Barcelona

[daverave999]

Thanks gss.

My good lady has the Cathedral on the itinerary, and Montserrat looks like it will get a visit too. Going to try and make it to the beach if we have time (she lives in the Midlands so loves beaches!)

L'Estanc de Laietana looks worth popping into. Thought I'd point it out for those who search Barcelona in the future as it doesn't appear to be on La Rambla.

[Mr Moore]

I dont want to bring the conversation down an intellectual notch, but do try and see 'the nou camp' Dave. Barcalona's footballing answer to the colloseum. Sorry guys, had to get that one in there.

[Ramon]

Some more useful links:

http://barcelonatourist.org/shopping/ciutat-vella/95-gimeno-cigars

http://www.barcelona.com/layout/set/print/barcelona_directory/shops/gimeno

http://www.gimenocigars.com/US/Intro.htm

[Stevieboy]

Some more useful links:

http://barcelonatourist.org/shopping/ciutat-vella/95-gimeno-cigars

http://www.barcelona.com/layout/set/print/barcelona_directory/shops/gimeno

http://www.gimenocigars.com/US/Intro.htm

That's the place to visit for sure!!! If you only go to one shop, go to this one. They have a huge selection of singles . Enjoy yourself mate

[Gary]

Hey guy's, haven't been on the forum for a couple of weeks, but found this thread very interesting seeing I'm off to Barcelona tomorow (Friday 27th) until Monday for my 30th birthday.

Intend on seeing and visiting most of what everyone has already said on here, especially the cathedral and Nou Camp on Sunday seeing the shops close on Sunday's and the other half wont know what to do with herself .

Obviously will be popping into a few cigar shops, sampling a few sticks and all being well bringing a few home as well. Anyway Dave, if you like I could maybe do a wee review on Tuesday or something of what I found good etc, maybe recommend some cigar shops to visit and possibly what the shop at the airport is like, just to give you a better idea before you head off next Thursday. Might even get a few pictures uploaded too.

[daverave999]

Gary, that would be most helpful! Thank you. Have fun.

[Gary]

No worries.

[Gary]

Right Dave, back from Barcelona yesterday and had an excellent time there, you'll love it (I hope), great food & drink, great people, great sights and of course great cigars, so I'll try and do a wee review here and include some things that I hope you'll find useful, that might help you so here goes.

Upon Arrival
Upon arrival at Barcelona airport, as soon as you exit the airport building, take a right and walk about a hundred yards or so and you'll find a bus stop for the airport bus. The bus is about 4.50 Euro and will take you from the airport, making a couple of stops en-route for people, to the square in the centre of Barcelona city centre called Placia Catalunia (probably have spelt that slightly incorrectly). The buses from the airport run every 6 minutes or so and my advice is to try to exit the airport as quickly as possible to get a seat on the bus, especially with luggage as the journey takes about 20-30 minutes. The square you arrive at is at the top of La Rambla with many other streets off it, so you might want to look up google maps or something to see where you hotel is in relation to the Square.

Food & Drink
I found the price of the food and drink in Barcelona to be ok, some people may think it was a little on the expensive side which I could understand but remember everywhere in Europe is getting hammered by the falling Euro and it's definately not dearer than the UK or Ireland. Myself and my partner for the most part ate authentic Spainish food like Tapas or Paella which I have to say was absolutely beautiful, I couldn't get enough. La Rambla is packed with restaurants and bars, cafe's and pubs and if you walk down La Rambla to the very bottom to the marina you can cross the bridge where there's a shopping centre and more restaurants by the waters edge. On the last night we ate at the Hard Rock cafe in the Square (Placia Catalunia) which was cool, and serves the usual burgers and steaks etc, but definately try some local restaurants.

Shopping & Sightseeing
There is loads to see and do in Barcelona, like any good city a weekend is never enough time to see half of it never mind all of it. Remembering that all the big shops close on a Sunday we thought it a good idea to leave the tourist bus thing till then. There's 3 tourist bus routes round the city, red blue and green (I think green doesn't start till the summer). We opted for Red which takes in Gowdi's impressive cathedral and seeing I'm a big football fan the Nou Camp was a must which is also on the Red route. However please bare in mind that if you are into this sort of thing, and are intending on going to the Nou Camp it's only open to 1430hrs on a Sunday so you might want to get up early and go? All tourist buses leave from the Square. I've inserted some pictures of the Cathedral and the Nou Camp to get you in the mood















The most expensive thing I found was clothes. Just off the Square, parallel to La Rambla is another street, forget the name, but if shopping is your thing then this is the place for you, wall to wall designer shops, department stores etc etc. But you may want to bring plenty of money. At the Nou Camp I thought I'd buy a Barcelona polo shirt just because I was there and to remember the occasion, but at 70 Euro I thought again, almost ?70, I could get it cheaper at home.

Cigars
Saving the best for last, there is two cigar stores off La Rambla, both on the left hand side of the street as your walking down towards the marina. I've included pictures of both below.

