July 1, 2025 • 24 mins
Barcelona, where Roman foundations meet Gaudí's fantastical creations, has captivated travelers for generations—becoming the ninth most visited city worldwide.
Antoni Gaudí's Sagrada Familia Basilica, has been under construction for over a century. At Park Güell, Gaudí's connection with nature manifests in colorful mosaics and whimsical structures. The Casa Batlló, with its dragon-spine rooftop and ocean-inspired interiors, offers an immersive experience through cutting-edge digital tours.
Barcelona also reveals architectural treasures like Luis Domènech i Montaner's Palau de la Música Catalana—a concert hall of unparalleled beauty—and the Hospital de Sant Pau, designed with the concept that beautiful surroundings promote healing. The Gothic Quarter's labyrinthine streets lead to hidden courtyards and medieval squares, while nearby Las Ramblas pulses with the energy of street performers and market vendors.
Barcelona offers tapas culture at its finest. From simple pan con tomate to elaborate seafood paellas, the city's gastronomic scene bridges traditional and innovative cooking. La Boqueria market is a must.
September's La Mercè features the spectacular human towers called castellers, while April's St. Jordi's Day transforms Barcelona into a celebration of literature and romance through the exchange of books and roses.
Whether exploring expansive Collserola Park, taking day trips to Montserrat's jagged mountain monastery, or simply soaking in Mediterranean coastal vibes, Barcelona leaves visitors "spiritually, mentally, and physically fulfilled." Join us to discover why this Catalan capital continues to enchant travelers from around the world.
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Guest Angelo Carotenuto is founder of LivTours designing small group tours throughout Europe, exploring and preserving local cultures while engaging in sustainable tourism. One of his very favorite destinations is Barcelona.
**
Podcast host Lea Lane has traveled to over 100 countries, and has written nine books, including the award-winning Places I Remember (Kirkus Reviews star rating, and 'one of the top 100 Indie books of the year'). She has contributed to many guidebooks and has written thousands of travel articles.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lea Lane (00:01):
Barcelona, Spain's second largest city and the
biggest city on theMediterranean, is the
cosmopolitan capital of Spain'sCatalonia region.
It's a mix of historic charmand modern innovation, and at
times, tourists outnumber thelocal residents.
In fact, Barcelona is the ninthmost visited city in the world.
In Barcelona, both Spanish andCatalan are the distinct
(00:24):
official languages.
I visited there maybe a dozentimes, often at the start of a
cruise, as many cruise lines useBarcelona as a major port.
The city was founded by Romans,who set up a colony called
Barsino at the end of the firstcentury BC.
The colony had about a thousandinhabitants and was bounded by
a defensive wall, which you canstill see today in the old town.
(00:47):
Besides its Roman origins,Barcelona is known for its
medieval Gothic quarter and itsrole as a major maritime power
in the Mediterranean.
There's so much to delighttravelers and to talk about.
Our guest is Angelo Carotenuto,founder of LivT ours.
Angelo designs small grouptours throughout Europe,
(01:12):
exploring and preserving localcultures while engaging in
sustainable tourism, and one ofhis very favorite destinations
is Barcelona.
Welcome, Angelo, to Places IRemember.
Angelo Caratenuto (01:18):
Thank you for having me.
Lea Lane (01:20):
Well, you conduct tours all over Europe.
What makes Barcelona stand outamong other destinations to you?
Angelo Caratenuto (01:27):
Well, that's a great question, Lea.
So I'm born and raised in Rome,and the reason why I founded
the tours in Italy is becauseItaly is the perfect playground
to make people's emotion come tolife.
(02:16):
When Christine and I werelooking to expand our horizon
and offer tours outside, and youhave day trips outside of
Barcelona that are justincredible.
Wonderful, warm and historicspirit.
It's a mi a
Lea Lane (02:25):
Everybody seems to love Barcelona.
It's delightful to talk alittle bit more about the
details and why it is such.
I know it's known for art andarchitecture.
In 1999, it became the onlycity awarded the prestigious
Gold Medal for Architecture bythe Royal Institute of British
Architects.
It has nine UNESCO WorldHeritage Sites, seven of which
(02:47):
are works by Antoni Gaudí.
The most famous is the SagradaFamilia basilica.
It's a masterpiece of Catalanmodernism architecture, the most
famous work that Gaudí made.
It took 100 years.
It's going to be finishedsupposedly in 2026, but it took
longer to construct than it tookthe Incas to build Machu Picchu
(03:10):
at the top of Peru's mountains.
How do you suggest seeing thiswonderful site?
Angelo Caratenuto (03:17):
What you just stated is incredible, because
in the past 10 years since we'vebeen serving tours at Sagrada
Familia in Barcelona, I've goneback maybe I don't know 20 times
and it's never been the same.
Every time I go and visitthere's a new tower or a new
entrance, or a new facade forthat matter, and the last thing
(03:38):
they're really trying to do iscreate the frontal facade,
finish up the 16 towers they'realmost there and then the
frontal facade, which is goingto have the beautiful staircase
and the square in front of it,but guess what?
There is a apartment buildingright in front of it that
they're going to have to moveresidents out of, tear down and
(03:58):
create what Gaudi's originalview of the entrance to the
church was.
There's long lines.
I don't think you can buytickets on the spot, so you have
to pre-book tickets.
There's a pretty easy to usewebsite or buy yourself a tour,
because the amount of contentthat the Sagrada Familia offers
you, both outside and inside, isso spectacular, and maybe even
(04:21):
on the verge of overwhelming,that having somebody just make
sense of it and clear your mindon it and make you appreciate
the symbolism, the iconic looksof it or just simply the
connection with nature thatGaudi had is crucial.
So book a tour, book online aticket.
Lea Lane (04:38):
I was there recently and you had to book a tour.
We did so just to see the nextiteration.
I've seen it go up.
