The afternoon was well under way by the time our bus rolled into Berga, the mornings hiking and that smashing lunch were now well behind us. Situated half way down the mountains Berga had a sleepy, one horse town sort of feel to it. But we weren’t there for horses… We were there for adventure – adventure in the form of Quad bikes!
(The company we were there with was called Indomit, they organise all sorts of adventurous activities and some pretty crazy ones too).
Now Georgie and I are no strangers to the ways of a quad, she used to have one and we’ve misspent many a day ripping fields apart with one – but this was set to be different. We were just outside a small town but even from there the landscape hinted at the possibility of fun, of hilly tracks and dirt roads. I do always have my doubts on group adventures like that though because It’s usually the case that a group is held back by it’s least experienced member, but hey, we didn’t pay for anything so I wasn’t about to say poke it!

We got a look at the four wheeled beauties and got sized up for safety gear. Our guide gave us a brief safety briefing and we paired off and plonked on a quad.
Georgie was up first with the driving so I just leaned back and enjoyed the ride like a Spanish Miss Daisy. As expected it was slightly slow going to begin with while everyone got used to things but as we rolled through the narrow streets of a nearby town everyone was beginning to loosen up and the quad bike procession was moving nicely… Georgie however was not happy with the pace and hung right back as to open a gap between us and the next quad, wait until there was room… And boot it, full throttle down the track. She did that plenty of times before the guide caught on and gave us a good old finger wave.

The track deteriorated into a forest and we got another brief briefing about keeping our distances as we entered the rough stuff… And away they roared, one by one into the forest. We were behind Nellie (Wild Junket) and Karen (Europe A La Carte) and as Nellie pulled onto the track bless her, the front wheel caught a rut and threw them right up the verge, they were balancing on two wheels and the thing was about ready to topple over onto Karen… I had to jump off our quad and go balance theirs quickly before they ended up wearing it!
By the time I’d helped them get it back down and ready to roll again the guide came running back all worried that there had been an incident of massive proportion or something… Over my shoulder Georgie was pulling some of the sweetest do-nuts I’ve seen for a long long time.
Crisis over Karen took the reigns and with slightly more caution we were off once again.

Once things got moving it was actually really fun, I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would and despite nearly being driven off one of the hills (I’ll mention no names) it turned out to be one of the best Quad rides I’ve ever been on. I don’t know if it was the hilly forest tracks (In Norfolk it’s as flat as a pancake) the quietly beautiful mountain scenery or the onset of a rather tasty sunset but by the time we got back to “The Ranch” everyone seemed full of it, whatever “it” is. I think despite not everyone liking the Quad bike adventure, they did however appreciate it and over some warming coffees the whole bunch of bloggers seemed to have bonded a great deal…

Quad Bike Adventures in Berga, Spain. was originally published by HappytimeBlog - Backpacking around the world - Backpacking travel blog

Spain happens to be one of those lucky countries that enjoys the best of all worlds, you’ve got the option of sunning it up on a beach or rolling in the snow. Sip coffee at a cosmopolitan cafe in Barcelona or get good and adventurous up in the mountains. Which leads me nicely to to what happened next in Catalonia… Adventure in the Bergueda mountains. It was yet another early morning for the intrepid bloggers and the previous nights epic buffet dinner was definitely not helping matters. To be honest it was beginning to rub a little, not starting dinner until 9 pm and then up at 7 am – but when the wine is flowing we aint the kind of cats to say no, the price – not much more than 6 hours sleep and a hangover every morning. But, nothing a spot of hiking in the snowy mountains wouldn’t fix…

We had stayed the night at El Montanya Resort, a plush spa resort hotel nestled in the north east region of Seva , Spain. After we’d finished up at the Barcelona cookery classes the previous day we jumped straight on the minibus and now it was time to do it all again. The bus dragged us slowly skywards and the landscape started to open up, I forget how high we actually were by the time we stepped off the bus… For two reasons: 1. The views were huge…

