The hotel underwent a major refurbishment in 2006. It now has 483 rooms & suites - in this 44 floor building on the Marina. The building is 153 metres tall ... with views of the Mediterranean Sea and the city of Barcelona.
On the 42 & 43rd floors there is now a Six Senses spa. I have just had a 50-minute massage which was very lovely & refreshing! I am used (like most of the world) to 1-hour massages so feel rather robbed of my last 10 minutes ... I will sleep an extra 10 minutes in the morning to get my life back into kilter!
I am high up in the building in a 3-bedroom duplex suite ... with fully-fitted kitchen, dining room, living room .... and ALL the views of Barcelona you could wish for!
Up early and despite the BBC's promise of rain - the sun was shining brightly on the marina below me.
We first filmed up at the spa ...
Sensational views down the beach!
Barcelona has a plethora of Michelin stars and here at Arts - there is the 1-star Enoteca - whose head chef is Paco Perez. He taught me how to prepare a lobster dish, with white asparagus and Grey Mullet roe. My Spanish is worse than his English so we had a "fun" time filming the piece. The end product looks great and the dish tasted ... SUPERB! Also Paco is a lovely chap ...
The GM of Arts is Victor Clavell. As it was such a lovely day, we interviewed outside in the sunshine. The hotel has 5 food & beverage outlets, a lovely outdoor pool (that is FREEZING!), gardens, shops and wonderful local art and of course, that Frank Gehry "fish" that I featured yesterday.
My hotel arrival ...
Rosemary Trigg has been the PR for this property for over a decade! That means I have known her for over a decade. She has not aged a day ... unlike me! She's one of the best ...
As the afternoon wore on, we start filming in my 250 square metre Suite ... beginning with the views!
My suite has a lovely staircase ... on the ground floor is bedroom 1 ...and the stairs lead to bedroom 2 ... and
3 - which is mine!
Wall to wall Acqua di Parma! yum!
I have a 24-hour butler service that unpacked my bags and even runs my bath!
And provides me with ketchup and soya sauce! HEAVEN!
It's been a long day - but I did manage to get in a swim! My favourite photo of the day is this one which features Tim in the background. He may look like a scary monster ... but in reality, he's just a monster!Song of the Day: It's Only Love - Tina Turner & Bryan Adams
Weather: Cool ... sunny ... nice!