I think maybe now 40 years backand forth.
It was so exciting.
It's a perfect moment.
It's about to be finished soon.
If they can figure out all thestuff with the apartment, it's
just one of the great works ofart of humanity.
(04:58):
And so much fun.
I mean, it's just exuberant.
It's hard to describe colorsand shapes A Disney on steroids,
but real, it's super.
Another great piece by Gaudi ishis park Park Gaiul.
Originally meant to be a luxuryhousing development, but two
houses were built there.
It was a financial failure, butit has become one of the
(05:20):
world's most popular attractions.
Tell us about the park.
Angelo Caratenuto (05:23):
So, yes, that's where there were supposed
to be some developments forsome luxury houses that would
have overlooked the city centerand the ocean.
Gaudí was instructed, wascommissioned to build this
residence.
We only have the park left.
There is still a school I thinkit's an elementary school and a
couple of homes, Colorfulmosaic benches, you've got
(05:43):
lizard sculptures and all ofthese houses that kind of really
feel out of a fairy tale.
And that's because Gaudí hadthis incredible connection with
nature.
He would get himself lost as achild in long hikes in the
forests where he grew up andcreated this connection with
(06:04):
every element of nature thatthen he reproduces in his
architecture and his curves.
Everything reminds you of theflow of nature Forests.
It can be a wave, the twirl ofa wind, an animal, it could be
the inside of a whale.
It could be a wave, the twirlof a wind, an animal, it could
be the inside of a whale.
Incredible capacity ofarchitecture.
To be completely honest withyou, I'm replicated worldwide.
Lea Lane (06:23):
Creative to the max, individual, fabulous and well
worth going to see.
I used to go there and it wasfree.
Now you have to get tickets.
It's very popular.
Obviously, a small number areadmitted every hour, so you want
to book ahead.
You can get a pass to visitboth the Sagrada Familia and the
park.
Get two of them, you'll savetime there.
(06:43):
Wonderful buildings of Gaudiall around the city.
Two of the most famous are CasaBatllo you mentioned that one
and that's my favorite.
Angelo Caratenuto (06:53):
Major promenade going north from Plaza
de Catalunya, which would bethe biggest roundabout in
Barcelona.
At the end of Ramblas ramblasramblas ramblas, a big shopping
street nowadays, there is somevery beautiful buildings, two of
which are Gaudí pieces One isCasa Batlló and one is La
Pedrera, or also known as CasaMila.
The most spectacular thing isthat there's people living in
(07:15):
there, exactly that.
These are actual apartmentbuildings, parts of which now
have become visitable to thepublic.
These were places made forpeople to live in, with proper
heating and bedrooms andkitchens and so forth, but it is
the case.
Casa Batllio's visit now isunique.
They have created this veryinteractive digital visit with a
audio video guide.
(07:36):
Very well done.
It's prime work, and I've beento museums all over the world
and I don't think I've seenanything like that and with
video that shows you charactersand furniture reconstruction,
the staircase in the centerwhere you are climbing up into
an ocean column with all thesebeautiful blue mosaics and the
apartment doors and the naturallight coming through, and then
(08:00):
at the very top, the terrace andyou're inside the dragon's back
, which is the dragon that yousee from the streets, and it's
inside the vertebras of thedragon, which back in the day,
was a way to collect the water,the rainwater for the apartment
building.
So it's just incredible.
But when you're done, you climbupward to the terrace.
(08:21):
Tickets must be purchased inadvance.
Casa Batlló sells out very,very quickly.
Lea Lane (08:26):
You can see why.
The view from the roof, by theway, the terrace, is fantastic.
You see the whole wonderfullayout of Barcelona, which is
very interesting the way it's insquares of Barcelona, which is
very interesting the way it's insquares.
The other famous one, Casa Milaor Pedrera, is easily seen from
the street.
Do stop in front of Pedrera.
It's an undulating stone facade.
(08:46):
It has wrought iron balconiesresembling seaweed.
It's just really interesting.
Angelo Caratenuto (08:50):
There's two reasons why I would suggest to
go to Pedrera.
It's because when you get tothe terrace of Pedrera, you have
an unmatched view of CasaBatllio.
Lea Lane (08:56):
is because when you get to the terrace of Pedrera,
you have unmatched view of CasaBatlló.
There's other greatarchitecture beyond Gaudí.
There are two UNESCO sites by awonderful architect, Luis
Domenech Montaner, and one ofthem I just adore.
It's the Palau de la MúsicaCatalana.
Tell us about that gorgeousconcert hall.
Angelo Caratenuto (09:13):
Yeah it's hands down the most stunning
concert hall in the world whenyou actually enter the main room
green stained glass, thesculptures, the rich details.
We were lucky to be there.
They were doing some rehearsalsfor the evening concerts.
There wasn't just outrageouslydesigning shapes and sculptures
(09:37):
and iconic symbolism and stufflike that.
Everything was meant for thegreatest acoustic experience.
We call it the Opera House ofBarcelona, but it's not just
used for opera.
It's used for any sort of livemusic of any time, any age, any
region, any cultural background.
Lea Lane (09:54):
Like the Stones.
You can see the Rolling Stonesthere?
?
Angelo Caratenuto (09:57):
That's exactly right, they need a
bigger venue.
They need the stadium, butthere have been rock bands.
Lea Lane (10:03):
The architecture was music to me.
The other beautiful building bythe same architect, again built
around 1905, 1908, is theHospital de Saint-Pau.
It was designed because doctorsbelieve beautiful surroundings
help the patients heal faster.
So there's gardens and colorfultiles and it's just beautiful
(10:23):
as well.
Angelo Caratenuto (10:24):
It's less touristy, it's less busy, it's
less touristy because it's alsoused as a conference hall and
for meetings and, believe it ornot, it was an active hospital
until 2009.
So very, very recent.
