http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/ Welcome to Been there. Your tips on the places you know - that you love, live in or have just visited - are what make this guide. http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34017 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/34017 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32839 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32839 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31554 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31554 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31553 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31553 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31551 As a curiosity, there’s a bronze statue of Rovira i Trias, one of Cerdà’s competitors in the tender for designing Barcelona’s Eixample; his plans, based on concentric developments around the old town, lie discarded at his feet.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31551 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31550 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31550 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31549 Back to business. The Bar Virreina has a good selection of imported beers and does a tasty sandwich.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31549 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31545 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31545 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31544 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31544 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31543 It’s a very pleasant place for a snack during the day, though not cheap, and there is live music on Wednesdays and Sundays in summer.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31543 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31542 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31542 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31541 Part of the gardens is given over to the hotel restaurant and bar terrace. You can enjoy a meal or drink here in peace and quiet surrounded by greenery and the curious interior architecture of L’Eixample.
If the gates to the jardins happen to be closed –after about eight in the evening– just walk through the hotel and out the back doors onto the terrace.
However, avoid this place at all costs around five in the afternoon in term time. It quickly becomes a hell-hole of screaming brats who, freed from the tyranny of their teachers, burn off their accumulated frustrations and blast your tranquility to jagged bits.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/31541 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/30724 Massive and misshapen, these authentic croquetas bear little resemblance to those industrial cylinders facetiously served as the real thing in unsavoury bars devoted to tricks on travellers.
Jaime’s octogenarian mom spends a couple of hours separating and shredding the ingredients, mixing them with a thick béchamel and coating them in crumbs.
Anyone wishing to experience the genuine traditional croqueta should drop in, order a couple and wash them down with a bottle of Moritz, Barcelona’s original beer.
Moritz appeared in 1856, disappeared in the late nineteen seventies and has now made a triumphant reappearance. Its distinctive yellow and blue label, fine graphic design and superb marketing knock the hell out of Estrella Damm’s pretentious efforts to be trendy. The beer’s great, too; Moritz brings spring water from the Montseny massif and uses only the finest hop flowers in its fermentation. The beer tastes fresh, clean and delicate.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/30724 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/30683 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/30683 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/30275 Very central, not pretentious nor full of gaggling tourists, plenty of ex-pat locals on a given night. Recommended for a nice quiet pint or to start a weekend evening.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/30275 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/29415 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/29415 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25556 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/25556 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/23774
The surrounding area around Placa George Orwell is a little on the 'ghetto' side but on the numerous occasions I have been there I have never felt threatened, or uneasy.

Serves good, cheap food as well.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/23774 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/23377 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/23377 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/19165
Not quite Barcelona's seamy underbelly, but in a decidedly chi-chi town, the next best thing.

In keeping with its working-class roots, there are still plenty of scruffy neighbourhood bars amidst the proliferating clothes shops, hip bars and restaurants.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/19165