Donkey Tours format needs repair rates a huge "hoofs up" for unique European experience

Donkey Tours of Barcelona boasts one of the most engaging guides two veteran travelers have experienced in decades

of globe trotting.  Here, Greek born Eteoklis Nikolaou takes tourists through Barcelona's landmarks and hidden wonders.

DONKEY TOURS OFFERS UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL LOOK AT HIDDEN BARCELONA COMPLETE WITH HISTORY LESSONS

Barcelona's Palau de la Musica Catalonia makes an impression.

Donkey Tour guides take you there and give you a history lesson.

PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER

STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS

WE HAD BEEN  to Barcelona a dozen times before we hitched ourselves up with Donkey Tours.

What a find! If you are looking for an unusual way to spend a morning or afternoon and learn something new about this fascinating Catalan city, you'll be delighted with the spirit and intellect of the ambitious Donkey Tours.

My internet guru and partner Bruce Keller, also the talented photographer for our globe-trotting columns, deserves bounteous thanks for finding Donkey Tours. I'd asked him to line up a half-day outing on our last day of a recent week in Barcelona, a city we thought we knew quite well.  He came up with Donkey

Tours, which operates only out of Barcelona but is hoping to expand to other cities in southern Europe.

THE TOUR is free,  but a generous tip is appreciated.  We tipped the equivalent of what we would have paid for a much less interesting tour.  The well traveled tourist, or even the neophyte, should know to tip well for such a splendid operation. Our able Greek born guide entertained Aussies, Dutch, Germans, Italians,

Africans, Brits and the two of us Yanks with humor, patience, enthusiasm and intelligence.

  Eteoklis Nicolau met us in a well known square, introducing us to the first of many wonders: a Picasso mural on a onetime architecture school.

Above left:  Looking for fabulous fruit for a meal, or breakfast in in your digs, Donkey Tours guides you to the finest outdoor markets in Barcelona.

We spent a lively day with Theo, who took time to answer myriad questions, shared computer images and even escorted folks from our group of 25 to specific

specialty pastry shops and restaurants. We had a lovely tea and time for individual chat during

coffee break at tour midpoint, then

walked by a building most people

would have bypassed. 

WE FOLLOWED  Theo  down a marble stairway in an old law school, to discover a beautiful

basement of Roman arches and a lovely little fountain.  Another delightful surprise with Donkey Tours, whose guides are all multi- lingual and well educated. Bravo!

www.donkeytours.es

Barcelona's revered College of Architects boasts a unique mural drawn by Pablo Picasso during his years of artistic growth in a favorite city.

BEST BET and NEXT UP:  For theater in the grand tradition of old-fashioned comedy, point your laughing shoes to North Coast Repertory Theatre for "Moon Over Buffalo." The new production is expertly rendered by regular guest director Matthew Wiener, longtime colleague of  the Rep's versatile and talented artistic director,

David Ellenstein. The show offers fabulous timing by a seasoned cast of theater pros. Book tickets to this delightful ode to a life in the theater,

at northcoastrep.org.  --At right, the company of "Moon Over Buffalo,'' in which a befuddled repertory actor enters Noel Coward's "Private Lives" as Cyrano de Bergerac.