2. It was -10 below freezing…

I tried my best to roll a smoke before we set off hiking but the cold was chomping at my fingers and Georgie was raging about me not letting her pack her big jumper, rightly so under the circumstances. Still, the only way to warm things up was to get hiking. Our guide Albert Was a happy fellow all decked out in proper adventure gear with sticks to walk with and all sorts, this really didn’t inspire either me or Georgie with confidence because we’d just thrown on what we’d normally wear with a couple of extra T-shirts underneath. We set off and once the group had got up into the trees the wind was off us and the blood was pumping and things were warming up nicely. Hiking is something I always actually enjoy doing more than I think I would and up there on the snow covered hills of Bergueda it was all good. We were hiking for a few hours and probably because of the good company and the beautiful views of the Pyrenees Mountains the time seemed to fly by, it wasn’t a particularly demanding trek but it did have it’s rewards in the form of lunch at Els Roures, a hillside lodge that made the most of  locally grown mushrooms. We piled in the doors of the place after a short drive back down the mountains and the first thing that gets you is the huge fireplace that sits in the middle of the room… By huge I mean really huge, it has what I would call “trunk sections” not logs – actual large parts of a tree trunk!
As the warmth slowly found it’s way back into my life we were all handed a small shot glass sized cup and a spoon, it went by the name of hot chocolate but it didn’t look like it… It was literally hot chocolate, not coco… melted hot chocolate – the fire, the chocolate, I surrendered then and there to a life in the Bergueda mountains. What followed was nothing short of perfect, we were moved upstairs to a large room and the wine began to pour, the food began to arrive and what a feast it was. Every dish on the menu was traditional mountain grub and came with a side order of the locally grown mushrooms,  they even had mushroom liquor aperitifs, after working up a hiking hunker it was exactly what everyone needed and to be honest it was one of the best lunch’s that I’ve ever had!
Due to the amount of wine and mushroom liquor that was disappearing attentions turned to our afternoons adventure activity… Quad biking through the hills – were we still capable? I didn’t even care, I was warm, full and half cut.

Hiking in the Bergueda Mountains, Spain. was originally published by HappytimeBlog - Backpacking around the world - Backpacking travel blog

By the time we all left La Boqueria market we were frozen to the bone. It was a cold morning in Barcelona and being in amongst all the fresh fish on ice really didn’t help! Teresa, our guide from Cook & Taste (the little place where we were going to get Catalonian cookery classes) led us out into the sunshine of Les Rambles and back to Plaça de Sant Jaume,, then up another shady alley – everything in Barcelona seems to be up a little alley of some sort.

Cook & Taste is a small, modern studio with a large kitchen inside. The walls are bare stone, the kitchen is clean and simple and the whole place felt earthy and WARM! We were there for a reason though and that reason was thus: To cook up a storm like never before! We had our local produce and next it was time to roll up our sleeves and get a cookery lesson Catalan style.

We were handed a glass of wine and a menu… I was thinking -
“This is my kind of cookery class…. I’ll have the beef”
But no, on closer inspection it was indeed not a menu but a recipe – three recipes in fact.
To start – Pumpkin cream with crispy leek and cream cheese quenelle.
For main – Noodle Paella.
Dessert – Crema Catalana…

It was such a cosy little place and all the bloggers huddled round the kitchen listening attentively to Teresa as she told us a little about herself and her 20 years of experience in the cooking world… I don’t know if it was just me reacting to the warmth after being so cold but Teresa seemed to glow with a motherly assertiveness, a calmness that seemed contagious almost… Down to business, she put an apron on Keith (Velvet Escape) and got him chopping up pumpkins and veg while also getting other people started on other parts of other dishes… I must stress now that I am useless in a kitchen – in the cooking sense, when I’m in a kitchen I become bewildered and confused … Literally nothing makes sense. Luckily I have Georgie to take a bullet for me and when she looked down our end of the table for a frying volunteer I lurched back and Georgie got her pinnie on – her task: Fry prawns and noodles.
Once they were fried the rest of the ingredients were added to finish the Paella, somehow Georgie managed to take her eye off it and the unmistakable smell of burning food filled the air… At this point I would have broken down but Teresa (with her motherly glow and super cooking powers) stepped in and fixed it. She even managed to bring the Crema Catalana (I’ll mention no names) back after it had been turned to scrambled eggs!

After a good stroll around the market looking at all the fresh produce I for one was getting hungry and the great thing about cookery classes is the food has to be eaten afterwards. It was served up with yet another glass of wine and silence fell in the kitchen as we all got stuck in… It was awesome, I’m sure if Teresa had cooked it herself it would’ve been divine but for a bunch of bloggers we did alright!

Like I said I’m no cook but something about Barcelona brings out the foodie in even me, I do always enjoy cookery classes when I’m in a country that has good food though and ones teamed with a local market visit can’t be beaten – it’s a top way to learn a lot about a place and see things you might otherwise miss.

Experiencing Catalonia | Day 2 Cookery classes was originally published by HappytimeBlog - Backpacking around the world - Backpacking travel blog

The alarm clock might as well have been thrown at my head, 7:30 am was far to early for a man who had guzzled down as much wine as I had, I’m not really a hangover kind of chap but wine has always been my downfall and team that with a silly o clock start… Wha-La – Hangover! But there wasn’t time to dwell on it, Georgie was on top form and we had to pack our bags and get upstairs ASAP to make the most of the breakfast buffet.

