La Cervesera Artesana
The name (meaning “Craft Beer House”) may seem rather obvious, but they wear it proudly as this beer house was one of the first brewpubs in town to sport the “craft” label. Through glass panes you can see how they make seven types of Iberian beer, the brand adopted by the first microbrewery in Barcelona, dating from 1993. Their drinks are served on the premises and range from a stout to an acclaimed spicy beer. They went to Facebook to ask their customers which new variety they should bring out and the winning suggestion was a chilli beer. They’re working on it. They offer many others, too. The brewery, in the lower part of Gràcia, always has an upbeat atmosphere.

Homo Sibaris
Guillem Laporta is one of the beer activists with the most pedigree in Barcelona and his beer house, Homo Sibaris, is proof of the knowledge he has acquired. It is also one of the city’s most inviting beer cellars. Located in the picturesque Plaza Osca in the Sants district, its battery of handpumps has recently been augmented to fourteen. The brews that emerge from their spouts are made by Guillem himself (he has just crafted a bitter which is going to be the talk of the town!), in addition to other hard-to-find craft beers from around the world. Take a seat at one of their tables, or on the terrace, browse through the menu you will be handed, ask the staff and let them guide you. They always get it right.

Biercab
When Manuel Baltasar was deciding what type of beer house to open with his friends, he realised that good company was an essential element. Good company in the project – his partners include a beer distributor, a craft brewery in Navarre (Naparbier) and a master brewer from Belgium, Sven Bosch. And good company at the tables in his brewpub, located in the middle of the Eixample district. The tapas menu at BierCab is designed to pair well with their beers.Chef Ronald García prepares the dishes, notably ceviche de corvina (sea bass lemon-and-garlic marinade) with tiger’s milk, and sea bass sashimi with yellow ají sauce. Even non-beer drinkers ought to taste them, although stepping into BierCab without trying a single beer would be riotous. They have over 600 varieties, many of them Catalan, bearing in mind that these climes are now gripped with beer fever. “The best thing here is that everyone can find their own beer style”, Manuel promises.

Blacklab & Kitchen
Jing Cheng and Matt Bader met while studying architecture in Chicago and, after graduating, settled in Barcelona. A few years later, they turned their passion into a profession, setting up a brewhouse in the Palau de Mar, in the Barceloneta. Everything there is reminiscent of what they loved about the USA – the natural beers that Matt makes, the kitchen – they serve up hamburgers, sandwiches and soups, but tend to recommend the chicken wings and pulled pork buns – and even the gigs held on Saturday evening. Customers eat and drink among tanks where the house beers are fermented. They come in a thousand different styles and always feature some new creation.

Abirradero
Craft brewers inevitably treat their profession as a vocation, and they emerge relatively late in life at that. The triumvirate at Abirradero, in Poble-sec, bear this out, as it is made up of Nereo Garbi, a former publisher, Daniel Fermún, an IT technician, and Ivò Castells, a telecoms graduate. Half of the beers they list are their own creation, some in rather bizarre styles. With the assistance of journalist Sergi Bayó, they have even adapted the periodic table of elements to beer, to help newcomers discover the infinite diversity of this world. Accompanied by tapas designed to pair well with the beverage, a dinner at Abirradero will reveal the endless culinary possibilities of beer.

Book your Vueling to Barcelona and gear up to savour the finest craft beers in town.

Text by Josep Sucarrats of Gastronomistas

Illustration by Pep Boatella pepboatella.com

Panenka, a soccer magazine anyone can read, transports us to other countries through their passion for the sport. This time they take us to the German capital where they show us their perfect eleven, both for those places related to the football game and for those touristic places.

