Barcelona Pension Plaza de Goya Review 2010

Pension Plaza de Goya
Barcelona Pension Review

My final two nights in Barcelona were spent in the Pension Plaza de Goya, located in the Eixample District (left), just outside of the El Raval neighborhood on Carrer de Sepulveda, 187 and facing the Plaza de Goya. The Universitat Metro station is just around the corner from the Pension Plaza de Goya. Very convenient.

One morning I encircled the entire block and counted no less than 7 bars/café offering breakfast. A nice neighborhood and so-well located just outside of El Raval with easy-access to the Gothic Quarter and everything else. Across the street from the pension is the beautiful, old (1914) "Centro Aragonés" building which is home to the Teatro Goya.

If I hadn't known better I would've thought this pension was actually, instead, the Pension Casa de Goya (just a block away on the Plaza de la Universitat), where I'd spent a couple nights four years earlier. Their similarities aren't coincidental, either, as the two are owned by the same people. The building, the reception area, the rooms and decorations are virtually identical - and that's a good thing because I had such a good experience at the Pension Casa de Goya as well.

At mid-day, upon arriving and shown my room, I was profoundly pleased. While only a double with two large-and-long single beds, it was very spacious with a large sofa, fit to sleep a third person. The room was filled with sun and the floor-to-ceiling balcony doors were open. Next to the bed was a mini-refrigerator and a electric pot to boil water, packets of coffee, tea, and sugar at the ready for an cup of something hot. A very warm, pleasant greeting. I liked the room immediately.

And what's the first thing you do in a room like this? That's right. You go directly to tour balcony to see what kind of view you have. And that's just what I did. The view was nice, looking out over the Plaza de Goya. This is one block from the Plaza de la Universitat which, obvious by its name, is right next to the University of Barcelona so the area is busy with university-aged people. A very young crowd walking about on the streets going to and from class. And I saw very few tourists in this area, almost none, which was nice.

Although right on the Plaza de Goya, I was never bothered by traffic noise whatsoever. And the walls were thick enough so I hardly noticed anyone in the adjacent rooms. My first concern was having a room across from the reception desk but I barely noticed. I could, however, feel the passing underground metro trains but it was gentle and never became annoying.

The bed was very comfortable and, fortunately, long enough for my taller-than-Spaniards stature. The modern, wall-mounted flat-screen TV had all the normal TDT (Televisión Digital Terrestre) channels. Interestingly, mine was programmed to display in "Original Version" so I happily watched "The Simpsons" in English while laying in bed one night. The bathroom was big, modern, and adequate.

Pension Plaza de Goya is well-located, modern, comfortable, inexpensive, and sure to meet your needs.


More photos of the Pension Plaza de Goya:

Barcelona Hostal Martina Review 2010

Hostal Martina
Barcelona Hostal Review

Barcelona's Hostal Martina, located in the elegant Eixample district, is one of those "hostales" which makes you wonder, "Why haven't I stayed here before?"

Because after you stay once, you're likely to return again and again after you experience its rich elegance.


First of all, it's a "hostal" and not a hotel. It's considered "budget lodging" and not luxury. Some may equate it with a bed and breakfast, in fact - if they serve breakfast, and Hostal Martina does.

The building is a perfect example of Modernisme architecture, built in the very early 1900s. The entrance, the staircase, the tiled floors and high ceilings are all evidence of that.

The rooms lack decoration but the 12-foot molded ceilings, sometimes colorfully painted, and mosaic tiled floors give each room a style all its own. (the room in these photos was mine!!)


For functionality you have a large, comfortable bed (unless you're a single) and new pillows, tall luggage rack and hangers, and, in most rooms, an old fashioned, full bathroom.

Breakfast is also available if you like. The "full breakfast" offered cereal, sandwich, yogurt, toast with butter and marmalade, coffee and juice but I only had the toast with coffee and juice. It was more than enough for me.

I spent two nights in Hostal Martina in Barcelona and, in fact, it was my second visit in 4 years. The owner, Maria, remembered me from my previous visit and we had quite a long chat upon my arrival about the hostal business, the economic crisis, website building, and the expansion of Hostal Martina from one floor to two, adding a fully equipped apartment as well.

She gave me the grandest of grand tours of the rooms which were empty at mid-day, many of which had an enclosed gallery or a balcony, large enough to put a small table and chair. Many rooms had colorful stained glass windows.

And since this is an OLD building and the hostal has the original thick plaster-and-brick walls, don't expect to hear any noise from your neighbors. I didn't notice any street noise either through my floor-to-ceiling length doors with wooden shutters.

The hostal has free Wi-Fi interenet as well, a nice plus for today's traveler. I certainly used it happily.


Upon arrival, my room was spotlessly clean, towels perfectly folded, bed made and inviting. I still can't get over the floor tile and molded ceiling I had in the bedroom. Just amazing.

