You Tube Video's about Raval

A 2 minute clip on El Raval. It's linked from Interail so I guess it was sponsored by the train company.

Suite Life is a local real estate agent. Their site has some good articles and video clips about Barcelona. This is their short video on El Raval.


Oh-Barcelona rent out apartments and hotels to tourists. They put this video together.

A video covering some of the history of Raval. This isn't as flashy as some of the other comercial efforts. A bit "dry"and the voiceover isn't the most profesional.

A scene from Vicky Christina Barcelona...filmed in Raval. You too can have an argument here if you visit!

Links to things about Raval

Here are some links to information on Raval. Lots of good stuff here!

Short and sweet entry in Wikipedia

A bit more information here and quite a good reference site for Barcelona in general

The top 10 tourist things to do in Raval, most of these are excellent recommendations.

The official tourism site of Barcelona.

A great site (some of it is restricted) using Raval as a case study in urban renewal. Well worth spending some time if you are interested in the extent of the changes made to the area.

Another broad write up of the area.

Contact

If you are interested in renting my room. Discussing Barcelona, Raval or further ideas for this blog you can contact me on :-

e-mail set up for  the flat

If you are interested in me. Click HERE.

Your Host

I was born in the UK but have spent much of my life overseas. I've visited many places but had the fortune to live in London, New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan and of course now Spain.

Until they fired me, most of my life was spent working for large, soul sucking and personality deadening corporations. Fortunately I had the good sense to save pretty much everything I earned and was able to travel for a while before finding what I believe to be the perfect city. Barcelona. 

My first year here was spent in relative luxury working as a consultant for an internet start up. When I was offered a job in Brussels I had to make the decision between going back to the corporate life or trying my hand at something different. I decided to take the path less travelled, though this meant I had to downsize considerably. I then spent the next few months or so wondering if I had made a massive mistake.

At that time my Spanish was extremely poor and I felt as though most of the city, the people and the culture were closed to me. I took the decision to enroll in a language school. As my Spanish improved the city worked its way into my heart, as this feeling took hold of me and with the crisis affecting house prices I realised that I could purchase something here and truly make Barcelona my home.

So that led me to my flat and to the area in Barcelona known as Raval.

I have many interests, most of which at some point in my life I have become obsessive over but now have the freedom and knowledge to enjoy just for myself. I play piano well, guitar badly and have had some exposure to the music industry. Enough to know that it will only ever be a hobby. I ride a mountain bike and for almost two years this was my full time job. I'm now happy to use a bicycle to commute, though I do have the occasional jaunt up to Tibidabo for the fantastic views and the equally  impressive single-track. I love Barcelona, but I only know this from my love of travel, I could talk all day about where I've been and where I want to go. I love to cook because I love to eat and drink and change the world through discourse. There have been times in my life when I have been sad but mostly I've been happy. I consider myself serendipitous and believe that sharing this is the best way to live. And so I've decided to share my home, my life and my adopted city. For money of course! 

What's On

Home page for what's on in Raval....again with a brief introduction and links to whats on