I absolutely adore the factthat healing doesn't just come
from medicine or chemistry.
It's all these pavilionssurrounded by beautiful gardens
and interconnected byunderground hallways so that you
(10:47):
wouldn't get your view outsideof your hospital room obstructed
and you could see the gardensand you could see the rest of
the pavilions freely.
Lea Lane (10:53):
I think that sums up Barcelona.
It's a consciousness of art ofall sorts, and that's what makes
it so special.
Let's go outside a bit.
There are some gorgeous parks,parked at Montjuic with its
magic fountain.
You want to tell us a littlebit about that?
Angelo Caratenuto (11:07):
Yes, absolutely.
Now you may need a little bike,unless you want to take a taxi
ride.
From experience climbingMontjuic with your bike is
actually quite interesting andquite fun.
The views from there arespectacular.
What's fun is that there's acompletely different temperature
between what's happening inBarcelona and what's happening
(11:28):
in Montjuic.
But it is a way to distractyourself from the city.
Liet, Christine and I are so inlove with Barcelona we're
thinking about moving our familythere.
Most of Barcelona is being madepedestrian.
The post-industrial revolutionquadrants that have been
developed to expand the city arebeing made either bike-friendly
or completely pedestrianized.
So it's not extremely chaoticunless you're going to the very
(11:50):
traffic-y promenades or verytraffic-y roads.
But if you want to get out,then you take a bike ride and
you go to Montreux.
No oasis Further out, but Iwould go to Montserrat, Go to
the monastery of Montserrat.
Lea Lane (12:00):
Which is huge and very interesting mountain Jagged
peaks.
You get that so close to thecity.
It's a wonderful day trip oreven an afternoon trip, yeah
absolutely these teeth-likemountains, out of which was
built the monastery.
Angelo Caratenuto (12:16):
It is a half a day trip.
You could combine it with justaround the corner there's a lot
of beautiful vineyards and youcould do some kava tasting in
the afternoon.
My suggestion would be to getMontserrat at its opening before
the big tourist buses get there.
Get there by nine so that youcan go into the monastery and
specifically get into the churchto see the Black Mary and walk
right under it and, if you'relucky enough, you catch the
(12:38):
children's choir singing andpracticing before they go to
their morning classes.
Lea Lane (12:43):
Sounds heavenly.
Yeah, literally.
Okay, let's come back down abit to the Gothic Quarter.
It's a wonderful city center.
It's got the BarcelonaCathedral, as opposed to the
Basilica we have talked aboutbefore by Gaudi, and it has
famous squares and picturesquestreets.
It's just fun.
There's a walking tour therefor tapas.
(13:03):
Tapas are the great everyoneknows by now.
Little bites that started, Ibelieve, in that area, right In
Barcelona area.
You can walk around and sampletapas at different little cafes,
local wines, fascinatingstories.
Have you done that?
Angelo Caratenuto (13:19):
Yeah, absolutely.
We're very proud to have tourscalled Tapas Tour with Flamenco
Show, and it happens in theGothic Quarter.
Another Spanish term for itwould be racion, small portions,
rations, right, rations.
You get pages and pages ofvenues, of different rations,
the most popular, which is apiece of bread semi-toasted,
(13:40):
that could be an open piece ofregular pizza bread rubbed with
olive oil, salt and tomato, allthe way to beautiful platter of
jamon or patas bravas, or greenpeppers, or more elaborate
croquettes, or vegetablessauteed, or fish sometimes, or
bread with certain types ofdelicatessen fish on top.
(14:01):
But the Spaniards, catalonians,generally, don't do tapas
hopping, sort of the Italianaperitivo or the pub scene for
the Brits.
Right, I'm done with a day'swork, I'm going to go get some
tapas, have a glass of wine, abeer, a cerveza or a sangria and
enjoy two or three, four bites.
What we do in tours is we dotapas hopping, because different
(14:21):
bars have different histories,different connections, maybe
different neighborhoods havedifferent connections with
different parts of food, andthen we end with a flamenco show
which is not very Barcelonian.
Lea Lane (14:31):
Oh, but it's beautiful .
Angelo Caratenuto (14:33):
But it is beautiful.
Lea Lane (14:35):
That's part of Barcelona.
You never know what to expectExactly.
Yeah, we're talking about food.
I would mention paella is verypopular because you're near the
sea and you get fresh seafood.
That's another specialty.
I do want to mention LasRamblas, which is near the
Gothic area.
It's the busiest street inBarcelona.
It's really five boulevardsthat combined into one long
promenade.
It is flower stalls and streetmusicians and living statues.
(14:59):
It's touristy, but everybodygoes there at some point.
I do want to warn aboutsomething the pickpockets.
It is true, I have beenpickpocketed.
Oh yeah, you do have to watchit.
It's part of Barcelona.
You can't have perfection,right?
Just say, be careful there inthat area.
Isn't the market nearby the?
Angelo Caratenuto (15:18):
Boqueria?
Yeah, absolutely so.
La Ramblas is this road thatgoes from the touristic port all
the way to Plaza de Catalunya,the expansion of the Gothic
quarter that we were justtalking about.
All of a sudden, this labyrinthof alleyways and Roman ruins
and Gothic quarters andmunicipal squares and hidden
courtyards, very Spanish-lookingquarter, is interrupted by this
(15:43):
two-lane road with a bigpedestrian center with coffee
shops and restaurants and cafesand street performers and,
unfortunately, pickpocketers.
Very traffic-y because peopleuse it to hop in and out of the
Gothic Quarter and theUniversity Quarter, which is on
the other side.
But besides a concert hall, acouple of hotels and all these
(16:04):
cafes and restaurants andshoppings, there's the Bacqueria
, and the Bacqueria is themarket, the main market, the
most historical market ofBarcelona.
