Barcelona Hostal Residencia Australia, Barcelona Travel guide
Hostal Residencia Australia shares with you tips and news to make your stay in Barcelona a memorable and unique experience.

 



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  Monday, August 3, 2009


Dear Friends

I have had a lot of work this year and have not had much time to catch up on my blog.

The reason is that I have been concentrating on my new CD.

I will be travelling to Los Angeles this coming weekend to finish it up.

The hostal will remain open and my friend Mioa will be in charge,.

The new cd features me Thomas Lorenzo on spanish electric guitars, Walfredo Reyes( Santana) on drums, David Garfield ( Toto) on keys and Alphonso Johnson ( Weather Report) on upright bass.

The cd will be recorded at Westlake Studios in L.A by recording engineer Bruce Sugar (Ringo Star). The room where is it recorded is the same studio where Michael Jackson recorded Thriller. Yes the result is spectacular and I am very proud of it.

I must say thank you to Hostal Australia and all of the guests and friends we have had over the last years. Thanks to all of you as this has allowed me to sit at home comfortably and play the guitar inbetween check ins and your questions. I am now very proud of the musicianship I have achcieved,.

I would not have been able to accomplish this task with out you all.

I have needed a few years of my life to sit down and reflect on my pro´s and cons and develop my music accordingly.

So now I have a gift that I would like to share with you all.

The music will soon be on ITUNES but I would say that around the beginning of September you can get a glimpse of it on www.barcelonamusic.info

Thomas Lorenzo
10:53:14 AM    comment []


  Saturday, May 23, 2009


Things to do outside the city involving drinking wine, do not feel guilty as this is a cultural experience and you might remember afterwards something of what you have learnt.

I have a book with over 50 organised suggestions for wine tasting outside Barcelona.

These two are today[base ']s selection

This one sounds like fun.

. Tourism and cycling and in between glasses of wine

You must take a helmet with you as I am sure you will fall of the bike, also get yourself a good accident insurance, and take a dark marker and a big map so you will not forget how to cycle back home. This alcoholic exercise can be found at winepleasure.com

You will tour the Penedes region, by bike, this region is right next to Barcelona, and of course behind you in a car you will have permanent assistance and they will organise for you all the necessary catering accommodation etch.

The cost is around 175 euros.

As a tip I would take with me 5 or 6 water flasks and fill them up with wine when the winepleasures.com people are not looking.

This penedes region is fairly flat so do not worry about heavy breathing.

This is a cheap one.

For 4 euros visit the famous Alella Marfil wine cellar constructed in 1906 by the modernists architect (yes gaudi was not the only one) called Jeroni Martorell. Alella is very close to Barcelona.

They will explain to you all the secrets of wine production and tasting. The wine they make is a very special wine called DO alella.

They will let you taste the wine.

I am sure you will want more and buy a bottle of this white wine.

For more info visit> www.alellaviñicola.com

Well its time to go.
8:41:35 PM    comment []


  Friday, May 15, 2009


Barcelona Today.

Barcelona has had the privilege to have a real booming tourist industry.

This can be due to the history and past of the city that has made it what it is now days.

In Spain people do not have the foresight that predict alarms before they occur.

The city is falling.

Too many tourists, too many hotels, too many marketing schemes to take advantage of the travellers needs.

They invest in infrastructure for the tourist but forget to develop what the traveller has come to the city for.

Yes the past is here, the history but we have to develop the present so there can be a newer past in the future.

So what do we end up with?, Thousand s of tourists looking at thousands of tourists.

Where re the locals?

Where did they go?

Where are the Catalan people?

Why can I only see tourists in the centre?

This is very sad. The ramblas and its surroundings are decaying once more to what we had before the Olympic games: prostitution, theft, pickpockets, gambling.

The authorities only act severely before Election Day and maybe will pass by laws to stop these things from happening.

But why are they happening?

Is it not because of the greed of the locals that have imported cheap labour to harvest and planet the seeds of the now declining construction industry?

Yes people have been very greedy, exploiting others for personal wealth and meanwhile no one has invested enough in the future and we have thousands of immigrants without work and in need.

I suppose the new flu is a way of distracting our attention from the upcoming problems we will have soon.
7:13:35 AM    comment []


  Friday, May 1, 2009


Ok its time for my selection of restaurants that serves modern cuisine and contributes to the innovation of Catalan cooking. In Catalan this type of cooking is called cocina de autor.

These restaurants are a bit more expensive than other restaurants and they are the places where one will look for the quality of the food, the décor, the service and not the quantity.

They specialize in offering a cuisine that is very personalized in the way it looks and the way it tastes.

Wow this is making me hungry, please excuse me while I go the kitchen and eat an apple.

Hello I am back.

So let[base ']s start the adventure.

Note: I am a musician. I find it sad that Catalan society states this type of cuisine as an artistic expression giving it more value than arts in general.

I suppose the taste buds are easier to understand than subjective emotions based on the input of other[base ']s emotions.

Very very sad,.

Anyway they are worth a visit.

Restaurant La Mifanera, Sagués 16, Tel 932405912 Roger Martinez, the chef prepares a selection of rices from all over the world and also a good selection of Spanish rice, paella etch. - There is especial menu of three courses for 30 euros.

