Barcelona

74 Comments / Europe, Travel / By
  • Sagrada Familia
  • The Chimneys at La Pedrera

Hola. you’ll find yourself saying that a lot- this two syllable greeting devoid of pretence, and possessing the magical power of establishing instant ease between strangers. A local’s assumption that you can speak their tongue gives you the confidence to try, forming a virtuous cycle of communication. This makes Barcelona especially alluring, in addition to its buttery sunlight which brings its gorgeous wrought iron-laced buildings – like charcoal sketched illustrations – to life.

Flying into Barcelona I began to see, in all sizes, massive metal cylinders with white caps, shrunken by the distance into tiny toothpaste tubes, which I assumed to be full of black gold. Beyond these I spotted rows and rows of diagonally parked colourful trucks like pieces of lego waiting to be assembled – it was as if the plane was descending into some dystopian future. But Barcelona is anything but dystopian. Upon landing I was met with possibly the most brilliant twilight sky yet – a wild cocktail of orange and purple that morphed by the second as the sun sank lower and lower. I learnt later that the cylinders I had seen from above contained not black gold but rather a more worthy, liquid gold – beer! How apt I thought to have unlimited quantities of this bacchanalian delight at the entrance of a city whose inhabitants more than seized the day – cigarettes were not just smoked, they were savoured with a deep swoosh of air through the teeth, beer not merely sipped but relished, and best of all, labour between the hours of 13:00 & 16:00 altogether rejected.

Where to eat and drink: If there is ONE place you eat at it has to be Quimet i Quimet .Head on over to El Raval where you will be spoilt for choice when it comes to trendy little bars tucked away in corners. We went to Chulapio – full of character and serves crepes late at night!

I was in Barcelona to meet an old friend from my days in the wonderful city of New York. As we unpeeled Barcelona’s neighbourhoods together we were incidentally reminded of NYC – charming brunch cafes with unimpressive names like Brunch & Cake and Cake & Cup (even a Balthazar!) were rife much like in Chelsea and the West Village. Even better were the dodgy alleyways of El Raval and Poble sec, bursting with character, where trendy Barcelonians scuttled between low-ceilinged retro bars and vegan cafés – Lower East Side meets Brooklyn. And for all the activity that Barcelona sustains it somehow manages to do so without making a racket – as you walk through the streets, people talking, saucers clanking, music playing, vehicles humming, all come together only to produce a gentle purr. Walking along the tree lined expansive streets was therefore a calm affair, making me breathe more deeply, see more keenly. And when my feet throbbed from all that walking, glorious food awaited.

My friend and I weren’t penny pinching but we weren’t going to break the bank either. This meant we would miss out on the dozen or so Michelin stars that Barcelona boasts of. But it couldn’t have mattered less. Our favourite meal during the entire trip was the cheapest and most unique. We stood both of us at ‘elbow height’ in a packed room no bigger than 250 square feet, sticky-fingered and beady-eyed as we shovelled delicious and exotic montaditos down our gullets. We managed to get a spot at the edge of the long counter where we watched the owner-chef-account-in-chief perform his act on repeat. His hands and his brain moved expediently as he alternated between calculating bills, memorising orders and assembling his creations. Crunchy, airy bread was topped with exotic combinations like salmon, yoghurt and honey or cockles, sweet egg and onion.

  • Tuna & sea urchin
  • At Quimet i Quimet

Evidently, the food had lived up to the hype – a great relief. But what of Barcelona’s architecture? Gaudi most certainly didn’t disappoint. To me, his fascinating avant gardiste style put him in the league of the Mughal king Akbar and Pope Francis – great men, much ahead of their time. His phantasmagorical structures seemed to be the work of both magician and mathematician. If that wasn’t enough Antoni Gaudí came with a cheeky sense of humour as well. One of the potential residents at his iconic La Pedrera , built to be lived in, complained that the floors weren’t quite flat enough to place her piano. Gaudí is believed to have said in response “In that case, madam, I suggest you buy a flute”.

My last 18 hours on Barcelona’s soil strangely involved tears, hunger and calluses. An unholy confluence of events resulted in a cancelled flight, made several times worse by near inhuman airport staff. This was a strange turn in my feelings about the city but also a reminder that generalisations are just that – generalisations. There was nuance to both the good and the bad I had experienced but I hadn’t stayed long enough to understand it. And while I never leave a city planning to return, Barcelona has caught my attention, and I expect I will.

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