The Rough Guide to Barcelona 8 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

34 / 344

32
abroad, W Main
office, Pl. de Catalunya 17, o Catalunya (daily
9am–9pm); also at Pl. de Sant Jaume, entrance at
c/Ciutat 2, Barri Gòtic, oJaume I (Mon–Fri 9am–
8pm, Sat 10am–8pm, Sun & hols 10am–2pm);
Airport Terminals A & B (daily 9am–9pm); and
Barcelona Sants, Pl. dels Països Catalans,
o Sants Estació (Mon–Fri 8am–8pm, Sat, Sun &
hols 8am–2pm; April–Sept daily 8am–8pm). The
main Pl. de Catalunya office is down the steps in
the southeast corner of the square, opposite El
Corte Inglés. It’s always busy and can be frustrating
if you just want a quick answer to a question.
There’s also a money exchange service, separate
accommodation desk, tour and ticket sales, and a
gift shop.
Useful websites
Art, architecture and design
W The Joan Miró
Foundation’s official website is the main source for
the artist – a complete biography, plus clickable art
and a round-up of his works in the city and elsewhere,
and exhibition news.
W The best first stop for
Antoni Gaudí, his life and works, with plenty of links to
other sites, plus Gaudí-related gifts, games, news,
books and tours.
W Every building in the city has
been photographed – to view, click on “Callejeros
Fotografiicos”, then click on the map or type in the
street name.
W The “design route” is a
guide (in English) to the city’s most cutting-edge
shops, bars, restaurants and buildings, with maps,
reviews and walking itineraries.
General
W Packed with
information in English on Barcelona, with punchy
reviews and links to scores of other websites.
W www.enciclopedia.cat. English-language online
encyclopaedia, for everything you ever wanted to
know about Catalan people, history, buildings,
economy, climate and geography. It also has links to a
Catalan dictionary.
News and views
W Barcelona
Reporter offers daily updated news and views from
the city in English, pulling in very useful reports from
newspapers and other sources.
W Up-to-the-minute
city news, comment, reviews, weather and listings (in
Catalan), with a daily city news video slot.
W Hip cultural agenda and city
guide, available online or as a weekly graphic email.
W www.vilaweb.cat Online newspaper, directory
and portal, updated daily, with excellent links to
Catalan sites, many in English. Also links to a huge
variety of Barcelona webcams.
The media
You can buy foreign newspapers at the stalls down the Ramblas, and around Plaça
de Catalunya, on Passeig de Gràcia, on Rambla de Catalunya and at Barcelona
Sants station. The same stalls often sell international magazines and trade papers
too, but if you can’t find what you’re looking for, try FNAC at El Triangle on Plaça.
de Catalunya, which has an excellent ground-floor magazine section.
Newspapers and
magazines
Best of the local newspapers is the
Barcelona edition of the liberal El País (Wwww
), which has a daily Catalunya
supplement and is good on entertainment and
the arts. The conservative Barcelona paper La
Vanguardia (W ) also has
a good arts and culture listings section on
Friday, while El Periódico (Wwww.elperiodico
.com) is more tabloid in style; it also comes in
a Catalan edition. Avui (W www.avui.cat) is the
chief nationalist paper, printed in Catalan.
BASICS
|
The media