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ABOUT ME

GET TO KNOW YOUR TOURGUIDE!

“I am born in Barcelona, and I have been always in love with my city. I had great teachers in high school that transferred to me their passion for our history and architecture, and they encouraged me to never stop reading and learning about Barcelona.”

☺ Click here for a tale that expresses beautifully my professional philosophy!

TRAINING

LANGUAGES

WORK EXPERIENCE

CHILDREN & NATURE

SKILLS

INTERESTS

I'm a Barcelona NATIVE and CERTIFIED tourguide. My clients say I'm very knowledgeable and professional, but also FUN, welcoming and caring for the details. I have been always IN LOVE with my city, since my high school years when a couple of great teachers passed me their PASSION for our history and architecture.

Although I look younger than I am (thanks to my mother's genes!), I started giving tours in 2000 when I passed the exam to be an official local tourguide. Little earlier I got hired at the Sagrada Familia Church, Gaudí's masterpiece, to be one of their protocol tourguides. I worked there for 2.5 before I quitted to become a FULLTIME FREELANCE tourguide. Since then I've worked for some of the BEST local travel agencies and few LUXURY and GOURMET US agencies, and the concierges at the TOP Barcelona hotels (Arts, Casa Fuster, Florida...) know me well. Also those at the new hotels recently open such as W and Mandarin are starting to find my face familiar too!

I've SPECIALIZED IN PRIVATE TOURS for couples, families and small groups traveling together (friends or coworkers), in the city and AROUND CATALONIA, and I love it! Having different people every day forces me to deliver a DIFFERENT itinerary everyday, and to adapt my explanations to different interests and styles. I've learnt to be PERSONABLE and adaptable, and I've got now many resources to make my tours FLOW.

This is why I've received many thank you letters, old clients often refer me to other people and even some of them have become friends.

I'm also very VERSATILE: I'm one of the few certified tourguides offering EPICUREAN tours (markets, food stores, tapas tours...), I can also give GARDEN tours (my grandmother passed me her love for nature), and I've got also a lot of experience showing the local JEWISH heritage.

My job also allows me to feel the CITY HEARTBEAT and be on the loop on what's up in town. And I love SHARING it with my clients! I know all the little cozy cafés, and all the chocolate and cakes stores in town, and I have a long list of favorite restaurants of all kinds!

I personally move around the city by subway and bus, but I'm used to giving tours on taxi or with drivers, so I know all the shortcuts and how to move around the city EFFICIENTLY, so we make the most out of our time together.

Also, as a certified guide I'm allowed to SKIP THE LINES to enter museums and other sites. That saves a lot of time, and in some places we'll even be given a reduced tourguide fee!

I'm a TRAVELLER that has been to many countries in Europe (France, England, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Croatia, Russia...), the US (Florida, California and NYC) and the Middle East (Turkey, Jordan, Syria). And many more places are still in my wish list!

So I know what it is to be in a foreign country where you might not speak the language nor know much about the customs. And I know sometimes you want to see as much as possible, but sometimes you can be tired, sometimes you want to learn as much as possible about a place and sometimes you just need to get the feel of it. I've developed an ability to be sensitive about people's wishes and concerns, their energy levels and SAFETY.

And I know that when I travel I also don't want to feel like a tourist but rather like a traveler and I want to INTERACT with the locals and get in touch with their world so it might start feeling a bit like being home.

That's what I always try to give to my clients, and I've become quite EMPATHIC: I'm good at grasping my clients needs and giving them what they really want. Because there is a Barcelona for every visitor!

OFFICIAL TRAINING

- 2000. Official Guide of Catalonia License, by the Tourism Department of the Generalitat de Catalunya.

- 1995-98. Degree in Translation and Interpretation (French, Russian and Italian) by the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Since I became a private tourguide I have kept recycling my knowledge either reading books, going to seminars or attending to specialty guided tours. The winter, when the tourist season is low, is the best time to do that!

LANGUAGE SKILLS

√ Mother tongues: Spanish and Catalan.

√ Fluent in English. Courses taken in several local language schools, and the Miami Dade community college (USA). In 1998 I passed my English Proficiency Exam, by the Cambridge University.

√ Fluent in French. Courses taken in the Barcelona Autonomous University, the Institut Français de Barcelone and the École des Roches (Paris).

