Before I arrived, I knew that the five-star Hotel Mirador de Dalt Vila had just recently opened its doors for business, but I didn’t realize how recently. “You’re our first guest!” I was enthusiastically informed after the complimentary hotel van delivered me from the ferry. It came to pass that…

In a few hours I will climb into a couchette on the night train to Madrid, bringing to a close my week of trudging around Barcelona with all six pockets of my cargo shorts ludicrously over-filled with various journalist battery-powered gadgets, maps, pamphlets and breath mints. These shorts are an…

Well, it’s been another rough week in paradise. I’ve suffered through four nights of five star treatment (in three different hotels). Sadly, tomorrow I am downgraded to a four star business hotel in Barcelona’s decidedly uncool and un-centrally located financial district. Woe is me. As I write this, I am…