Restaurant Santa Maria on Comerc 17, T. 933121227 The chef Paco Guzman travels a lot and always has new ideas for creative tapas. Price 20 - 30 Euros

Restaurant Manairo on Diputació, 424. 93 231 00 57 Price around 58 Euros Even though you can have a daily menu for 35 Euros. Jorid Herrera, the chef does creative Catalan cooking Recommended by Michelin.

These four restaurants should get your taste buds excited.
12:56:45 PM    comment []


  Saturday, April 25, 2009


Good morning from Barcelona

It is 9 am and we have a beautiful sunny day in the city.

I just went for a stroll down to the beach for a nice morning coffee.

What a pleasure to feel the morning breeze on your skin.

There were a few humans passed out on the beach and surroundings very well dressed up, with a lot of clothes I suppose they were resting from the excitement of seeing the sunrise.

At a local café I just ordered a coffee and I saw a customer asking for a donut, Donut is a registered trademark in Spain and they make just single plain donuts.

Well the novelty is that they all now come in a single hard plastic package to ensure freshness,

The customer was surprised by this 21st century innovation.

I left 5 minutes later and the customer and barmen were still figuring out how to open the doughnut[base ']s packaging in a gentle manner that would preserve the donut.

I must say that this week we have had very nice guests. I have to say thank you to a nice gentlemen that stayed with us for a few days.

I am a Mac user, we are minority in Spain, Well this gentleman used up his free holiday time to give me his Mac free ware and share ware and explain it all to me.

This is service a friend would give to a friend, to a very good friend, It is very nice to see that people give for the pleasure of giving without expecting nothing in return,

Yes there is hope for Mankind. Thank you mr mac.
9:40:21 AM    comment []


Good morning from Barcelona

It is 9 am and we have a beautiful sunny day in the city.

I just went for a stroll down to the beach for a nice morning coffee.

What a pleasure to feel the morning breeze on your skin.

There were a few humans passed out on the beach and surroundings very well dressed up, with a lot of clothes I suppose they were resting from the excitement of seeing the sunrise.

At a local café I just ordered a coffee and I saw a customer asking for a donut, Donut is a registered trademark in Spain and they make just single plain donuts.

Well the novelty is that they all now come in a single hard plastic package to ensure freshness,

The customer was surprised by this 21st century innovation.

I left 5 minutes later and the customer and barmen were still figuring out how to open the doughnut[base ']s packaging in a gentle manner that would preserve the donut.

I must say that this week we have had very nice guests. I have to say thank you to a nice gentlemen that stayed with us for a few days.

I am a Mac user, we are minority in Spain, Well this gentleman used up his free holiday time to give me his Mac free ware and share ware and explain it all to me.

This is service a friend would give to a friend, to a very good friend, It is very nice to see that people give for the pleasure of giving without expecting nothing in return,

Yes there is hope for Mankind. Thank you mr mac.
9:40:16 AM    comment []


  Monday, April 13, 2009


What is hospitality?

A guest recently stated we were an establishment for the non-anonymous.

This is an interesting statement.

Since we are very small and there a re few places like ours I must conclude that the majority of travellers like to be anonymous even though every one can see them, hear them and smell them,

Big hotels are for the anonymous.

I wonder if this is true or deep down every one would like to stay in a place where they feel at home.

I have also been pleasantly surprised by a number of very special guests that we have had this week. None of them are famous but each of them is unique and a little gem that helps add a grain of hope to this society.

A guest from France that lives in a city that was populated by Spanish republicans and refugees from the Spanish war. These republicans fought later for the French resistance and they were the first troops to liberate Paris at the end of World War two.

France does not recognise such but here we have a French citizen that has come to the city to pay tribute to the freedom fighters of her country,

This is nice.

We also had for a week a very very old lady in her 80 s travelling a lone around the world.

When you get to that age and your are fit to enjoy life then the no worries sign pops, stays up and you never see worries where they are not.

We must learn form the elderly, true wisdom. She saw my cat and called her fat sausage. True Wisdom.

The cats loves this name.
9:31:10 AM    comment []


  Monday, March 30, 2009


Good news

The crisis has led to a more rational use of cars in the city.

There is not that much traffic, it is quieter, more relaxed less pollution, healthier, It feels better this way.

This fits with the sharp drop in traffic in Barcelona. In the last quarter of 2008 the number of vehicles driven by Barcelona has dropped by 5.2%. A reduction in full tune with the decrease in traffic on the highways or the collection of revenue from sales and fuel taxes. There are some gas stations in the city who have seen their incomes have fallen by 30%, according to a spokesman for the guild.

Bad news for the town council, they are not recollecting money from traffic fines, car parks, and tow aways.

So the municipal tax system also depends on the contemporary greed of consumer.

So the objective is for the consumer to spend more that way the tax system will have more money to spend so we can consume more and round we go again.

This does sound silly.

So we have to start to learn to live with less.

Other good news.

People are going to loose wait and live longer,

People now have to walk or cycle. In other words I do hope this will mean we will all live longer.

So another way of seeing things is that we will be able to consume the same as we have always been only over a longer life span.

So no worries.

Patience is part of the solution.

Also with the exercise we will all be happier and enjoy having less. So we have found the solution for weight loss and happiness.

Crisis is a good opportunity for buying a cheap house in Spain.

Prices still have not dropped a lot but I think they will since families are running out of money.
11:10:40 AM    comment []



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