My perfect day in Barcelona, assuming it’s a weekend, as I am lucky in that I love my job, inevitably begins with an early morning wake-up call from my apricot Shar Pei, Coco, whose mission in life is to make sure that I never sleep in. She is efficient in achieving her goal, due mainly to an irresistible combination of a very sweet, yet persuasive personality and an adorable, smushy little face.

Coco, Charlotte’s Shar Pei, with her ‘smushy little face’

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My name is Mat, I’m 39yrs old and I live in Southampton. (I moved down here from South of London 20yrs ago and have stayed ever since).

My first trip to Barcelona was for La Noche Vieja (New Year’s Eve) in 2004. It was around this time that the “no frills” airline boom really started to take off (no pun intended), and quite a number of my then work colleagues booked short breaks to Barcelona via Ryanair’s  Bournemouth to Girona service.

Tying in with this my family normally had a couple of nights somewhere in the UK or France for NYE, so given the great things my work colleagues said about Barcelona I suggested to the family we went to Barcelona… and that’s where my 10yr (ok, its 11yrs and counting) obsession with Barcelona started.

View from the Museu d’Història de Catalunya

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“Well! To think of a perfect day in Barcelona isn’t difficult at all. It would all start with one of its many sunny days in which from 7 in the morning, the sun, without asking permission, gets into your bed and invites you to start your day.

I live in the ‘high’ part of Barcelona, and it’s so called because it’s where the peak of the mountain starts. If you continue going up you reach El Tibidabo from where you get the best views of Barcelona and you can also enjoy an aperitif at Mirablau or Mirabe. Read the rest of this article…