Barcelona Review
I might have mentioned that I was in Barcelona before and now I’m going to elaborate a bit. My sister always thought I’d love BCN and she was right. It’s up there with Berlin as my all-time favourite cities and that’s saying a lot if you know how much I like Germany! The pick-pockets are terrible but that’s easy to get over when you consider the stuff it has to offer. I’ve also been to Oslo, Hannover, Brussels and Rome this year and I’d go back to BCN first.
After a terrible summer in Ireland, Barcelona in late September could still reach 31 degrees Celsius! I checked into Equity Point hostel in Passeig de Gracia and I can strongly recommend it. It’s in a classy part of town a short stroll from La Rambla and there is a train to the beach if you are really hungover!
Not only are there trains from there to the beach, but also to FC Barcelona’s New Camp (L1), Montmelo (Circuit de Catalunya – F1/DTM circuit) and Sitges where there is a lovely long beach with the sun-chairs for hire. I thought that was so quaint and retro. After the 15th of September though, the place is really quiet and serene. Strolling around there can be so relaxing and they really do close the shops during the afternoon for their siesta, sometimes till 6 or 8pm!
Barcelona is cheap, even compared to Berlin. You can get a beer served to you for €1.60 and there are buffet dinners there from €9 to €14 for succulent pork and beef roasting on a grill. That would be “Free Way” on Carrer de Mallorca. Just look at the plate of fish that was freshly cooked for me. These are just the shells and there were 4 salmon steaks on top of it!
The old Roman part of town is well worth a look, the Rambla del Mar is popular but I didn’t think it was that special. Maz pointed me in the direction of Margarita Blue and I wasn’t disappointed by the cocktails or the ambience!
People get a surprise when I tell them that I went on my own to Barcelona. But if you’re willing to talk, you’ll make friends in the hostel, tapas bars and other random spots. I met one guy, Rafael, who was French and hoping to work on the Sagrada Familia. As you can see it’s a construction site, a piece of history in the making. We started chatting in German as his English was almost as bad as my French and quickly we spotted some Austrian girls bemused by this comic interaction but I was quick to bring them into the conversation too.
That was in a Tapa’s bar called El Paso, the kind of place that wasn’t very clean but the waitress was friendly and Rafael is intent on going back to improve his Catalan.
One of the things I learned is to take notes! A photo can be great, but taking notes of what you see around you is far more discreet and it also allows you to really notice things and exercise your mind.
On one occasion, I had just come back from the Circuit de Catalunya, where the German Touring Car Championship (DTM) was being held and I stopped in the village of Montmeló. I found a lovely café on the Plaça de la Quintana. The square was full of local people going about their business, kids playing football, cycling around. Parents were sitting on benches waiting for their kids to come out of the music school with instruments in tow. At the table next to me, a woman in a group of 3 or so started breastfeeding. After the intense heat of the day, a cold breeze and looming navy clouds signalled an impending thunder-shower and I relocated inside. Other people weren’t so observant and there was much scurrying into the cafe and under a canopy in the square when the heavens opened.
For the next hour or so, rain was teeming down and those stranded outside and inside had to stay put or be soaked to the skin within seconds after leaving cover. This didn’t seem to be bothering some of the kids though who were running in and out. The people running the café seemed to be related or friends with half the people in there. Minding the kids became a communal affair and everyone was watching the 1yr old girl who would make a break for freedom every so often like the older kids. However, a 1yr old thankfully doesn’t have the strength to push hard on doors. I’m guessing 1 cos she could walk but she still had a soother. Cafeteria Granja was the name I think. Nothing like Mira in Berlin…our favourite proprietor of coffee and cakes (if you’re lucky) who communicates in a series of grunts and smokes like a trooper.
The nice thing about Barcelona too is that it’s very centralised. All the parties are in the city and the cultural life isn’t as fractured and disparate as Berlin. When I was there, there was a festival (La Merce, held in honour of Mare de Deu de la Merce, the Patron Saint of Barcelona) and it wasn’t even targeting tourists. They had information stands, bands and local performers on stage, in the streets and all over Barcelona. Even at night, bands were roaming through the city picking up fans along the way.
On a sidenote, before I even left Irish soil, I had my first encounter with American troops in Shannon. I was surprised by how quiet and subdued they all were. Mostly, they wanted to phone home, check emails, surf the net, sleep and have a beer or two. I worked up the courage to talk to some of them and discovered that they were a mix of air force and marines. Many of them didn’t actually fly, but provided support services, which was good because one guy really didn’t like the turbulence. Thanks to Cathal for the lift to Shannon btw!
January 5th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
I had my first encounter with the troops too before my recent flight from Shannon to Paris. Likewise they were very subdued at that time too with an amazing number on their laptops and/or sitting alone. There was absolutely none of the kind of boisterousness you usually associate with large numbers of ‘young’ people in airports. It was kind of eerie in a way.
BTW, great post about Barcelona. I’ve been meaning to go for years and now that I’ve got Paris (finally) off the list it could well be a destination for 2009.