be learning in life.

Jennifer speaks Spanish and basic French.

She says: “I love being able to communicate with other nationalities.  The English are renowned for not speaking any other languages so I am doing my best to prove the world wrong! Arabic is a language that I find fascinating – I love writing in a different alphabet.  And of course learning a language will help with my job but I really learn so that I can communicate when travelling. It gives me a buzz.”

Alex speaks English, Spanish and a little French.

He says – “Honestly and truthfully my original motivation for learning Spanish was so that I could more easily communicate with attractive Spanish and Latin American women. I learnt French at school and continued to A Level because I was good at it. There is no other reason.“

Neil Speaks French, Spanish and Italian. He learnt French because he liked it, Spanish to travel and Italian because he wanted to live there.

Do you speak languages other than your mother tongue? Please share your motivation behind learning the languages…

An amazing setting to study

Chile is a big country, very thin but very long. This makes it a country with all types of climate. The north is one of the driest deserts of the world (the Atacama desert) where you can see spectacular sights such as geysers and beautiful valleys. The city of San Pedro de Atacama organises a lot of guided excursions and activities in the desert. It is better to take a guided excursion as some places can be dangerous if you go alone. In this picture, you can see the Tatio’s geysers at sunrise. To see this, you will need to be there at 4am, but you will not regret it.

The centre of the country is more temperate, with totally different views. Santiago is the heart of Chile, with 1/3 of the Chilean population living there. A few hours from Santiago is the beautiful city of Valparaiso. In this city, you can visit one of Pablo Neruda’s houses and wander through the streets. This city is a real open work of art and each street will surprise you with its paintings. This city was built on a hillside from the sea level. This makes it a much more interesting city with its elevator which can help you to go up and down. It’s also a very good place to eat seafood fished earlier in the morning, as the city is an industrial and fishing port.

In the south of the country you see one of the dampest regions of the world, which is a big contrast to the north of the country. This region is great to practise sports as rafting, canyoning, climbing active volcanoes… it is also possible to do more relaxing activities such as going to a thermal bath or swimming in naturally hot lakes. This region is also the place where one of the most famous Chilean beers was created (Kunstmann) in Valdivia.

At the extreme South of Chile, you have Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego which offer incredible landscape. This region is indescribable. You can do a lot of trekking, discovering along the way incredible waterfalls and glaciers. One of the most famous glaciers is Lago Grey, in the Torres del Paine national park. This park is famous for being one of the most beautiful national parks in the world. Even some Americans from Yellowstone’s region said, “We have a really nice park where we live, but this one is really incredible.”

Chile offers an incredible diversity, which make it a great country to explore. In each city and region you have the feeling that you are in a different country. So it’s a good way to mix learning a new language with discovering lots of incredible landscapes. As Chile has two very good airlines (Sky and LAN airlines) connecting several cities, you can discover different regions in just a week-end. It doesn’t end here, as you can also easily reach Argentina or Peru for a few days.

Chilean Spanish: A hard one to understand

Chileans speak really fast, so it’s sometimes hard to understand them. This can be a problem at first, but after a while it gets easier. They say that if you can understand Chilean Spanish, you can understand anyone speaking Spanish. Some people think that Chilean Spanish is quite similar to Spanish from Andalusia in Spain. As with any language, every country’s Spanish is different and you will rapidly learn the vocabulary and accents specific to Chile.

Chile is one the safest countries of South America

A lot of people have a bad image of South American countries in terms of security. Even if it is usually exaggerated, you should always take care when you want to go out or if you take a taxi – as you would anywhere in the world. Chile is one of the safest countries in South America, however. You can go out in the evening without any problem, even though there are some districts where you need to take care. There is also no problem about taking a taxi; there are a lot of them, individuals or collective. The only city where you have to pay more attention is Valparaiso, especially close to the port where it is not recommended to walk alone in the evening. There, it is better to go with 4 or 5 friends.

Chile is a great place to learn Spanish as you can discover the country’s beauty at the same time as enjoying the particularities of Chilean Spanish.

This post is written by my friend Clothilde who is currently living in Chile.