Drilling La Pedrera: Risking Art Treasures in the Name of Technology

If you want to visit Barcelona this month of November and you expected to take wonderful pictures of La Pedrera or Casa Mila standing across the street you will be quite disappointed. As you probably know Barcelona will be connected to France by AVE trains (AVE stands for Alta Velocidad which means High Speed and at the same time ave means bird). The line between Madrid and Barcelona is already operational while the works from the Catalan city on to the French border are underway after years of delay (expected to connect with the European high speed network in 2012). You probably know as well that recently they were very near Sagrada Familia with the tunneling machine and there was a debate on whether this would affect the Cathedral foundations or not. The fact is that the choice was finally made and Adif the company in charge had to built a protective wall to strengthen the area. The same protection was recommended by a group of experts to be implemented right next to La Pedrera. As you can see in the image they are already drilling to make the 32 pillars which will create a smaller protective wall and it is expected that Barcino, the tunneling machine, arrives here in coming months. After watching the drill approach so ominously over the famous façade I can't help thinking somebody somewhere in some dark ministry office must have screwed it up badly when they let the speed train go along Mallorca and Provença streets (UNESCO gave the international approval) risking our cultural patrimony in the name of development and technology.

Bicing Bicycle Station, Passeig de Lluís Companys, Barcelona

A very common image in Barcelona city nowadays, that of a Bicing station with the usual rack of bikes. This one in particular is the one on the right side of Arc de Triomf monument at Passeig de Lluís Companys. I found the perspective kind of interesting so I thought of sharing it with you. Nice weekend!

Barcelona Tram: Route T4 Start Point, Ciutadella - Villa Olimpica

This is the start point of T4, one of the Barcelona Tram routes, going from Ciutadella (Olympic Villa) to Sant Adria. To be more specific it is at the end of Wellington street just next to the zoo entrance. To digress a little, I would like to remark how difficult it is for me to choose a proper, original title for a post. Difficult in the sense that I am always conditioned by SEO to make my site noted on the web. To tell you the truth, the sole fact of being so tied to niches, keyword phrases and so on is really a nuisance aka a pain in the a**. Maybe now you'd say, well go ahead and choose whatever title you want. Well, perhaps you wouldn't be reading this cause the post would be lost at the bottom of Google's obscure twilight zone. Yep, I am clearly digressing now. I should have called this something in the way from A Street Car Name T4 to Wheelchair Adapted Transportation. Does anybody know how to give artistic titles to a post and make it hit first pages of Google search results? I would like to give details about our modern tram system but there are sites offering great information on this and this blog is not associated in any way with Tram BCN. Where was I?...

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Trixis in Barcelona

Trixis are mixture of tricycles and taxis and are one of the main means of transportation for tourists in Barcelona, especially when moving around the narrow streets of the old part of town, that is, the part of the city which used to be surrounded by walls. For more details check previous posts: Touristic Transport in Barcelona and Trixi Taxi Service in Barcelona.

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GoCar Tours in Barcelona

Renting a GoCar, the GPS guided, talking tour car is now a fact in Barcelona.

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Trixi Taxi Service in Barcelona

Moving around in the city of Barcelona is not as difficult as in other cities since metro and bus service is rather efficient. But when it comes to walking along the narrow streets of the old part of town you really need other means of transportation. Tourist itineraries are sometimes too demanding and impossible to cover in one day so a little push taking the short way can be extremely helpful to save time and get to places in a much better mood. So, how do you achieve that? By taking one of the so called trixi cabs I show today. The staff is generally well prepared, they know the language and are in good shape. These two trixies I spotted at Avinguda de la Catedral in Barri Gotic. To know about routes and price visit Trixi Taxis

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Touristic Transport in Barcelona: Trixis or Taxi Bikes

Modern cities are collapsed with heavy traffic and Barcelona is no exception. A wonderful alternative, at least for tourists, is the use of Trixis or Taxi-Bikes.

Don´t worry someone will do the pedaling for you. No need to feel sorrow for the driver because the bike has an electrical engine to go uphill or counteract heavy loads like a sumo fighter, Ronaldo or Mike Tyson.

This day I was standing on the corner of Passeig de Gracia and Consell de Cent, getting ready to take a picture of Casa Rocamora, for my Catalan Modernisme collection, when the pedicab suddenly passed me by so soon that I was just able to catch half of it.

If you want to know about routes, fares or timetables check Movilidad ECO CITY

See Picture of Barcelona Trixi or Taxi Bike on a Google Earth Map.