FUN IN ZARALAND (1)

(One of Zara outlets in Passeig De Gracia, Barcelona. Pix by RH)

Ola. That's the first word that you will hear wherever you enter in Barcelona. Its like our Selamat Datang greeting.

I had the priviledge to visit Barcelona, Spain during the third week of Ramadhan. It was on a Monday morning that I was summoned to my boss's room and informed that I was selected to go to the Post Expo 2007 in Barcelona. From then on, it was quite a mad two weeks of preparation work to arrange for everything and for everybody.

I did not know what to expect as this was my first time arranging for an official overseas trip ( although I have travelled a lot, but only with my family). I did went into the internet a lot to look for information on Barcelona - what to do, where to go, where to shop, what to eat etc. What was more challenging was the fact that it was Ramadhan and I am going to fast in a foreign land - no Ramadhan bazaar for me!

What excite me most was that I was going to the land of Zara, one of my favourite designers. Here in Malaysia, the cost of a jacket starts from RM350 onwards, jeans is from RM200 a pair, a belt would possibly cost from RM150 upwards and a pair of shoes starts from RM299. Not too bad compared to the price of other designer brands like Gucci, Prada, Selvatore Ferragamo ( another favourite!) etc. However, most of the time, I would wait for the sale so that I can buy them at a much better and affordable price.

I flew to Barcelona via Paris. The transit in Paris was for about 3 hours. Paris was cold at 9 degrees Celcius. I love this kind of weather. Nothing much to look at as I was at the airport. Announcement was mainly in French and security was tight; everything had to be taken off to go through the screening - belt, cap, shoes, handbags, watch, jacket, you name it, whatever that they asked!

I landed in Barcelona on a Sunday morning - nearly 90 per cent of their shops were closed! I also found out that many restaurants closed on Monday as they were opened on Sundays. Some shops still practice their siesta time between 1 to 3 pm. Lunch time is from 1.30 to 3.30 pm and dinner starts from 8.30 pm. when we were there, breaking of fast was at about 7.40 pm, so you can imagine how difficult to get a restaurant that can fit in our timing.

The weather was good, not too chilly at night. Day time was about 18 to 23 degrees. I had fun walking around from my hotel - Claris Hotel Grand Luxe which was situated about 2 blocks away from Passeig De Gracia, a 5 km shopping area. The street had everything, right from famous brands like Loewe, Escada, Laurel, Burberry to many spanish brands like Mossimo Dutti and Zara.

There were many Zara oulets and every outlet has at least 4 floors - Zara basic, Zara Women, Zara Men, Zara Children and also Zara Home ( selling bed sheets, pillows, home decorations etc, which we dont have yet in Malaysia). And the price? At least 50 per cent lower than the price in Malaysia! I had fun selecting the latest design as the price was reasonable, however, the colour was quite sombre- black, grey, dark brown, light brown as they are now preparing for winter. There were a lot of winter clothing being sold and at very reasonable price. I also got to know that Zara products are sold at a factory outlet called Lefties. Lefties sell products which are like 2 or 3 months old. So, if any of you are heading to Barcelona and loves Zara brand, you can get very good bargains here!

Oh, Barcelona also has very good leather stuff. I will tell you more later.