Barcelona 001.jpg

Barcelona 002.jpg

Gimeno is the first shop you'll come to, a great shop which has an excellent range of cubans as well as some of the better non cubans like Ashton VSG. It also sells top of the range humidors and accessories by Davidoff, St. Dupont etc etc along with pipe products and a great range of rums. Before I went I was told that the shop had a cigar cellar under the store and that not everyone got to go down and experience it. On Monday an hour or so before we left Barcelona I went down to the shop to get some cigars. I asked the man behind the counter that I'd like to look at a box of Vegas Robania Maestros (Spanish Regional Edition) and he asked me to follow him. He led me down a private spiral staircase that you can see at the back of the shop and I found my self in the walk in cigar humidor under the shop that I was told about, honestly it's like an Aladan's cave of cigars, every cuban brand you can think off with actual tobacco leaves hanging from the roof, FANTASTIC! I think it was because I wanted at least a box that I got invited down. In the actual shop itself they have a massive humidor behind the counter, so if it's just a few singles your looking he might just give you them from there. Anyway I ended up getting the box and a pack of 5 Cohiba Siglo IV as you can see below.

Barcelona 001.jpg

Barcelona 002.jpg

Barcelona 010.jpg

Barcelona 011.jpg

Barcelona 013.jpg

I have a price list for the shop of the cuban's they sell. Unfortunately I can't get it on here, but if your looking any specific cubans on this trip, post which ones your looking and I'll tell you their prices. Some brands they sell packs of 3, 5 and 10 depending on the size.

The second shop further on down La Rambla is much smaller with a much smaller stock of cubans, but because the Spanish government set the prices for tobacco products, they'll be the same price as Gimeno.

There's also a very impressive cigar shop at Barcelona airport that you can visit on your way home, very up market with a nice selection, but to be honest I found the prices at Gimeno better.

All over the city there's also small shops or kiosk's called Tabac's that sell packets of cigarettes, we ended up bringing back 16 carton's of John Player Red for my girlfriends mother and not a custom's officer in sight upon our arrival , so fill your boots if you also like the occasional fag.

Anyway, hope some of this helps, so have a good trip and let us know what it's like and what sticks you get if any.

[Gary]

Anyone any idea why some of my attachments / photo's worked and some didn't ?

[Stevieboy]

Sounds like you had a great time G!!

I'm not too familiar with VR but the pictures certainly caused a stirring downstairs

[cj121]

I've never had the pleasure of Barcelona yet, but my wife has been literally dozens and dozens of times (almost moved there). Glad you enjoyed it.

Great post Gary and a nice experience by the sounds in terms of the cellar. Right, where's my passport. Out of curiosity and as an example, what price did you pay on the box, if you don't mind me asking?

Re attachments, it may be a formatting issue. Please don't ask me to elaborate as I'm chancing my arm there and haven't got a clue really!!

You could try uploading them to a secondary site such as Photobucket and give that a go?

[daverave999]

What a whole bunch of useful information. That's a GREAT post thanks Gary! I think that has just made this the definitive Barcelona thread.

I'm probably looking to pick up a box of RASCC if I don't spend too much cash on booze or food. Didn't happen to see any in the airport did you?

[Gary]

Dave, if your talking about the Ramon Allones Specially Selected they'll cost 222 Euro's for a box of 25 or 8.90 Euro each.

The box of VR Maestros cost me 100 Euro, for a box of 10, but I still consider that a good price as Limited Edition and Regional Edition cigars usually come in boxes of 10 and are usually more expensive than this.

Some other prices that caught my eye where:

Cohiba Robusto = 15.85 Euro each
Cohiba Lanceros = 18 Euro each
Partagas Serie D No4 = 9.50 Euro each
Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No2 = 9 Euro each
Montecristo No2 = 11 Euro each
Rey del Mundo Choix Supreme = 6.90 Euro each
Romeo Y Julieta Short Churchills = 9.45 Euro each
Bolivar Royal Corona = 9.20 Euro each
Romeo Y Julieta Escudos 2008 Limited Edition = 10 Euro each
Hoyo de Monterrey Regalos 2008 Limited Edition = 10 Euro each

Other so called lesser cuban brands are an absolute snip, brands like Guantanamera, Flor de Cano, Cabanas or Quintero can all be purchased in several different sizes for under 2 Euro each.

Dave you should pick up a price list inside the shop on your first cople of days and then you can mull over it for a while before making your purchase?

[daverave999]

Ramon Allones Small Club Corona. Mmmm!

Good thinking about getting the pricelist first. I was going to investigate some of those others too, as I quite fancy a bundle of something cheaper for when I've drunk too much.
I'm hoping I'll get some time to chill rather than my girlfriend rushing me round all the time, so hopefully can sit back and relax with something tasty.

Is it T-shirt weather there yet?

[Stevieboy]

The box of VR Maestros cost me 100 Euro, for a box of 10, but I still consider that a good price as Limited Edition and Regional Edition cigars usually come in boxes of 10 and are usually more expensive than this.

E100 !!! Great price Gary. would love to have gotten hold of a box

Can you still smoke indoors in Spain or have they fallen like the rest of the EU?