SPORTING ELEVEN

1 Olympiastadion | Scenario where Jesse Owens gave four Olympic slapping to Adolf Hitler . It is worth just for this.
2 Alte Pumpe | A statue recalls here the old and charming Hertha stadium before the division of the city in August 1961.
3 Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark |One ‘national’ stadium -that of the GDR, which was next to an international border- the Wall.
4 Alten Försterei | Fans of Union, Eastern rebel team, collectively and selflessly renewed this stadium of Bundesliga 2.
5 Dynamo | Miiss its past as a regime’s club. Instead of communist bureaucrats, now neo-Nazi fans support it at 9th Division.
6 Karl-Marx-Allee | On Good bye Lenin the reunified city celebrates 90′s Football World Championship in this avenue of Stalinist architecture.
7 Hanne am Zoo | Run by a Hertha and Bayern’s former central defender, this bar was here until it closed in 2010. One of the references for lots of football fans
8 Puerta de Brandeburgo | Every May hosts a massive party to mark the end of the German Cup (DFB Pokal).
9 Columna de la Victoria | The first thing that crossed the 40,000 participants in the Berlin Marathon, ideal for brand.
10 Germania 1888 | It proclaims the oldest football club in Germany. He has not done much in the past 125 years. Just survive.
11 Charlottenburg | Bourgeois neighborhood where Jerome Boateng grew.However, Kevin-Prince matured in Wedding, far more screwed.

TOURISTIC ELEVEN

A Potsdamer Platz |No Man’s Land during the Cold War, is now the city center. Houses the Berlinale in February.
B Unterwelt | World War II devastated 50% of the city. On this metro station you will visit one claustrophobic shelter.
C Alexanderplatz | The television tower, the tallest building in Berlin and fleeting vestige of the strength of the GDR in the 70s.
D Normanstrasse | Another memory of that country that no longer exists is the headquarters of the Stasi: it scares as much as Life of the others.
E Friedrichshain | Techno clubs at night and indie markets during the day. It is the youngest district in the youngest capital of Europe.
F Wansee | Who says that Berlin has no beach? In summer, the lake Wannsee are crammed, though green water no invite to swim.
G Carnaval de las Culturas | In May, the city explodes with the color and warmth of the multiethnic Carnival. Winter is over.
H Kreuzberg | A neighborhood that seems Istanbul, and holds a pretty cheap food market on Thursdays .
I Tempelhof | Old airport that nurtured Berliners during the 1948 air blockade decreed by Stalin.
J Club der Visionäre | Drink summer nights relaxed in this bar’s garden, in a bend of the Spree.
K PrenzlauerBerg | Frenchified streets full of small cafes and designer shops. More cool, impossible.Ilustración de Pep Boatella pepboatella.com

Makes you want to go, right? Do it! Check out our prices here! 

“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life”, Samuel Johnson once said. To paraphrase the celebrated writer, we can highly recommend delving into some of the outlandish activities that could only take place north-east of the Thames.

A Café that Only Sells Cereals

What can I tell you about the latest major hipster phenomenon in London that you don’t already know?

It looked like they had finally got rid of them. Around a hundred anarchists from the activist group, Class War, who set out to combat inequality, attacked the Cereal Killer Café last September. However, not only has the establishment emerged unscathed from the attack, it continues to draw long queues of patrons at its front door. How long the truce holds remains to be seen, although what on earth could be more innocuous than a Chocapics seller? Problem is, the 5-euro bowls of cereal in this unique café have grown into a symbol of the drama of gentrification besetting London.

However, you are sure to find so many cereal combinations that you’ll be able to eat for months without repeating any of them. They offer no fewer than 100 cereal varieties, 12 types of milk and 20 different toppings!

Here is the statement which Class War put out when calling for action against Cereal Killer Café:

“Our communities are being ripped apart – by Russian oligarchs, Saudi Sheiks, Israeli scumbag property developers, Texan oil-money twats and our own home-grown Eton toffs.

Local authorities are coining it in, in a short-sighted race for cash by regenerating social housing. We don't want luxury flats that no one can afford, we want genuinely affordable housing. We don't want pop-up gin bars or brioche buns – we want community.

Soon this City will be an unrecognizable, bland, yuppie infested wasteland with no room for normal (and not so normal) people like us. London is our home. Working class people are being forced out of our homes but we won't go out without a fight."

Protest video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhUT2YDDa6Q

The Hot Tub Cinema

40 degrees and oodles of champagne! Welcome to the most bizarre cinema in all London… the Hot Tub Cinema!

The intrepid cinema-goers daring enough to plunge into this unforgettable experience can choose from a host of inflatable tubs set out on the rooftop of the former Shoreditch station.

