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01.12.2005
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René Lönngren is the founder and director of Le Cool Publishing. Based in Barcelona, the le cool team also has offices in Madrid, Lisbon and Amsterdam. They publish a free, funky, weekly cultural agenda and alternative city guide via e-mail called Le Cool Magazine -“like a good friend that is always in the know”. "Soy un lector de paperJam y me encanta Barcelona". – Spanish
T R AV E L L I N G
Le Cool proposals for the hot spots in Barcelona The founder of Le Cool Magazine tells paperJam readers what’s hip, what’s hot, and where to get excellent tapas in the city that spawned the genius of Gaudi. René Lönngren moved to Barcelona in that time-honoured tradition of wanting to downshift from a “stressful and career and money focused world.” In his case, René was escaping from his homeland of Sweden. Serendipitously, the idea of moving to Barcelona entered his life. This was a transplant from a cold country to a warmer country in more ways than one, as he was also very attracted to the more emotional and open interaction between people in Barcelona that he felt was limited in Sweden. Considered by many to be one of the best cities in the world to live in, Barcelona is the perfect home for a company called Le Cool Publishing. As well as their on-line city guides, in founder René’s own words they “also edit some of the most personal and most emotional guidebooks ever done. Le cool changed my life - a weird and wonderful guide to Barcelona” was the first one and can be bought online at www.lecool.com. So who better to ask about the best things to do and see in the city? What does René love about Barcelona? “It really is a city where everyone can be exactly the way they are. It is easy and simple to be, just be, the way you are and live the way you want. And of course, there is always someone crazier than you (which is) a good way of keeping a distance from reality and for maintaining calmness.” One of René’s favourite areas to take a stroll is from Maremagnum to Villa Olimpica, a stretch that runs all along the water. “Maremagnum used to be the home to noisy nights out in a sort of a ‘Magaluf gone urban’ way but during the last two years it has been cleaned up considerably and now hosts a number of decent shops and restaurants. The real tip for this area is that it is the only place in Barcelona where you can go shopping on a Sunday.” Villa Olimpica is all sports bars and
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more and more designer and commercial restaurants, such as the Buddha Bar inspired Carpe Diem Lounge Club, CDLC (Paseo Marítimo, 32. www.cdlcbarcelona.com. +34 93 22 40 470) owned by ex Barcelona football player Patrick Kluivert). Mostly, it’s a nice place to go strolling along the water, offering a little less tourism than Barceloneta... “Another great sunny Sunday excursion is a walk along the Carretera de les Aguïes, with the obligatory stop at Can Marti Restaurant” (Ptge de la Font Del Mont, 4. +34 93 40 69 195) for lunch. “For more urban feasts,” says René, “kitschy old bars in the Raval always do it for me, as does uptown Eixample Izquierda, with is mixture of chic stores and nice restaurants.” The district of Raval is located in the medieval city quarter of Barcelona, and is a densely populated urban area, home to many narrow passageways that seem little touched by the hands of time. It is a cornucopia of contrasts, housing both the city’s large immigrant population as well as designer shops, cafes from the chic to the seedy, a gay area, and restaurants both international and exotic. The Eixample is a more elegant up-market area that houses some of Barcelona’s most beautiful homes.
Barcelona oozes culture, and Le Cool magazine can also guide you through the maze of both the well known and the out of the way places. When it comes to cultural activities, René says that Barcelona has a lot of people in the cultural scene who are doing the right things. “MACBA - Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona ( Plaça dels Angels, 1. www.macba.es, +34 93 41 20 810. Weekdays 11 am - 7.30 pm, sat 10 am - 8 pm, sun 10 am -3 pm, closed tues) and CCCB (Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Montalegre 5. www.cccb.es. + 34 93 30 64 100. tue, thurs, fri 11 am - 2 pm and 4 pm - 8 pm, wed, sat 11 am to 8 pm, sun and hols 11 am - 7 pm) which are located “wall to wall in upper Raval, are exceptionally open and alert and offer a constant stream of great multidisciplinary culture”. Currently on show at MACBA is Beyond the Perfect Image: Jo Spence. “This exhibition sets out to present an exhaustive journey around the work of Jo Spence, from the mid seventies until her death in 1992. It takes a broad approach to her work in order to reconstruct her process from political and educational concerns to the development of staging and phototherapy”. From January to March 2006, the CCCB will be