You can shop as a Barcelonianor you can stop at the stands
and sample freshly cooked food,anything from fresh shrimp to a
steak, all the way to a paella,as you said, or just bits and
(16:24):
pieces of little fried food thatyou can choose among the
various stands.
It's nothing like you wouldfind in the US, but it is
something to do as you're goingthrough, sampling and looking at
fresh food and how locals dotheir shopping.
All of a sudden, you can sitdown and have a proper meal.
It's inside a very vibrantmarket.
Which gorgeous architecturegreat glass windows at the top.
(16:45):
It's gorgeous.
Lea Lane (16:47):
I agree, if you want to get away from the crowd.
I just want to mention twoparks that I love.
One is in the El Born district,which is the center.
It's the beautiful city parkfrom the World Exhibition of
1888.
There are fountains and a zooand wonderful places to sit.
I found this out, which is kindof interesting, that Gustav
Eiffel wanted to build theEiffel Tower in Barcelona for
(17:11):
the 1888 exposition, but Spainrejected the plan.
It thought that the EiffelTower would be aesthetically
non-pleasing, so he took hisfamous landmark to Paris.
What do you think about that?
You can't have it all.
No, you can give Parissomething right.
And there's another park I lovebecause it's huge.
It's called the Rolla Park.
It's the world's largestmetropolitan park.
(17:37):
It's approximately 20,000acres; that's more than 22 times
the size of Central Park in NewYork and there's many species
of animals, hiking trails.
It's right in the city so youdon't have to go far to feel
nature.
I do want to mention the museums.
Barcelona was home to famousartists like Pablo Picasso,
Salvador Dali, Joan Moreau, andAntoni Gaudi.
(17:59):
Picasso spent his formativeyears studying there and there's
a marvelous museum with over4,000 of his works, and what I
loved about it is you can seehis earliest works.
When he was a child.
His father was an art teacher,and when you see 13-year-old
Picasso replicating some of thegreat paintings of the world and
they're beautiful you can seehe could do everything, even as
a child.
He's so gifted.
It's so interesting to visitthere.
(18:20):
I think the museum scene isspecial.
Angelo Caratenuto (18:23):
Close to the park that we were just
mentioning, and if you want alittle bit less touristy and a
little bit more local tapasexperience or food experience in
general, El Born is a greatneighborhood.
El Born is just ascharacteristic as the Gothic
Quarter, maybe even more, and soto find the Picasso Museums
encastamated and trapped inthere It adds the extra layer of
(18:47):
atmosphere, with old stonecourtyards and winding
staircases and so forth.
Yes, it is important to knowthat you're not going to be
seeing the Picasso you may beaccustomed to or you may expect
him, because these are theformative years and he was more
of a realist at that time, buthe was being influenced.
And so one of the highlightsthat people go and see at the
(19:09):
Picasso Museum is the La Meninaseries, which is sort of an
honor to.
It's a take on the painting byVelázquez and he deconstructs it
about 20 different versions ofit, and every version is more
abstract and more playful thanthe previous one.
So certainly a unique part ofthat museum that you're not
(19:31):
going to be seeing in any othercoastal museums because there
are many in Spain.
Lea Lane (19:35):
Yeah, you can see the evolution that's beginning there
.
I want to mention the coastalfishing villages that surround
and go all along the coast.
You can go and take a 30-minutedrive and you're in this
wonderful town, Sitges.
It's got a promenade along thebeach, it's got 17 beaches there
, museums.
I just love it.
It's a cute old town and justyou feel like you're absolutely
(19:57):
in the heart of the beach area,again, so close to Barcelona,
and I think it's worth a visit.
Yeah, sure, I said obviously,if you could spend a week in
Barcelona, that would beexcellent.
There's so much Coast isdelightful, and I want to
mention some of the festivals.
I mean, there are so many.
What are your favorites?
Angelo Caratenuto (20:15):
Well, first of all, Barcelona is a big party
city in general.
It's a party city for all ages.
Traveling for the festivals isdefinitely a must-do.
It can be very, very crowdedand the biggest events are in
the September Festival, which isabout a week long, and it's
concerts, it's parades.
The highlight of it, whichhappens in the middle Festival,
which is about a week long, andit's concerts, it's parades.
The highlight of it, whichhappens in the middle of the
(20:36):
Gothic Quarter, is what theCarolingians call the
Castelleros, which is thesehuman-built towers.
I'm sure people have seenpictures of a challenge where
people start climbing on eachother and try and build the
tallest human tower in thesquare.
The entire festival is calledLa Merced and it happens in
September.
Another one which is in honor ofthe patron saint of Barcelona
(21:00):
is St Jordi's Day, which happensin April.
It's sort of like theCatalonian versions of
Valentine's Day, but thedifference really is that
instead of taking out somebodyor your second half, your better
half, or gifting something, yougenerally exchange books and
roses and yeah, so the citydecks out for St Jordi' and it
(21:27):
fills out with flower stands,book stalls, all the shops sell
you a version of the other.
It's really unique.
Then there's various musicfestivals.
Two that I would recommend arethe Primavera Sound and the
Sonar Festival Hugeinternational music festivals,
big names if you're interestedin just rolling stones kind of
(21:49):
thing, or up-and-coming artists.
So really you're going to havefour or five festivals to choose
out of, depending on yourinterest.
Lea Lane (21:56):
Barcelona goes back from Roman times to the moment,
for sure.
Well, the name of the podcastis Places.
I Remember.
So, Angelo, would you pleaseshare a favorite memory of your
time spent in Barcelona, and Iknow there are many?
Angelo Caratenuto (22:10):
The very first memory I have of Barcelona
is a small little romanticgetaway with my later to be wife
, Christine, and she had boughta weekend in Barcelona for us
for my birthday present.
I have to humbly admit that I'ma Michael Bublé fan, and at that
time it was 2014,.
(22:31):
He was performing there, and sothe reason of the trip was to
go see Michael live, and she gotthe best seats possible.