The dress-code, as you can imagine, is a bathing suit. But, if you really want to fit the occasion, the thing is to sport a 90s swimming costume, as only classics are shown in this cinema.

And, here goes the lowdown you were all waiting for… yes, the hot tubs are communal, and can hold up to six people!

A Cat Café

Walking into Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium is like stepping into the Internet. This is London’s first ever cat café, the haunts of twelve friendly feline creatures, all rescued from sanctuaries. The venue is in the popularBrick Laneprecinct and is becoming all the rage, so much so that you are advised to book ahead. Otherwise, you would be hard put to find a free table.

Perfect Your Zumba in the Neighbourhood Church

Think you could tone your gluteal muscles while purifying your spirit? Could there be any better form of redemption than to practise Zumba in a church? For those of you who have lost their faith, for further information, see here.

I bet you are taken aback by these proposals. But, there’s more to come, although we’ll leave that for another post. If you want to see it for yourself, starting packing your bags and check out our flights here.

Text and images by Isa Roldán for ISABELYLUIS Comunicación

Surfing, which is attracting more and more enthusiasts, reaches its most exciting extreme when it comes to big waves, where man pits his strength and skill against the crude forces of nature unleashed. The Basque seaboard boasts a good number of these waves – well known to surfers – all less than an hour’s drive from Loiu airport.

One of the stars of this sport and speciality is Axi Muniain, a professional big-wave surfer and five-time finalist in the XXL Big Wave Awards, the equivalent of surfing Oscars. Regarded by many as a radical, innovative surfer, he has sailed the seven seas in search of the world’s biggest wave, earning him the nickname of “The Wave Hunter”. Axi says that “in the Basque Country the vast majority of big waves have the added danger of being near the coast – a rugged coastline with deep water where risk-taking increases. The waves are not as tubular as in Jaws or Mavericks. While similar in size, the proximity of the shoreline poses an added risk. But there are also some safe waves on large sandy beaches. The coast is full of contrasts, often with difficult access routes, which means it is not crowded. But, on the other hand, it makes rescue operations more difficult. The Basque Country and its big waves are for real pros.”

Signature Basque Big Waves

Meñakoz: This cove, situated between the municipalities of Sopelana and Barrika, attracts many of the bravest surfers in the world. Its right-handers are some of the most powerful in the Cantabrian Sea and are considered to be the mightiest on the Basque coast. Big and well-formed, the wave can reach a height of 8 metres. Be sure to have a birra in their beach hut as the sea views from above are spectacular.

Punta Galea: Included in the Big Wave World Tour, it is located in the municipality of Getxo. The wave, which forms near the mouth of Bilbao harbour, is as powerful as it is dangerous.

Izaro: Legend has it that this beautiful island was the setting for a passionate love affair between a monk from the local monastery and a beautiful young woman from Bermeo, somewhere in the 15th century. Located opposite Bermeo and Mundaka, it packs a wave which reach up to 9 metres.

Roka Puta: An excellent big wave – a powerful right-hander which can get up to 6 metres. Some of Spain’s best big-wave hellmen have honed their skills on it.

Sorgin-Zulo: This wave on Deba beach packs a huge mass of water. It is difficult to see the swell forming but, once up, it is unique. Said to be one of the largest and strongest on the Basque coastline, it can grow to a height of 5 metres. The rocky and sandy seabed makes it even more dangerous.

Playa Gris: Between the picturesque towns of Zumaia and Getaria, this is Europe’s most international and media-friendly wave, with numerous nominations in theXXL Big Wave Awards.

Agiti: A difficult – if not, impossible – wave to surf as it breaks near a cliff face, so one mistake can be fatal. Needless to say, anyone brave enough to ride it will get an amazing adrenalin rush.

All these big waves are, of course, set against the backdrop of stunning scenery along the Basque coast and the area also offers restaurants, bars and beach huts with magnificent cuisine.

Fancy seeing them for yourself? Hurry and book your Vueling to Bilbao.

Text by Tensi Sánchez of ilovebilbao.com

Images by Greg Rabejac and Ritxi Goya