In honor of Woody Allen's latest film "Vicky Cristina Barcelona", our bro Jaunted has the lowdown on the Penélope Cruz-Scarlett Johansson make out (apparently not that hot. Wait--who are we kidding?), as well as where to eat, visit and sleep.
And while he sagely recommends Hotel Casa Fuster, we're going to throw the Casanova Hotel in the mix, and not just because the name is so apropos for Javier Bardem's character.
We've written about the Casanova before, but it just so happens that the hotel is offering a set exchange rate of 1.3 for U.S. travelers through September 15. Room rates at the hotel start at $197.
Apparently the hotel lobby bar is a pretty happening place, so head down there and grab some random girl or guy and make like Pénelope and Scarlett, or Scarlett and Javier, or Javier and Pénelope, who we hear get to make out on a regular basis.
We're lovin' our rev-head friends this week: but today's deal is even better than getting a good view of a Formula One race. The Casanova Hotel in Barcelona has an F1 Racing Package that lets you do some of the driving. Yep, way better to risk your own life than just to watch someone else risk theirs (sorry, that was our mother talking).
The F1 Racing Package at Casanova gets you two nights' accommodation with breakfast and airport transfers, plus you get to race a Porsche Cayman around the Montmelo F1 track. Well, not exactly race but you do get to drive five fast laps, after getting a bit of training. Pay more and you can go for a Ferrari or a Lamborghini, if you prefer.
So if speed is the aim of your holiday, cough up your €1,185.56 (around US$1,800) and head to Barcelona. Yes, that's seriously the price they quote for the package, we're guessing because it includes some weird rate of VAT. You might find the 56 cents if you dig around under the back seat of the Porsche.
The other day it was Mexican-Japanese fusion, today it's "Mexiterranean" cuisine being cooked up by a hotel. Barcelona's Casanova Hotel, home to the Mexiterranee restaurant, is offering private gourmet food and wine tours that claim to bring together the best of Mexican, Catalan and Mediterranean ingredients.
Monica Guy, our own younger, blonder, more attractive but still curmudgeonly version of Andy Rooney has returned yet again. This time, she's giving us the lowdown on the Barcelona hotel scene. Enjoy.
The hippest hotel you've never heard of in Barcelona is the 124-room Casanova, love-child of the concept designer Samir Saab.
Saab's a funny character. His La Pleta Hotel in the Spanish Pyrenees is apparently a favourite of both the stern Spanish King Juan Carlos and the rather less stern Victoria Beckham. So we're on tenterhooks to know what to expect in this one.
The Casanova was there before - the building's been there since the 18th century - but Saab's come in to give the place a make-over. He's ripped up all the carpets, thrown anything soft or fluffy out of the window, spray-painted the floors, walls and furniture with shiny brown and black wood-polish and hired a complement of young, attractive, gel-haired, tight-assed staff to lure in the trendy crowd.
If you're hip enough to head to Barcelona (and let us tell you, according to some people that means pretty hip), then you're probably up for staying at the "newly re-fashioned hip and elegant" Casanova Hotel, along with the other "chic trendsetters and savvy urbanites who flock to Barcelona".
The opening-in-November Casanova is also proud of its many "firsts". Not only is it the first hotel in Barcelona to include solar panels, it's also the first with an indoor and outdoor garden spa, the first with an on-site choreographer who changes the restaurant theme and decor every month, and it's the first with a hotel restaurant offering Mexican-Catalan-Mediterranean fusion cuisine.
Despite sounding more than a bit too proud of its new self, the Casanova Hotel is worth a look. Rack rates start around $458 but they have a reopening special price of $190 per night in a double room, available for stays until March 2008.
The first designer hotel created for gay clientele is now seeking to become a chain.
The Axel Hotel in Barcelona opened in 2003 and construction has begun on the Axel Hotel Buenos Aires, set to open in 2007, making the hotel brand the first chain of gay hotels in the world.
Axel Hotel Buenos Aires will have 48 rooms, a restaurant, cocktail bar, chill out area, spa, garden with a pool and a solarium, outdoor bar, and wi-fi connection throughout the entire hotel.
Despite offering services aimed at gay men and women, the hotel says it can be hetero friendly too and guests agree--one even went to Axel with his parents!
However, another guest complained that the staff in Barcelona was "more interested in chatting to each other" than actually servicing customers.
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by jennm
The first designer hotel created for gay clientele is now seeking to become a chain.