But then, obviously, working intravel and working in tourism,
we spent three or four days deep, diving into the experience of
being in Barcelona, and weexplored everywhere.
(22:55):
We took tours, we went tomuseums, we took a jogging tour
in the morning to see the citywake up before the markets open
as streets are still beingcleaned.
We drank, we partied, we wentto gin and tonic bars.
It was so refreshing and soromantic at the same time that
on the flight back, we were sofulfilled spiritually, mentally,
physically fulfilled with ourexperience.
But then that's how it alsobecame the very first city we
(23:15):
wished to open and one of thecities we've been wanting,
desiring and wishing to evermove to with our children.
Lea Lane (23:22):
That's wonderful.
We can all use being fulfilled,that's for sure.
And a city, if they can do that, it's special.
Thank you so much, angeloCarotenuto, from LivT ours.
You've helped us discover themany delights of a truly great
world city Barcelona, Spain.
Angelo Caratenuto (23:39):
Thanks, thank you for having me, Lea.
Barcelona, Spain's second largest city and the
biggest city on theMediterranean, is the
cosmopolitan capital of Spain'sCatalonia region.
It's a mix of historic charmand modern innovation, and at
times, tourists outnumber thelocal residents.
In fact, Barcelona is the ninthmost visited city in the world.
In Barcelona, both Spanish andCatalan are the distinct
(00:24):
official languages.
I visited there maybe a dozentimes, often at the start of a
cruise, as many cruise lines useBarcelona as a major port.
The city was founded by Romans,who set up a colony called
Barsino at the end of the firstcentury BC.
The colony had about a thousandinhabitants and was bounded by
a defensive wall, which you canstill see today in the old town.
(00:47):
Besides its Roman origins,Barcelona is known for its
medieval Gothic quarter and itsrole as a major maritime power
in the Mediterranean.
There's so much to delighttravelers and to talk about.
Our guest is Angelo Carotenuto,founder of LivT ours.
Angelo designs small grouptours throughout Europe,
(01:12):
exploring and preserving localcultures while engaging in
sustainable tourism, and one ofhis very favorite destinations
is Barcelona.
Welcome, Angelo, to Places IRemember.
Angelo Caratenuto (01:18):
Thank you for having me.
Lea Lane (01:20):
Well, you conduct tours all over Europe.
What makes Barcelona stand outamong other destinations to you?
Angelo Caratenuto (01:27):
Well, that's a great question, Lea.
So I'm born and raised in Rome,and the reason why I founded
the tours in Italy is becauseItaly is the perfect playground
to make people's emotion come tolife.
(02:16):
When Christine and I werelooking to expand our horizon
and offer tours outside, and youhave day trips outside of
Barcelona that are justincredible.
Wonderful, warm and historicspirit.
It's a mi a
Lea Lane (02:25):
Everybody seems to love Barcelona.
It's delightful to talk alittle bit more about the
details and why it is such.
I know it's known for art andarchitecture.
In 1999, it became the onlycity awarded the prestigious
Gold Medal for Architecture bythe Royal Institute of British
Architects.
It has nine UNESCO WorldHeritage Sites, seven of which
(02:47):
are works by Antoni Gaudí.
The most famous is the SagradaFamilia basilica.
It's a masterpiece of Catalanmodernism architecture, the most
famous work that Gaudí made.
It took 100 years.
It's going to be finishedsupposedly in 2026, but it took
longer to construct than it tookthe Incas to build Machu Picchu
(03:10):
at the top of Peru's mountains.
How do you suggest seeing thiswonderful site?
Angelo Caratenuto (03:17):
What you just stated is incredible, because
in the past 10 years since we'vebeen serving tours at Sagrada
Familia in Barcelona, I've goneback maybe I don't know 20 times
and it's never been the same.
Every time I go and visitthere's a new tower or a new
entrance, or a new facade forthat matter, and the last thing
(03:38):
they're really trying to do iscreate the frontal facade,
finish up the 16 towers they'realmost there and then the
frontal facade, which is goingto have the beautiful staircase
and the square in front of it,but guess what?
There is a apartment buildingright in front of it that
they're going to have to moveresidents out of, tear down and
(03:58):
create what Gaudi's originalview of the entrance to the
church was.
There's long lines.
I don't think you can buytickets on the spot, so you have
to pre-book tickets.
There's a pretty easy to usewebsite or buy yourself a tour,
because the amount of contentthat the Sagrada Familia offers
you, both outside and inside, isso spectacular, and maybe even
(04:21):
on the verge of overwhelming,that having somebody just make
sense of it and clear your mindon it and make you appreciate
the symbolism, the iconic looksof it or just simply the
connection with nature thatGaudi had is crucial.
So book a tour, book online aticket.
Lea Lane (04:38):
I was there recently and you had to book a tour.
We did so just to see the nextiteration.
I've seen it go up.
I think maybe now 40 years backand forth.
It was so exciting.
It's a perfect moment.
It's about to be finished soon.
If they can figure out all thestuff with the apartment, it's
just one of the great works ofart of humanity.
(04:58):
And so much fun.
I mean, it's just exuberant.
It's hard to describe colorsand shapes A Disney on steroids,
but real, it's super.
Another great piece by Gaudi ishis park Park Gaiul.
Originally meant to be a luxuryhousing development, but two
houses were built there.
It was a financial failure, butit has become one of the
(05:20):
world's most popular attractions.
Tell us about the park.
Angelo Caratenuto (05:23):
So, yes, that's where there were supposed
to be some developments forsome luxury houses that would
have overlooked the city centerand the ocean.
Gaudí was instructed, wascommissioned to build this
residence.
We only have the park left.
There is still a school I thinkit's an elementary school and a
couple of homes, Colorfulmosaic benches, you've got
(05:43):
lizard sculptures and all ofthese houses that kind of really
feel out of a fairy tale.
