Barcelona is a great town to take a tour. You can walk, like we did with both Go Barcelona Tours (super awesome) and Devour Barcelona (cool food tour of Gracia), you can take a tourist bus (which we’ve never done), or you can do it in a sidecar attached to a motorcycle.
Come again?
Yes. Brightside Tours has a small fleet of those super cool motorcycles that have a side car attached, just like Indiana Jones and his father did in the final Indiana Jones movie. No we didn’t do any jousting! Brightside Tours motorcycles are the same Ural motorcycles used by the Russians during World War II, except for the fact they are brand new. Ural still makes the same motorcycles they did back in the day for Stalin, but today they are in full compliance with modern emission and safety standards.
So why tour around in a motorcycle and sidecar? Piotr Kulka, one of the principals of the company and also one of the drivers, told us that touring on a motorcycle in this manner allows a couple to enjoy an experience together (and a driver of course) with a closer connection to the environment. Plus, Brightside Tours can navigate into some areas traditional tour buses and van tours cannot.
After a morning riding around, Michael and I certainly agreed. We were able to navigate quicker, faster and easier from Gracia down to El Born, over to the Arc de Triomphe and finishing at Sagrada Familia. And it was fun! Piotr is a knowledgeable guide for Barcelona, pointing out history, architecture, and little know facts about the various places he showed us.
After a morning touring around Barcelona, it was time to take a brief 20 minute spin out to Alta Alella for a visit, tasting and tour. While Michael and I have been many times to Alta Alella, it was a different experience traveling in a sidecar. Maybe it was the adrenalin, or the fun, but the Mediterranean seemed to be a bright blue that day.
Brightside Tours is partnering with Alta Alella to provide a tour and tasting from Barcelona to the winery. Not only does Brightside Tours have the ability to do this via motorcycle and sidecar, but they also have a pretty cool van which has a removal roof if the weather and temperature permits.
Brightside will be launching this package shortly, but in the meantime, to book a tour simply click on this link to fill out the information, and they will respond to your request promptly!
Take it from me, it’s definitely worth the time, and a memorable way to tour Barcelona, and to visit one of our favourite vineyards.
Tim Brown (aka Timmer on social media) has been involved in marketing for over 20 years and a wine enthusiast since his first exposure to Duck Pond Winery in Newberg, Oregon, back in 1995. After coming to Europe in 2012, he made his home in Catalunya in 2013 and became enchanted with the wines and winemakers of the region. Now he shares his experiences so international visitors can enjoy the region’s wines, while continuing his work in the marketing world. Sommeliering and wine snobbery isn´t his thing, and he continues to learn more about wine from a Catalan perspective on a daily basis.