As I said, it's located on the Carrer de Bailen, 42, in the Eixample district, the part to the "right" of the Passeig de Gracia and very near the Plaza de Tetuan (metro by the same name). It's about a 10-15 minute walk to the Plaça de Catalunya. The neighborhood itself is almost completely residential and totally safe, there are a few bars and restaurants, cafés for breakfast or an evening drink and snack. Some of the surrounding buildings, including theirs, forces the pedestrian to stop ever 20 seconds and look up, marveling at the architectural wonder you have before you - but these places are everywhere in the Eixample.

Upon entering the building you're immediately hit with an "oh my God" moment with (literally) sculptured walls, pillars, and fresco-like paintings. It's definitely worth taking some photos.

But that's not all, there's also a beauuuuuutiful light-and-air "space" inside the building's entrance, worthy of a postcard which, in fact, is shown on the Hostal Martina website. An elevator can take you to the first floor if you have luggage (in the US/Britain it would be considered the second floor) or you can walk up the original marble staircase to the door marked "Hostal Martina".

There are more rooms to the hostal on the second floor as well. Chances are you won't have ever stayed in a "hostal" with bigger, more architecturally elegant rooms than at Hostal Martina in Barcelona.



More Photos of Hostal Martina in Barcelona:

Day 1 Barcelona Trip Review 2010

Today was holiday in Madrid so there was little traffic on the way to Atocha Train Station. I didn't sleep too well with the anxiety of the trip upon me and was looking forward to that first coffee with the served breakfast - and traveling at 300 kilometers per hour.

I'd arrived maybe 25 minutes early for my 8:30am departure on the super-fast AVE train and walked through security in maybe 10 seconds. 15 seconds later I was at my "via" and got in line with those going to Barcelona. 4 minutes later I was next to the train itself and had time to kill so I enjoyed my surroundings and marveled at the pointy nose (actually, it was the rear) of my train. My car was the last one, the "Club Class" car, car #1, la-dee-dah. hehehe...

The Club Class car is a 2 by 1 seating configuration and mine was at the window while my "neighbor" had the aisle. No problem. While I usually request and aisle seat it hardly mattered on this 2 hour and 52 minute trip to Barcelona. Besides, he got off at the only route stop in Zaragoza after just 1 hour and 20 minutes into the journey and so I had the two seats to my self after that.


The breakfast was served swiftly, maybe 20 minutes after leaving Madrid Atocha Train Station. We had a choice from the menu, either a bacon quiche with asparagus on the side or, what I chose, a whipped fried egg with a huge slice of bacon, tomato, croissant, bread roll, tiny bottle of olive oil, and coffee with the strawberry yogurt for dessert. Who has dessert with breakfast? It was all tasty, hot, and served on a large, cloth-covered plastic tray with real china plates, real metal silverware, and real ceramic coffee cups. Everything was "real". Oh, and they served us all juice upon boarding in real glasses, too.

With an hour and a half left in our trip I ventured ahead to mid-train to join a mob of other travelers getting their second coffee of the morning. I was surprised to see one young Spanish women drinking a beer - at 10 o'clock in the morning!? But wha-evuh'. Unfortunately, the windows in the bar-car were at the height of my mid-section so I could see absolutely nothing without bending down. A group of older, shorter Spanish ladies sipping coffee and talking loudly didn't seem to pay any attention to the wonderful views they had thanks to their stature.

We arrived on time, at 11:22am, in Barcelona Sants Station and we all got off immediately. The last time I went to Barcelona was also by train, but they didn't have the fast AVE train yet, not until 2008, and I remember a sense of confusion upon reaching Sants Station with the rest of the travelers. Where do I go?? Not this time. I went straight to the metro and made my way with confidence.

My first stop was to the Barcelona Tourism Office - and they really rolled out the red carpet for lil' ol' me, BarcelonaMan. I thought, "Man! Madrid's Tourism Office doesn't even know MadridMan exists and I live there!!" I'd been in constant correspondence with them for the previous 2 weeks so they were well prepared for my visit. They gave me not only a folder full of useful, detailed tourist literature but also a Barcelona Press Card, issued specifically to me with my name and the dates I'm in Barcelona. The Press Pass is good for entry into nearly every (or every) museum, Antonio Gaudi structure, tours and tour buses, trams, teléfericos, and cultural sites in Barcelona. The list of participating entities is long and distinguished, probably 60 of them. This card isn't for just anyone, mind you, only for media, journalists, and travel professionals such as yours truly. Next time I come to Barcelona, they told me, the Barcelona Press Card would be sent to my hotel.