And that's because Gaudí hadthis incredible connection with
nature.
He would get himself lost as achild in long hikes in the
forests where he grew up andcreated this connection with
(06:04):
every element of nature thatthen he reproduces in his
architecture and his curves.
Everything reminds you of theflow of nature Forests.
It can be a wave, the twirl ofa wind, an animal, it could be
the inside of a whale.
It could be a wave, the twirlof a wind, an animal, it could
be the inside of a whale.
Incredible capacity ofarchitecture.
To be completely honest withyou, I'm replicated worldwide.
Lea Lane (06:23):
Creative to the max, individual, fabulous and well
worth going to see.
I used to go there and it wasfree.
Now you have to get tickets.
It's very popular.
Obviously, a small number areadmitted every hour, so you want
to book ahead.
You can get a pass to visitboth the Sagrada Familia and the
park.
Get two of them, you'll savetime there.
(06:43):
Wonderful buildings of Gaudiall around the city.
Two of the most famous are CasaBatllo you mentioned that one
and that's my favorite.
Angelo Caratenuto (06:53):
Major promenade going north from Plaza
de Catalunya, which would bethe biggest roundabout in
Barcelona.
At the end of Ramblas ramblasramblas ramblas, a big shopping
street nowadays, there is somevery beautiful buildings, two of
which are Gaudí pieces One isCasa Batlló and one is La
Pedrera, or also known as CasaMila.
The most spectacular thing isthat there's people living in
(07:15):
there, exactly that.
These are actual apartmentbuildings, parts of which now
have become visitable to thepublic.
These were places made forpeople to live in, with proper
heating and bedrooms andkitchens and so forth, but it is
the case.
Casa Batllio's visit now isunique.
They have created this veryinteractive digital visit with a
audio video guide.
(07:36):
Very well done.
It's prime work, and I've beento museums all over the world
and I don't think I've seenanything like that and with
video that shows you charactersand furniture reconstruction,
the staircase in the centerwhere you are climbing up into
an ocean column with all thesebeautiful blue mosaics and the
apartment doors and the naturallight coming through, and then
(08:00):
at the very top, the terrace andyou're inside the dragon's back
, which is the dragon that yousee from the streets, and it's
inside the vertebras of thedragon, which back in the day,
was a way to collect the water,the rainwater for the apartment
building.
So it's just incredible.
But when you're done, you climbupward to the terrace.
(08:21):
Tickets must be purchased inadvance.
Casa Batlló sells out very,very quickly.
Lea Lane (08:26):
You can see why.
The view from the roof, by theway, the terrace, is fantastic.
You see the whole wonderfullayout of Barcelona, which is
very interesting the way it's insquares of Barcelona, which is
very interesting the way it's insquares.
The other famous one, Casa Milaor Pedrera, is easily seen from
the street.
Do stop in front of Pedrera.
It's an undulating stone facade.
(08:46):
It has wrought iron balconiesresembling seaweed.
It's just really interesting.
Angelo Caratenuto (08:50):
There's two reasons why I would suggest to
go to Pedrera.
It's because when you get tothe terrace of Pedrera, you have
an unmatched view of CasaBatllio.
Lea Lane (08:56):
is because when you get to the terrace of Pedrera,
you have unmatched view of CasaBatlló.
There's other greatarchitecture beyond Gaudí.
There are two UNESCO sites by awonderful architect, Luis
Domenech Montaner, and one ofthem I just adore.
It's the Palau de la MúsicaCatalana.
Tell us about that gorgeousconcert hall.
Angelo Caratenuto (09:13):
Yeah it's hands down the most stunning
concert hall in the world whenyou actually enter the main room
green stained glass, thesculptures, the rich details.
We were lucky to be there.
They were doing some rehearsalsfor the evening concerts.
There wasn't just outrageouslydesigning shapes and sculptures
(09:37):
and iconic symbolism and stufflike that.
Everything was meant for thegreatest acoustic experience.
We call it the Opera House ofBarcelona, but it's not just
used for opera.
It's used for any sort of livemusic of any time, any age, any
region, any cultural background.
Lea Lane (09:54):
Like the Stones.
You can see the Rolling Stonesthere?
?
Angelo Caratenuto (09:57):
That's exactly right, they need a
bigger venue.
They need the stadium, butthere have been rock bands.
Lea Lane (10:03):
The architecture was music to me.
The other beautiful building bythe same architect, again built
around 1905, 1908, is theHospital de Saint-Pau.
It was designed because doctorsbelieve beautiful surroundings
help the patients heal faster.
So there's gardens and colorfultiles and it's just beautiful
(10:23):
as well.
Angelo Caratenuto (10:24):
It's less touristy, it's less busy, it's
less touristy because it's alsoused as a conference hall and
for meetings and, believe it ornot, it was an active hospital
until 2009.
So very, very recent.
I absolutely adore the factthat healing doesn't just come
from medicine or chemistry.
It's all these pavilionssurrounded by beautiful gardens
and interconnected byunderground hallways so that you
(10:47):
wouldn't get your view outsideof your hospital room obstructed
and you could see the gardensand you could see the rest of
the pavilions freely.
Lea Lane (10:53):
I think that sums up Barcelona.
It's a consciousness of art ofall sorts, and that's what makes
it so special.
Let's go outside a bit.
There are some gorgeous parks,parked at Montjuic with its
magic fountain.
You want to tell us a littlebit about that?
Angelo Caratenuto (11:07):
Yes, absolutely.
Now you may need a little bike,unless you want to take a taxi
ride.
From experience climbingMontjuic with your bike is
actually quite interesting andquite fun.
The views from there arespectacular.
What's fun is that there's acompletely different temperature
between what's happening inBarcelona and what's happening
(11:28):
in Montjuic.
But it is a way to distractyourself from the city.
Liet, Christine and I are so inlove with Barcelona we're
thinking about moving our familythere.
