The investments have paid dividends as they have consistently been voted one of the top companies to work for in Spain by independent survey done by Great Place to Work

In June of this year, they are holding a 3 day event for top staff, collaborators and clients. The event will include a fully branded Sailing Regatta, on ground transportation, full activities program and a VIP party in an exclusive Barcelona location.

These programs are always fun as it gives us the chance to show our creativity and flexibility, something with which we have become know for over the last 10 years.
We have every confidence that the event will be a huge success and thank Softonic for putting their faith in LifestyleDMC.

This tour is one of the newest and most informative tours in Barcelona. You will be taken to various points in the city that were key landmarks in the Spanish civil war. Innocent looking buildings today could have been strong points of the resistance movements at the height of the war.

You will be taken to the hotel where George Orwell stayed and trace the steps that inspired him to write the best sellers “Homage to Barcelona” and later “1984”

The city today is of course unimaginably different from that described by Orwell. But, the scars of the Civil War are not yet closed, and run as an undercurrent through today’s society and politics.

This emotive tour conjures up the images of what life was like for the common person in Barcelona as the city tried to resist the pressure of the military take over. Filled with stunning images and entertaining narrative, this tour is a must for those who really want to understand the fabric of society of Barcelona.

The guide was a hugely charming character with a clear passion for history and sharp thinking. After the tour we were treated to a lunch of fine tapas in a restaurant which was full of memorabilia from the civil war resistance movement. Not surprisingly the restaurant was can “libertad”

For more information on this tour visit our site Barcelona Civil War Tours

LifestyleDMC is pleased to announce that we have been appointed official leisure activities partners for the Best of Belron Global Event taking place in Barcelona on the 23^rd and 24^th May 2012.

We were contacted by the program director to bid for the prestigious event to be held in the FIRA Barcelona. The brief was to provide a wide range of fun activity and leisure options that represent the best that Barcelona has to offer.

The activities had to be unique, expressions of the city with a good balance of fun, history, culture and flexibility… and we had 24 hours to create the proposal and send it off!

The event is the jewel in the crown summit for Belron the parent company of Carglass. It boasts 900 people from 31 different countries. We had a face to face meeting with the Marketing and Communication Manager of CarGlass here in our offices in Barcelona.

Once we had satisfied ourselves that we had understood the brief fully, our team set about creating the full proposal with the soul aim of exceeding expectations.

Due to our network of over 300 activity partners and our 10 years experience creating new experiences in Barcelona, we were able to tick all the boxes in terms of turnaround time and brief content.

We are now busy organising some fantastic activities for the representatives of the 31 countries arriving in May.

“This is an exciting  project,“ says Tony Anagor Director of LifestyleDMC  “..and  it is a testimony to the great relationships we have with our fantastic partners in Barcelona. They always go the extra mile for us and we know their services are the best that can be found in the city.

For more information on how we can help with your event in Barcelona email us at info@lifestyledmc.com or call +34 93 270 20 48

Arriving there early, I met the owners and staff of the activity, who were so kind to show me around and explained to me how everything works. They already prepared all the necessary ingredients and nicely set up everything for the client’s arrival.
Here´s a brief explanation of the activity for you; there were three work stations, the group would randomly be divided in three smaller groups. At every work station there were different things, small dishes, to be prepared. After preparing the food at one work station, the group switched to another station, until they prepared food at every station. At every station there was a chef present, who explained how to prepare everything and help the participants to make the food extra tasty. Nice detail for the participants, they were allowed to eat everything they cooked!

It showed that everybody really was enjoying themselves!

After having eaten all the smaller dishes and the Paella, there was a lovely desert waiting for them, especially made by the chefs. Since this is Catalunya, you can guess what it was, Crema Catalana!

This kind of activity is great for teambuilding. The participants have to work closely together to get the best results, what is perfect for team bonding and team performance!
Also for a group of friends or family this can be a great night out with a lot of fun!

Once you´ve arrived in Montserrat, there are several ways to get to the Monastery. The Monastery of Montserrat is located at an altitude of 720 meters on the east side of the mountain, as you can imagine, you will have breathtaking views from there! You can go there with a cable car or with the Cremallera Funicular. If you are afraid of heights I recommend the Funicular!