The buffet at the B Hotel was fit for a king and since it was indeed my first European breakfast outside of the UK, I made sure I enjoyed both chocolate filled pastries and meat all on one plate. There was no time for seconds though, we had to get our crap out of our room, check out and hop on a minibus to Plaça de Sant Jaume, a large square near Les Rambles – Barcelona’s main walking street. The itinerary for the day was simple:

1. Buy the ingredients at La Boqueria Market.
2. Cook them at Cook & Taste.

The minibus dropped us at Plaça de Sant Jaume where we met Teresa from Cook & Taste, the place where we would later be learning to cook Catalan style. But first – The ingredients and where better to shop for fresh ingredients than at Barcelona’s most famous market La Boqueria Market. We strolled through the narrow streets towards Les Rambles which were buzzing with early morning activity, for me and Georgie at least, this was our first real glimpse of Barcelona. The buildings dripped character and the shop windows oozed style, the smell of fresh pastries and coffee found it’s way out of the many cafe’s and straight up my hooter… Even the graffiti had a certain flair. it was a freakishly cold morning (freakish for Barcelona so I’m told) and the shady alleys weren’t helping much, as we emerged onto the wide open Les Rambles all the bloggers made a dash for the sunshine that would envy any Olympic sprinter.

Teresa gave us the low down on the market and what we’d be buying and then let us loose, the first few stalls at the entrance were vegetables, meats and sweets, all vibrant and colourful – a superb photo opportunity that everyone got stuck into… A mad few minutes followed while everyone’s excitement took over and those stalls at the front were drowned in a blanket of camera flashes – like a tourist thunderstorm sweeping through. La Boqueria Market is luscious in every sense, I’ve been to plenty of wet markets in my time but none have ever made me wish that I actually lived nearby just so I could shop at them all the time, with so much achingly fresh produce it gave me the impression that if I shopped there all the time I’d be so healthy that I’d live to 150. We followed Teresa through the various sections of the market collecting the things we’d need, at each place she stopped she would give us a little info and sometimes a sample to chew on but to be honest nothing was sinking in. The market was so colourful, so lively, so authentic and indeed smelly (in a good way) that I had no spare senses to concentrate with, we really were experiencing Catalonia!
La Boqueria Market is rather cleverly set out and divided into various sections like meat, fish and vegetables but the fish one is where it’s at. Stacks of prawns and lobsters wriggle about, the smell of the sea is everywhere and the sound of big cleavers hacking through lumps of fresh fish fill the air. The market was busy with shoppers, tourists and traders alike and with such a large group, wherever we stopped we managed to cause an obstruction for someone.

We plodded on through the market and something struck me about the Catalonian people, I’d noticed that they carry themselves with in a certain way, they had a quiet confidence that I’d almost mistook for some sort of arrogance – maybe because we were a bunch of tourists or something? NO… that wasn’t it, it was pride… Barcelona is a beautiful city with a beautiful way of life weaved throughout, we’d hardly seen it really but it was clear already that the Catalans enjoy a certain way of life and the city is built around that… Not the other way round…

Just to be VERY clear, this was indeed a paid for press trip sponsored by the Department of Tourism for Catalonia and if you want to know more about the HAPPYTIMEBLOG disclosure policy and how we handle free stuff then have a peek at our new Disclosure page.

Experiencing Catalonia | Day 2 La Boqueria Market was originally published by HappytimeBlog - Backpacking around the world - Backpacking travel blog

As the wheels hit the tarmac in Barcelona we were already struggling with my usual time difference incompetence. Somehow id managed to underestimate the flight time and take the hour off, instead of add it on… Some things will never change.
We blundered through the doors and into the lobby at the B Hotel only twenty minutes late and by the looks of things the other bloggers had hardly noticed, they were all chatting away had a drink in hand. While Georgie checked in I popped over and introduced myself, to be honest it was a really bizarre experience. I’m used to seeing most of these people as a picture the size of a postage stamp but here they all were, life size and sipping drinks.

Me and G rushed upstairs to drop our bags off and quickly freshen up but our flashy room managed to distract us for yet another ten minutes. The B Hotel is a sleek, modern affair with rich dark wood, big sheets of glass and metal all over the shop (you know the sort) and as anyone who knows Georgie knows- luxury is like her catnip! (See Europe A La Carte For a proper review of the B Hotel, Also B Hotel is running their B389 offer until the end of January…)