Next, I checked into my Hostal Martina in the Eixample District at about 1:30pm and the owner was here to meet me. Nice woman. I'd stayed here before and she remembered me. After she showed me my incredible room (wow, wait 'til you see the photos), she invited me to the salon and we drank coffee and chatted for about an hour and a half about the tourism and hostel business and the affect on it from the worldwide economic crisis. As I said, she's a very nice woman and interesting too so the time passed very quickly.

Now it's 2:30pm so I thanked her for the coffee and conversation and excused myself to see Barcelona. For the most part, the morning had been sunny on the train as well as the early afternoon. But no sooner did I leave the hostel did it get cloudy and threaten rain.

My plan was to take advantage of the sunny-ish skies and see Barcelona from "above", from the Mount Tibidabo amusement park and church. There are some wonderful views from that vantage point, but it didn't look like the views would be good afterall as the clouds rolled in. It's just as well, too, because I took the L7 underground TRAIN (not the metro) from the Plaça de Catalunya, got off at the end of the line at Avinguda del Tibidabo, and crossed the street to the Tramvia Blau. I waited with 5 other tourists until one of them discovered that the tram doesn't run on weekdays, ONLY on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. Turns out, that's true. And I suspected as much but thought since it was a holiday in Madrid today that it was the SAME holiday here in Barcelona. Nu-uh. Nope. Not here. The Tramvia Blau DOES normally run everyday but only from the spring through autumn - and we're about a week (??) away from officially entering spring. So... Maybe tomorrow/Saturday? Doubtful. Maybe Sunday? More possible. But it all depends on the weather. They say it'll rain all weekend. Wonderful.

So after all the newly-informed tourists left the Tramvia Blau stop, I crossed the street once again to "Hop On" the Barcelona Bus Turistic and "simply" use that as my transportation back to the Plaça de Catalunya. This was a mistake as I quickly found out. Not only was I sitting in the back-of-the-bus on the lower level, my seat was like two steps up from the surface and A) my head kept hitting the air conditioner unit with every road bump and B) I couldn't see out the window until I bent over to waist-height. (I know, this seems to be becoming a common theme) Not only that, but the bus was full-full-full and then there was traffic and it took nearly an hour to reach the Plaza de Catalunya. I'll take the bus again and sit on top IF the weather's good as I'm fighting a cold now and won't take any chances.

I get off the bus, now it's like 5pm and I STILL haven't eaten lunch and nearly starved. I text my buddy S.R. in Madrid, asking him where that bar in the Boqueria Market he raves about with their good food and drinks. He quickly replies and I make my way to the market for a wonderful meal, real local goods I'm imagining. If you haven't been there before, the Boqueria Market is beautiful - BUT BIG. ENORMOUS, in fact, and the stands/stalls are all very close together. I'm going 'round and 'round looking for this bar-restaurant, "Restaurante El Quim", it's called. I can't find it anywhere! Eventually I do come across a layout map of all the merchants and find the bar. GREAT! So I go to the area where it should be. Nothing. Can't find it. I ask a merchant, a real fish monger wench, (and I write that with all due respect to not only her gender but for the hard job that it is) and she kindly points me around the corner, still going around in circles with no luck, and finally I see the sign. Restaurante El Quim. IT'S CLOSED! ARGH!!!! I imagine they have "normal" restaurant hours and, well, logically, it would be closed at 5pm - now 5:30pm - but hoped since it was in the market which never closes, except at night, that they'd stay open too. Nope. My loss. Okay. Another day it will have to be. I did enjoy, however, watching the piles upon piles of shellfish at the seafood merchants. They had a coule of lobsters which were as big as my thighs!! (look closely in the photo below)


I walk upward through the El Raval neighborhood and find the famed "Elisabets" bar-restaurant. I'd eaten their menu del dia the last time I was in Barcelona and like it fine, Catalan food at very good prices. So I take a table in the middle of the restaurant, very casual setting and I'm tired and ready to eat. The waiter comes along and tells me they JUST closed the kitchen and only have cold foods. Huh! No thanks. He apologizes and I leave dejected and a stomach as empty as the Tramvia Blau on a Friday afternoon - before spring. Man! I just can't catch a break today!

Continuing up through El Raval, now at 5:50pm, I see a place I'd passed before but never stopped in the Bar Castells on Plaça Bonsucces, 1. THIS is my kind of place (for good or for bad). It's unassuming, basic, home made food at very reasonable prices. The place is mostly empty except for a group of 20-something Spanish women chatting away over their coffees and a (guessing) Norwegian family talking about Barcelona, and an English family calmly sipping wine. Otherwise, the dining room is about empty. The bar, on the other hand, is packed with people having coffee or merienda. THIS IS THE TIME, afterall, not for a big meal as I was about to order. And so I did...

