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The Grand Marina
Hotel has new and modern facilities to cater to your ever
need.
On the top floor
guests can work out in the hotel gym, which offers a variety
of exercise machinery and weights, as well as two saunas and
a small jetted spa. From there they can wander outside onto
the roof terrace to enjoy spectacular views of Barcelona,
its ports and the open sea. On the south side is a small
pool to splash about in, sun loungers and a bar. |
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When you enter the
Grand Marina Hotel, you feel as if you are walking into a gallery
rather than a hotel. Throughout there are paintings and sculpture by
major Spanish artists
who have left their mark. Josep Subirachs, who designed the Passion
façade of the Sagrada Família church, has sculpted the word 'hotel'
in Roman travertine marble by the first floor coffee bar, while
artist Albert Ràfols Casamada painted the canvas, Aire de Mar (Sea
Air) that hangs behind reception. The hotel stages an annual
photography competition and adorns rooms with the best photos. |
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Probably the
most famous street in Spain, this used to be the route of a seasonal stream
- the name is derived from the ‘ramla’, the Arabic for ‘torrent’ - that
flowed between old Barcelona and the harbour. It stretches from the city
centre down to the pier, and is well marked on all tourist maps and
guidebooks. What is not marked are all the fantastic side streets, live bird
vendors, artists, fruit markets, etc. that you will discover rambling down
this wide and lively street. There are people painting pictures, walking on
stilts, selling pet parakeets, advertising for shows, and of course lots of
other tourists! These days Las Ramblas occupy a
position at the very centre of Barcelona street life. Once described by the
poet and playwright Lorca as “the only street in the world which I wish
would never end”, it is tree-lined lengthwise.
This long street is surprisingly not a single street but is in fact made up
of seven connected streets with different names and surroundings: Rambla de
Canaletes, Rambla dels Estudis, Rambla de les Flors, Rambla des Caputxins,
Rambla de Santa Mónica...
La Boqueria (Rambla Sant Josep) is worth visiting just to enjoy the heavy
atmosphere - it’s the city’s main marketplace, and the noise, colour and
smell is a Barcelona experience all of its own.
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