√ Fluent in Italian. Courses taken in the Barcelona Autonomous University and the Official Language School of Barcelona.

√ Advanced level of Russian (but sorry, not fluent enough to offer tours in this language). Courses taken in the Barcelona Autonomous University, the Official Language School of Barcelona, the Pushkin Institute of Moscow and the Saint Petersburg State University (Russia).

WORK EXPERIENCE

Giving tours since 2000!

☼ After university I spent one year traveling, and when I came back I got a job as part of the Information staff of the Sagrada Família, the unfinished Gaudí church and the most visited monument in Barcelona. As well as helping the visitors, my responsibilities included giving private tours to personalities, press and special guests. I worked there for almost three years, enjoying the company of employees who had spent a large part of their lives in such an amazing building, and appreciating the advice and explanations of the architects that are continuing the works. Having the chance of discovering the amazing Gaudí world from its insides has been one of the best experiences in my life.

☼ After I passed the official exam to be able to work as a tour guide in the city, I started working as a fulltime freelance tourguide. My clients are local and American travel agencies, cruise ships, five-star hotels and international corporation, but I’m becoming more and more focused on private tours for individuals. Among my clients stand out tourism agencies such as Icono Serveis Culturals (Barcelona Online, Hotel Arts Ritz-Carlton, City Council of Barcelona...), Miki Travel, GTA, BGB, City Guides, Baleares Consignatario, APIT, Alsatouring, Barcelona Hostess, Javier Serret, AFI, Protravel Inc. (U.S.A.), The Total Traveler (U.S.A.), Ovation Tours (U.S.A.)...

☼ I also worked occasionally as a freelance written translator for some translation agencies and other direct clients (although it was not as much fun as giving tours!), however these lasts years I’ve been only focusing in my guided tours.

☼ In 2003 I assisted the journalists Dominique Auzias et Patrick Maringe in the updating of the new edition of the popular French guidebook Le Petit Futé (Barcelona 2004). Since then I have given also many tours for journalists writing articles about Barcelona.

☼ I’ve become one of the few local tourguides specializing in Food Tours. I know well the famous Boqueria Market, where I’ve developed a trust relationship with many vendors, and I’m very updated on what’s going on in the local food&wine scene (shops, restaurants, new openings, old traditional stores…). I organize tapas tours, aswell as epicurean itineraries.

☼ Since I started working for top hotels and giving private tours, many of my clients have been American Jewish. Their interest on the local Jewish Heritage has made me become more and more interested in this fascinating (and unfortunately sad) part of our history. Despite my Christian background, I’ve learn to explain it from a historical but respectful and sensitive point of view. I’ve met all kind of Jewish, some with very strict and orthodox ways of life, so I feel comfortable adapting my tours to fit their needs as much as possible.

CHILDREN & NATURE

♠ Member of Scouts of Catalonia from 1987 to 1998.

♠ 1995-1998. Leader of the 7 to 11-years-old section of the Gandhi Scout Group.

♠ 1995. Official license of camp leader for children and young people, by the Generalitat de Catalunya regional government.

SKILLS

♣ Smiling!

♣ Empathy: Quickly understanding my guests’ interests and adapting the tour so I can show them the Barcelona they will love.

♣ Adapting my explanations to make them enjoyable for your kids.

♣ Giving you lots of ideas for the rest of your stay in Barcelona: restaurants, shops, shows, attractions…

♣ Attention to detail.

♣ Flexible and resourceful.

♣ Trip planning.

INTERESTS

♥ Barcelona, its history, its art, its legends, its shops and restaurants... I have to confess that I am a guidebook addict, and I buy every single new book about Barcelona that I find in the stores. I read them, and take notes, and use them to introduce new material in my speeches. I also collect articles from the press and brochures talking about Barcelona, its monuments and its secrets.

♥ Gourmet cuisine (local traditional and contemporary gastronomy, food shops and markets, restaurants...)

♥ New buildings and urban projects in the city.

♥ Local trees, flowers and plants.

♥ Dancing (swing, modern, belly, folk...)

♥ Traveling (been in most countries in Europe and several times in the States).

♥ Reading (novels, women literature, books on Barcelona and its surroundings, psychology...)

♥ Energy therapies and natural healing.

TRAINING

LANGUAGES

WORK EXPERIENCE

CHILDREN & NATURE

SKILLS