Most of Barcelona is being madepedestrian.
The post-industrial revolutionquadrants that have been
developed to expand the city arebeing made either bike-friendly
or completely pedestrianized.
So it's not extremely chaoticunless you're going to the very
(11:50):
traffic-y promenades or verytraffic-y roads.
But if you want to get out,then you take a bike ride and
you go to Montreux.
No oasis Further out, but Iwould go to Montserrat, Go to
the monastery of Montserrat.
Lea Lane (12:00):
Which is huge and very interesting mountain Jagged
peaks.
You get that so close to thecity.
It's a wonderful day trip oreven an afternoon trip, yeah
absolutely these teeth-likemountains, out of which was
built the monastery.
Angelo Caratenuto (12:16):
It is a half a day trip.
You could combine it with justaround the corner there's a lot
of beautiful vineyards and youcould do some kava tasting in
the afternoon.
My suggestion would be to getMontserrat at its opening before
the big tourist buses get there.
Get there by nine so that youcan go into the monastery and
specifically get into the churchto see the Black Mary and walk
right under it and, if you'relucky enough, you catch the
(12:38):
children's choir singing andpracticing before they go to
their morning classes.
Lea Lane (12:43):
Sounds heavenly.
Yeah, literally.
Okay, let's come back down abit to the Gothic Quarter.
It's a wonderful city center.
It's got the BarcelonaCathedral, as opposed to the
Basilica we have talked aboutbefore by Gaudi, and it has
famous squares and picturesquestreets.
It's just fun.
There's a walking tour therefor tapas.
(13:03):
Tapas are the great everyoneknows by now.
Little bites that started, Ibelieve, in that area, right In
Barcelona area.
You can walk around and sampletapas at different little cafes,
local wines, fascinatingstories.
Have you done that?
Angelo Caratenuto (13:19):
Yeah, absolutely.
We're very proud to have tourscalled Tapas Tour with Flamenco
Show, and it happens in theGothic Quarter.
Another Spanish term for itwould be racion, small portions,
rations, right, rations.
You get pages and pages ofvenues, of different rations,
the most popular, which is apiece of bread semi-toasted,
(13:40):
that could be an open piece ofregular pizza bread rubbed with
olive oil, salt and tomato, allthe way to beautiful platter of
jamon or patas bravas, or greenpeppers, or more elaborate
croquettes, or vegetablessauteed, or fish sometimes, or
bread with certain types ofdelicatessen fish on top.
(14:01):
But the Spaniards, catalonians,generally, don't do tapas
hopping, sort of the Italianaperitivo or the pub scene for
the Brits.
Right, I'm done with a day'swork, I'm going to go get some
tapas, have a glass of wine, abeer, a cerveza or a sangria and
enjoy two or three, four bites.
What we do in tours is we dotapas hopping, because different
(14:21):
bars have different histories,different connections, maybe
different neighborhoods havedifferent connections with
different parts of food, andthen we end with a flamenco show
which is not very Barcelonian.
Lea Lane (14:31):
Oh, but it's beautiful .
Angelo Caratenuto (14:33):
But it is beautiful.
Lea Lane (14:35):
That's part of Barcelona.
You never know what to expectExactly.
Yeah, we're talking about food.
I would mention paella is verypopular because you're near the
sea and you get fresh seafood.
That's another specialty.
I do want to mention LasRamblas, which is near the
Gothic area.
It's the busiest street inBarcelona.
It's really five boulevardsthat combined into one long
promenade.
It is flower stalls and streetmusicians and living statues.
(14:59):
It's touristy, but everybodygoes there at some point.
I do want to warn aboutsomething the pickpockets.
It is true, I have beenpickpocketed.
Oh yeah, you do have to watchit.
It's part of Barcelona.
You can't have perfection,right?
Just say, be careful there inthat area.
Isn't the market nearby the?
Angelo Caratenuto (15:18):
Boqueria?
Yeah, absolutely so.
La Ramblas is this road thatgoes from the touristic port all
the way to Plaza de Catalunya,the expansion of the Gothic
quarter that we were justtalking about.
All of a sudden, this labyrinthof alleyways and Roman ruins
and Gothic quarters andmunicipal squares and hidden
courtyards, very Spanish-lookingquarter, is interrupted by this
(15:43):
two-lane road with a bigpedestrian center with coffee
shops and restaurants and cafesand street performers and,
unfortunately, pickpocketers.
Very traffic-y because peopleuse it to hop in and out of the
Gothic Quarter and theUniversity Quarter, which is on
the other side.
But besides a concert hall, acouple of hotels and all these
(16:04):
cafes and restaurants andshoppings, there's the Bacqueria
, and the Bacqueria is themarket, the main market, the
most historical market ofBarcelona.
You can shop as a Barcelonianor you can stop at the stands
and sample freshly cooked food,anything from fresh shrimp to a
steak, all the way to a paella,as you said, or just bits and
(16:24):
pieces of little fried food thatyou can choose among the
various stands.
It's nothing like you wouldfind in the US, but it is
something to do as you're goingthrough, sampling and looking at
fresh food and how locals dotheir shopping.
All of a sudden, you can sitdown and have a proper meal.
It's inside a very vibrantmarket.
Which gorgeous architecturegreat glass windows at the top.
(16:45):
It's gorgeous.
Lea Lane (16:47):
I agree, if you want to get away from the crowd.
I just want to mention twoparks that I love.
One is in the El Born district,which is the center.
It's the beautiful city parkfrom the World Exhibition of
1888.
There are fountains and a zooand wonderful places to sit.
I found this out, which is kindof interesting, that Gustav
Eiffel wanted to build theEiffel Tower in Barcelona for
(17:11):
the 1888 exposition, but Spainrejected the plan.
It thought that the EiffelTower would be aesthetically
non-pleasing, so he took hisfamous landmark to Paris.
