Northwest of Barcelona is Catalonia's most beautiful mountain retreat. Montserrat is a multi-peaked, jagged mountain range famous for its unique rock formations, monastery, and national park. Montserrat literally means “saw mountain” in Catalan. When viewed from afar, it does look serrated and reminds one of the carpenter's tool. It has three main peaks – Sant Jeroni, Montgros, and Miranda de las Aguilles. It is also Spain’s first national park. People visit Montserrat for v

We headed to the heart of Barcelona’s Las Ramblas district. I write it in the plural because this 1.2-kilometer tree-lined street in central Barcelona is actually a series of shorter streets, each with its own identity – Rambla de Canaletes (named after its iconic fountain), Rambla des Estudis (because this was the site of a former Jesuit university), Rambla de Sant Josep or Rambla de les Flors (named after its flower market), Rambla dels Caputxins (because this was the site

No visit to Spain would be complete without having one of its quintessential dishes: paella . Purists say the Valencian version is the authentic one, but every region in Spain carries its own unique rendition of this iconic dish. Since Spanish restaurants are hard to come by in the city where I currently reside, I took advantage of the fact that I was in Spain. Hence, I tried to eat paella whenever I had the chance. The ones we had in Burgos were indeed delightful and I cou

If there is one regret that I have about my trip to Barcelona, it's the fact that I did not get the chance to see the interior of the famed La Sagrada Familia, a monumental church dedicated to the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. I know, I know...you are probably thinking what a big mistake that was because it's THAT one place you should NOT miss when in the city. It is considered Barcelona's crown jewel! Some even say it is practically illegal to go to Barcelona witho