Back downstairs we all sat in a circle and done an awkward little “get to know you” exercise where we all talk about our on-line identities and endeavours… Not my bag at all. personally, I keep all that geeky stuff under my hat… Like Batman and Bruce Wayne, I keep my on-line life secret to protect those around me… From falling asleep! It was however slightly liberating to be able to natter freely about such things with people who knew what I was on about, unfortunately Georgie hadn’t boned up on the technical side of blogging and was literally baffled.
We were herded through to the dining room where a large table had been carefully set out, grabbed a seat and the wine began to flow. The table chit chat soon turned to our still absent itinerary but Leticia and Amaia (the two organisers of the Catalonia Experience) weren’t giving anything away, it wasn’t a problem though because the food had started to appear and it looked proper tasty!
Being a Euro-virgin I somewhat naively assumed the grub would be pretty much the same as the UK, perhaps of better quality and finer ingredients… But what I wasn’t prepared for was the sheer size of the portions. The “starter” salad landed on the table in front of me and I instantly regretted eating two bread rolls… Honestly, I’ve seen less fresh produce in entire allotments! The wine poured and drank well, the food kept coming and I very quickly realised I was going to need a new hole in my belt for this trip.

Georgie and I stuffed ourselves stupid and I slipped outside for a sensation of the smoky kind, not long after Georgie also found her way outside. Although all the food and wine had loosened the conversation, the main topic was still blogging and a few people had asked Georgie a few questions which were well above her station… She made a quick exit under the cloak of also being a smoker to come out and probe me for a quick blogging lesson… I smoked and Georgie crammed.

I should probably use this opportunity to explain, to those who don’t know, Georgie’s position in regards to the blog and how it wouldn’t work without her… What normally happens is thus: Georgie wakes up with an idea in her head, one of those ideas that most people never ever have, she presents the idea “at” me,
“Aaron! Lets go to Bac Ha market. I will be all hill-tribey and stuff and we can buy some hill tribe clothes and drink some Vietnamese coffee…”
What I do is hone the idea into something possible and work out how it can be done, which normally involves mucho mucho effort, guessing and plenty of luck. But in the end we find ourselves in places and with people that others just don’t see, this is when phase two of Georgie takes over – she busts out the video camera and that’s when the magic happens. So I suppose Georgie’s official Happytimeblog title would be “Director of Creative ideas and  moving pictures” (you can read more about both of us and what we do on our about page).

Cramming and smoking session over we retreated back to the dining room for the grand unveiling of the itinerary. We were all handed small briefcase like bags containing handfuls of leaflets and literature about various places around Barcelona before Leticia Got started on the good stuff:
Day 2:
-Shopping for ingredients at La Bouqueria Market, Barcelona.
-Cooking up the ingredients in traditional Catalan style at Cook & Taste.
-Bus ride to El Montanyà Spa Resort, Seva.
-Relax and enjoy the Spa.

Day 3:
-Hike in the Bergueda Mountains.
-Lunch at Els Roures, Castellar del Riu, Berga.
-Quad bike excursion.
-Back to B Hotel, Barcelona.
-Dinner at La Vinoteca Torres

Day 4:
-Segway tour of Barcelona’s Gothic quarter.
So with that dinner was cleared away and a select few made a  beeline for the bar. Despite the early rise the following morning Nellie (from Wild Junket) was hell bent on hitting the town so the last few sensible people made their excuses and went off to bed while we rapped up warm and wandered up Grand Vie. A few steps outside the hotel we realised Nellie had also thought better of it and slipped off to bed too… Undeterred Georgie, Rich (Brilliant Trips), Keith (Velvet Escapes) and I found a nice little cafe with some smoked meats hanging on the walls and went in for a beer. Somewhere around 1am the place started to fill with locals who were only just sitting down to eat but the beer had started to hang heavy on the Catalonia Experience Crew so we strutted back to the hotel to pack our bags ready for day numero two…

Just to be VERY clear, this was indeed a paid for press trip sponsored by the Department of Tourism for Catalonia and if you want to know more about the HAPPYTIMEBLOG disclosure policy and how we handle free stuff then have a peek at our new Disclosure page.

Experiencing Catalonia | Day 1 Barcelona was originally published by HappytimeBlog - Backpacking around the world - Backpacking travel blog

So far so good… As you may or may not, but should know, Georgie, I and a bunch of other travel bloggers are discovering Catalonia thanks to the Catalonia Experience and Catalonia’s tourist board. We haven’t stopped since we landed yesterday in Barcelona and there are no real signs of it happening any time soon. The itinerary that was kept hush hush until everyone had arrived and sat down for dinner has turned out to be crammed and a spare minute to tickle the keys has yet eluded me. But just to wet your whistle, below is all the Tweets from the hashtag #catexp which is what everyone here is using to Tweet from road.
What’s more there’s also a picture gallery from our morning at La Boqueria Market in Barcelona and our cookery class misadventures at Cook and Taste.

Barcelona

More to follow soon but for now we need to get our heads down in preparation for the snowy hike in the morning…

Tweets from all the bloggers here and those using the hastag #catexp:

The Catalonia Experience day one was originally published by HappytimeBlog - Backpacking around the world - Backpacking travel blog