What do you think about that?
You can't have it all.
No, you can give Parissomething right.
And there's another park I lovebecause it's huge.
It's called the Rolla Park.
It's the world's largestmetropolitan park.
(17:37):
It's approximately 20,000acres; that's more than 22 times
the size of Central Park in NewYork and there's many species
of animals, hiking trails.
It's right in the city so youdon't have to go far to feel
nature.
I do want to mention the museums.
Barcelona was home to famousartists like Pablo Picasso,
Salvador Dali, Joan Moreau, andAntoni Gaudi.
(17:59):
Picasso spent his formativeyears studying there and there's
a marvelous museum with over4,000 of his works, and what I
loved about it is you can seehis earliest works.
When he was a child.
His father was an art teacher,and when you see 13-year-old
Picasso replicating some of thegreat paintings of the world and
they're beautiful you can seehe could do everything, even as
a child.
He's so gifted.
It's so interesting to visitthere.
(18:20):
I think the museum scene isspecial.
Angelo Caratenuto (18:23):
Close to the park that we were just
mentioning, and if you want alittle bit less touristy and a
little bit more local tapasexperience or food experience in
general, El Born is a greatneighborhood.
El Born is just ascharacteristic as the Gothic
Quarter, maybe even more, and soto find the Picasso Museums
encastamated and trapped inthere It adds the extra layer of
(18:47):
atmosphere, with old stonecourtyards and winding
staircases and so forth.
Yes, it is important to knowthat you're not going to be
seeing the Picasso you may beaccustomed to or you may expect
him, because these are theformative years and he was more
of a realist at that time, buthe was being influenced.
And so one of the highlightsthat people go and see at the
(19:09):
Picasso Museum is the La Meninaseries, which is sort of an
honor to.
It's a take on the painting byVelázquez and he deconstructs it
about 20 different versions ofit, and every version is more
abstract and more playful thanthe previous one.
So certainly a unique part ofthat museum that you're not
(19:31):
going to be seeing in any othercoastal museums because there
are many in Spain.
Lea Lane (19:35):
Yeah, you can see the evolution that's beginning there
.
I want to mention the coastalfishing villages that surround
and go all along the coast.
You can go and take a 30-minutedrive and you're in this
wonderful town, Sitges.
It's got a promenade along thebeach, it's got 17 beaches there
, museums.
I just love it.
It's a cute old town and justyou feel like you're absolutely
(19:57):
in the heart of the beach area,again, so close to Barcelona,
and I think it's worth a visit.
Yeah, sure, I said obviously,if you could spend a week in
Barcelona, that would beexcellent.
There's so much Coast isdelightful, and I want to
mention some of the festivals.
I mean, there are so many.
What are your favorites?
Angelo Caratenuto (20:15):
Well, first of all, Barcelona is a big party
city in general.
It's a party city for all ages.
Traveling for the festivals isdefinitely a must-do.
It can be very, very crowdedand the biggest events are in
the September Festival, which isabout a week long, and it's
concerts, it's parades.
The highlight of it, whichhappens in the middle Festival,
which is about a week long, andit's concerts, it's parades.
The highlight of it, whichhappens in the middle of the
(20:36):
Gothic Quarter, is what theCarolingians call the
Castelleros, which is thesehuman-built towers.
I'm sure people have seenpictures of a challenge where
people start climbing on eachother and try and build the
tallest human tower in thesquare.
The entire festival is calledLa Merced and it happens in
September.
Another one which is in honor ofthe patron saint of Barcelona
(21:00):
is St Jordi's Day, which happensin April.
It's sort of like theCatalonian versions of
Valentine's Day, but thedifference really is that
instead of taking out somebodyor your second half, your better
half, or gifting something, yougenerally exchange books and
roses and yeah, so the citydecks out for St Jordi' and it
(21:27):
fills out with flower stands,book stalls, all the shops sell
you a version of the other.
It's really unique.
Then there's various musicfestivals.
Two that I would recommend arethe Primavera Sound and the
Sonar Festival Hugeinternational music festivals,
big names if you're interestedin just rolling stones kind of
(21:49):
thing, or up-and-coming artists.
So really you're going to havefour or five festivals to choose
out of, depending on yourinterest.
Lea Lane (21:56):
Barcelona goes back from Roman times to the moment,
for sure.
Well, the name of the podcastis Places.
I Remember.
So, Angelo, would you pleaseshare a favorite memory of your
time spent in Barcelona, and Iknow there are many?
Angelo Caratenuto (22:10):
The very first memory I have of Barcelona
is a small little romanticgetaway with my later to be wife
, Christine, and she had boughta weekend in Barcelona for us
for my birthday present.
I have to humbly admit that I'ma Michael Bublé fan, and at that
time it was 2014,.
(22:31):
He was performing there, and sothe reason of the trip was to
go see Michael live, and she gotthe best seats possible.
But then, obviously, working intravel and working in tourism,
we spent three or four days deep, diving into the experience of
being in Barcelona, and weexplored everywhere.
(22:55):
We took tours, we went tomuseums, we took a jogging tour
in the morning to see the citywake up before the markets open
as streets are still beingcleaned.
We drank, we partied, we wentto gin and tonic bars.
It was so refreshing and soromantic at the same time that
on the flight back, we were sofulfilled spiritually, mentally,
physically fulfilled with ourexperience.
But then that's how it alsobecame the very first city we
(23:15):
wished to open and one of thecities we've been wanting,
desiring and wishing to evermove to with our children.
Lea Lane (23:22):
That's wonderful.
We can all use being fulfilled,that's for sure.
And a city, if they can do that, it's special.
Thank you so much, angeloCarotenuto, from LivT ours.
You've helped us discover themany delights of a truly great
world city Barcelona, Spain.
Angelo Caratenuto (23:39):
Thanks, thank you for having me, Lea.
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