My order, a cardiac attack waiting to happen, included three slices of lomo (pork steak), 2 long links of sausage, a fried egg, fried potatoes, and (thankfully!) three large slices of tomato. This large combination plate, when ordered, brought a surprised look from the face of my Spanish waiter (who in the world would order such a thing at THIS HOUR?!) and I expected similar looks from those around me upon the arrival of my plate. But, luckily, the Spanish women behind me didn't seem to notice and I tried to eat quickly, attempting to remove the majority portion so as not to bring disapproving stares from passersby. It was good, though, and only cost 6.40 Euros. Add a HUGE mug of beer and the total was 9.60 Euros. Leave a very Spanish tip of 40 Eurocents and that's a 10 Euro lunch, folks, and a good one at that; unassuming, tasty, good portions, in a comfortable setting. What more could you ask?

Now it's 6:45pm, getting dark, raining a little more seriously, so I decide to head back to Hostal Martina and get some work done, write this blog, make some phone calls, and relax a bit after a long, somewhat unsuccessful first day in Barcelona.

But on my walk back, I stop in to one of these self-serve candy stores where they have 1001 items you scoop yourself and take up to the cash register. I'm standing there in line, mindin' my own business, when a hoard ot 12-15 year olds rush into the shop, going straight to the back, then all rush back out the door 15 seconds later, some of them with pockets full of candies, you can hear the wrappers rustling around, big stupid grins on their faces. The last kid through opened the bin right in front of the register, grabbed a handful of stuff, and ran out as the clerk grabbed her camera and tried to take photos of them as they all ran away. This prompted another girl of the same age to come into the store, telling the clerk that it was illegal to take photos of minors and that, get this, one of the kids she was photographing was her cousin. And if she, the girl complaining, catches the clerk photographing minors again she'll smash her face in. Can you believe that? All these kids were well-groomed and dressed in school uniforms, all carrying book bags, middle-to-upper class kids, and having a ball stealing from the local Chinese-operated candy shop, giggling and having fun committing their crimes to the delight of their friends waiting on the sidewalk to make their collective get-away, a successful grab-and-dash, a story they'll enjoy telling to anyone who'll listen - except to their parents. That wouldn't be "cool".

So here I sit, reclined on my large bed in my large room at Hostal Martina, very comfortable in my pajamas, admiring the beautifully tiled floors and ornate ceiling, and my mansion sized bathroom in the architecturally modernisme Eixample (Dret) neighborhood, just above Barcelona's Old Quarter. It's probably the best area in which to stay in Barcelona as you're close to everything but with a much lower tourist-to-local ratio.

Tomorrow's another day, starting early with breakfast provided here at the hostal, then a Gourmet Barcelona Walking Tour, a Catalan cuisine sampling, taking place mostly in the Mercat de la Boqueria market. This tour was highly recommended by the woman at the Barcelona Tourist Office so I'm anxious to go. Immediately after the tour I'm off to Sitges, a Mediterranean coastal town about 35 minutes south by train. There, I'll have a tapas lunch with some old friends. Looking forward to that too! Hope we have good weather.

Barcelona Trip 2010

Read all about my 6-Nights Stay in Barcelona HERE on BarcelonaMan's Barcelona Blog!

Things are certainly tuning-up for my 6-night stay in Barcelona, Spain. I leave on Friday on the AVE bullet train from Madrid to Barcelona, lasting a mere 2 hours and 54 minutes. Hope I'll have time to eat my breakfast - included in the Club Class ticket price for the morning trip.

Upon arrival I have to go directly to the Barcelona Tourist Office to pick up my Barcelona Press Card. This is issued to journalists, media, and travel professionals - like me. While the Press Card isn't exactly the key to the city of Barcelona, it will get me in to a number of museums, events, and attractions during my stay.

And I finally secured Barcelona lodging for my last 4 nights as well. Thank goodness. I was really beginning to worry there. One place is towards the top of Las Ramblas and the other is just above the El Raval neighborhood. All three are within, maybe, 12 minutes walk from one another. The first place I'm staying thankfully has free Wi-Fi Internet available but the last two places do not. That's a shame. I'll describe and review the lodging establishments at the end of each 2-night stay.

Apart from attending the Alimentaria Barcelona 2010 Food & Beverage Exposition, I already have scheduled a late-night flamenco show in Barcelona, a "Gourmet Barcelona" walking tour for foods, and a "Gothic Barcelona" walking tour. Oh, and did I mention I'm also making a lunchtime jaunt to beachside Sitges one day? Another daytrip to the Monastery of Montserrat would be great too but that one remains to be seen. I've been there before but would like to go back, this time using public transportation.

Naturally, I'm anxious to return to Barcelona. It's such a beautiful city, totally distinct from Madrid, so very UN-Spanish - and I think that's just the way many Catalanes like it.

Read all about my 6-Nights Stay in Barcelona HERE on BarcelonaMan's Barcelona Blog!