My perfect day would be a Friday in September. The city still maintains its business rhythm and schedule (the banks are open, you still can experience rush hour on the metro, with the intervals between the trains short and frequent). However, you already notice that the aura is more relaxed today and there is a foretaste of weekends in air.

Barcelona’s Golden Autumn (El verano de Sant Marti)

I really adore Barcelona’s Golden Autumn. The locals call it “El verano de Sant Marti”. The weather now is not that killingly hot, but it’s still warm and sunny. The bright colors of nature inevitably instigate me to go outside for a long walk around the city with my photo camera. The noise of crispy platan leaves under my feet immediately raises my spirits. Read the rest of this article…

Satan’s Coffee Corner, now in Barri Gòtic

I found my way to Barcelona about 8 years ago, with not much of a definite plan or a clear idea of how long I was planning on staying. I was in my early twenties at the time and the only thing I had a complete certainty for was photography. I found my way to IDEP where I ended up getting my bachelor degree and staying in this wonderful city for as long as I have.

I have developed a rather strange relationship with the Barcelona over the years, I love it and hate it and then love it again! But it has now become my home away from home.

A few years back I moved to Raval, where I now spend most of my days and it’s hands down one of my favourite areas of the city. In my daily routine I try to spread the local love and support my friends and small local businesses. I would start my day with coffee – it’s the one thing that never fails to get me out of bed. Read the rest of this article…

This is a bit of a lame post. Pretty much a copy and paste job. But I’ve never been to this event in the years I’ve been here so I don’t have much to say about it. But I like the idea behind it. Recycling old stuff and reinventing it into art and designer objects. Artistic recycling.

Drap-Art 2012: International Recycling Art Festival of Catalonia

The event is held at the Centre of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB) and surrounding spaces between Friday Oct 5th (today) and Sunday October 14th.

From the website…

Drap-Art is a showcase of the trends in art that make use of objets trouvés and waste materials as a resource. It is a platform for emerging artists and designers around the world, who use trash as raw material, it is a forum for discussion of theories and urban utopias. Drap-Art is a meeting place for specialists with a public in search of alternatives, in a world that seems to be doomed to destruction.

So this year I’m going to make a special effort to get along to it. There’s a Drap-Art Boutique where you can buy things too. Though the prices may be a bit steep for us mere mortals. Read the rest of this article…

Bar Pinotxo, La Boqueria

What is a sobremesa?
Sobremesa is one of my favorite Spanish words, but it’s much more than a word, it’s a cultural act. In Spain people take their meals very seriously, hours can be spent at the dinner or lunch table chatting long after the plates have been cleared and the coffee has been served. It’s a time to bond with your guests, savor the moment without rushing and pragmatically, to digest your food. Overall it’s a wonderful and celebrated practice throughout Spain.

“I write about food, take pictures of food, think about food, turn every conversation into some topic of food, so it comes as no surprise when I’m in Barcelona, one of the food capitals of the world, I chow down. What I love about Catalan cuisine and the food culture of Barcelona is its determination to provide fresh, flavorful combinations to the masses at reasonable prices and with a slice of humility. Sure some have received Michelin stars, or can show off hundreds of press accolades adorned on the wall, but besides this, many continue to do what they set out to do decades ago. Setting an example for new chefs and young talent to follow in role-model fashion. Catalans have a very concrete culinary identity and I think this confidence shines through in their creations, meanwhile the patron walks away with a smile and without having this experience leave a whole in their wallet. Read the rest of this article…

Don Quixote rode into Barcelona in the 16th century

An article from Hildy Snow about the wild side of Barcelona literature.

Most discussions about Barcelona as a literary city inevitably end up with people mentioning two books: Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Shadow of the Wind and Ildefonso Falcones’ Cathedral of the Sea. Not to knock these books – they’re good reads – but there’s so much more to the city’s literary universe than these bestsellers and their Barcelona literary brand of Gothic mystique and historical weightiness. The Catalan capital’s literary life goes back much, much further. Beyond the post-war struggles of Mercè Rodoreda’s La Plaça del Diamant, beyond the Civil War battlefields of George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia. All the way back to Cervantes, whose Don Quixote and Sancho Panza rode into Barcelona in the 16th century. For eons, Barcelona has served as the literary scene of romance, love, betrayal, adventure, friendship, familial conflict, mystery, crime and war. Read the rest of this article…