A must see is of course the Basilica of Montserrat. It houses one of Montserrat’s most important features, the statue of the black Madonna. Legend has it that the first Madonna statue was found by a shepherd boy in a cave in 880. When the bishop heard this, he tried to move the image to Manresa. However, this proved impossible because the statue was too heavy. The bishop interpreted this as a wish of the Madonna to stay at the place where she was found and ordered to build the hermitage of the Virgin Mary, the current monastery. The Black Madonna who is honored here today is a Roman statue from the 12th century.
If you want to see the statue up close, be prepared to join a long queue!

The Basilica with the Black Madonna is not the only feature Montserrat has to offer. You can visit the library, which contains over 300.000 works. You can also visit the museum, where you can find pieces of El Greco, Picasso and Salvador Dalí. This museum also contains some treasures from ancient Egypt, including a mummy.

For those of you who aren´t into the spiritual and cultural things, Montserrat is also a great place to hike. With the beautiful nature and the differences in heights you can easily spend a whole day here!
If you don´t want to walk that much, but you do want to get a bit higher, there´s another funicular which takes you up to 1,000 meters above sea level. From here you will have another spectacular panoramic view of the surrounding area and the Pyrenees.

If after one day, you still haven´t had enough of Montserrat, there is always the possibility to stay the night in the hotel there!

Here are some helpful facts and tips!

If you are in the mood for a cultural Easter you can check out two processions in the center of Barcelona on Good Friday (April 6), “la Hermandad de la Macarena y la de Jesús del Gran Poder” and the “Nuestra Señora de las Angustias”.
Good Friday, ´Viernes Santo´ in Spanish, is the day that the crucifixion and death of Jesus is commemorated.  The first parade will be in the Raval area, at the church “La Iglesia de Sant Agustí” in Plaça Sant Agustí, which starts at 17.00 hours. The other traditional Easter procession is at the “Iglesia de Sant Jaume ” on Carrer de Ferran in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. This one starts at 19.00.

Three days after Good Friday, the resurrection of Jesus is celebrated. In Catalonia, on Easter Monday, the Día de la Mona is celebrated. On this day you can eat Mona de Pascua: fresh cakes decorated with chocolate and chocolate eggs. The intention is that the godparents bring the Mona as a gift to their godchildren. This gift is given only to a certain age, for example until the child is 12 years old (age of the Communion).
During Easter, chocolate and Easter eggs are central. In many ‘pastelerías’ you will find Easter eggs and other figures made of chocolate, included Mona´s, so take one and enjoy!

Good Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays in Spain. Therefore, a lot of the locals in Barcelona use this long weekend to escape to the country. But don´t think it will be nice and quiet in the city because the load of tourists will make up for this loss!

Since Easter is a national holiday, a lot of shops will be closed, especially on Friday the 6^th, Sunday the 8^th and Monday the 9^th of April. If you do want to shop, shopping center Maremagnum (near Port Vell) is open every day!
Luckily, a lot of restaurants will be open. Because a lot of families use Easter as an excuse to eat outside, it might be a good idea to reserve your table!
For opening hours of the main attractions of Barcelona for Easter, it´s best if you check their official websites for the most accurate information.

Another thing you can do during Easter in Barcelona is visit the amusement park located on Tibidabo Mountain. Especially with kids this is a very good choice. By the way, you will have the best view over Barcelona!

Public transport during Easter will not be a problem. The metro´s and buses will operate normally, only the frequency will be a bit lower.

And last but not least, the weather in Barcelona is (almost) always lovely!
So enjoy and have great weekend in Barcelona!

Arriving at the vineyard, we first got some information about the company and the region. After that, there was a little cava tasting. We tried three different cava’s from which we had to choose the one we liked the best. This was going to be the cava which we were going to personalize.

When we drank enough cava, we were shown a little movie about the production process of the cava in the Penedés region. This was very interesting and educational but we were more interested in getting started with the personalization of our own cava.
The personalization started with opening a bottle of cava to remove the yeast.

After that, we had to seal the wine bottles traditionally with a cork. Next, the bottles got ´washed´, very fascinating to see! When that was done the bottles were ready for decoration.

All hungry and exhausted from the hard work we did, it was time to eat! An option for this activity is to bring your own food, so you can have a great barbeque at the masía, and that is what we did.

After the barbeque it was time to go home again. A bit tired but very satisfied, we were brought back to the station where we took the train to Barcelona, looking back on an afternoon of a lot fun!

For more information about this activity, check our website.

On the menu they have a fusion of Italian- Mediterranean and international cuisine, but since it is also a pizzeria a big part consists of pizza´s, which are absolutely delicious by the way. If you don´t like pizza or you´re just not in the mood, you can choose between the other dishes Rossini offers, like different kinds of pasta, fish, meat and even tapas!
For starters they have a lot of Italian things, but also a large variety of salads. For desert you can choose from approximately ten, very different and very lovely deserts, like ice cream, homemade tiramisu or apple cake. For the kids until 12 they have a special children´s menu, so you can easily take them with you.

For groups, of minimal 10 people, they have three menu´s. Varying from €21 to €32, you can choose between 2 starters, 2 or 3 main courses and 2 deserts. They can also arrange special menus for companies.

So if you want to have a delicious meal, on a great location, with your family or friends, or you need to organize a special lunch, an event, business lunch or private party, Rossini is the place to be!

Rossini is part of the Degusplus group, which consists of two more other restaurants, Sinatra and Brasseria, and two Irish pubs, Temple Bar and My Bar. Also very recommendable!

It was a pleasure to see Barcelona from the terraces as opposed to the conventional way of walking on the street.

The views were amazing and being a typically sunny spring like day it was not too cold. You could say, perfect day to go out and check the terraces! There were even people swimming in a pool of one hotel…!

Look out for our upcoming report on Hotels in Barcelona with Terraces and WIFI

To register for a copy you can email us at info@lifestyledmc.com

To pick a car up, we had to go to a GoCar shop, which should be in front of Santa Catarina market. Arriving there, we didn´t see any sign of the shop. When we started walking around we finally found it in an alley very close to the market, but not very easy to find!

Before we could hit the road, we were shown a safety and instruction video. After that we were all ready to see Barcelona in a way we never saw it before! We got a map of Barcelona with the different tours we could choose, but since the car has GPS, you didn´t need the map for directions. As soon as we started driving, the car started to talk and told us which way to go. As for the different tours, you can choose which one you want to take when you already are on your way. The car tells you which way to go for different sights. Since Barcelona´s traffic can be crowded and noisy, you sometimes have to listen and watch very careful to get the route right. We didn´t focus enough the whole time, so we had to turn a few times to get back on the tour.

We passed the Arc de Triomph, Parc de Ciutadella, Sagrada Familia and Parc Guëll, just to name a few of Barcelona´s many highlights! During the tour, you can stop to take photo´s or have a bite to eat, because you can easily park it along the streets on the motorcycle parking’s, so it´s also free, another great thing about the GoCar! Your belongings you can leave in the luggage compartment in the back which you can close, so your belongings will be safe and there is room for possible shopping bags…

During the tour the GoCar also tells you some nice details and funny things about Barcelona and gives you information of the attractions you pass.

Moving on, we decided to take another tour, towards Tibidabo Mountain. We were afraid that the GoCar wouldn´t make it to the top but, lucky for me, we made it so I didn´t have to push!
After that it was time to head back home. We had to use the map a bit to get on the right track, but soon the GoCar knew we wanted to get back and told us how to get there the easiest.

My conclusion of this afternoon is that a GoCar is very easy to use and a great way to explore the city! It has a lot of advantages. The car speaks 6 different languages and if you already know Barcelona and it´s highlights you can turn off the GPS and blaze your own trail!
So if you have a free day and you want to see some more of Barcelona (and you´re not afraid to stand out) this is a perfect way to dot it! GoCars also provides cars for groups so it´s an ideal activity for corporate events as well.