Carrer Verdi, Gràcia
Gràcia in Barcelona is the neighbourhood where I’ve lived my entire and still short (hey, I’m still young, ok?) life. To me, it is the best neighbourhood in Barcelona (you could argue I’m a little biased), as it still has that sense of antiquity, that village atmosphere as though it wasn’t part of the busy, modern city that lies just a few minutes away.
If you are planning on spending a few days in Barcelona, Gràcia is, without doubt, one of the must-sees. I’ve prepared for you a one day trip in Gràcia, and all I can say is: I wish all my days were like this!
You could start the day having breakfast at La Nena, a chocolaterie where you’ll be able to taste one of the best hot chocolates in town (with a French croissant, just to make sure you take in all the calories possible). Read the rest of this article…
One of my favourite writers, Sally, champions the district of El Raval in Barcelona.
Sally at the Barcelo 360 Bar
‘…the district of sinners, crooks and toughs, a maggot hill, a cesspit and cavern, a den of criminals. It is fetishized, endowed with causal powers, apparently destroying all moral and physical life within it… a terrible centre for infection, the pestulant bottom of a sewer, with its smell of sin and affliction. Many of the area’s inhabitants mutated into a subhuman race. Everyone has funereal features, the look of having recently been in hospital, the appearance of death. They don’t eat. They nourish themselves with alcohol, morphine, ether, ‘coke’ and wine’
An Imagined Geography: Ideology, Urban Space, and Protest in the Creation of Barcelona’s ‘Chinatown’ by Chris Ealham, c.1835–1936 Read the rest of this article…
Contributor Duncan Rhodes shares five of his favourite Barcelona nightclubs…
Barcelona’s nightlife contributes much to its allure as one of Europe’s top destinations… this is the city where girls and boys come to combine hedonism and beach life, with just a small side helping of culture, and there are certainly no shortage of venues promising nocturnal adventures to young thrillseekers. Despite my advancing years I’ve spent much of the last four years ‘researching’ the city’s nightspots, either as a freelance journalist or for my own website (see my author profile below) or – more frequently – as just an ordinary alcoholic. It’s high time the info that I’ve amassed during these ill-spent hours hit the blogosphere, so without further ado allow me to present to you my current Top 5 Nightclubs in Barcelona. Read the rest of this article…
An article from Anthony Turner about his time in Barcelona in the 60’s.
As a young man back in the 60’s, I was inspired to visit Barcelona by Hemingway on reading two of his books; “Death in the Afternoon” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls”. I drove with my then fiancée (now my wife) down thro’ France, over the Pyrenees and on to Barcelona.
The city had pretty much embraced the “Swinging Sixties” and was then full of young people from the North…. Sweden, Norway, Denmark,Germany… all intent on enjoying the sun and having a good time. The austerity endured in the 50’s was over… young people were flocking in droves to Milan, St Tropez and Barcelona.
We spent much of our time in the Old Town Quarter getting to know the best and cheapest bars, although with an exchange rate of 169 pesetas to the £ we were not doing too badly! We drank local wines and I tried absinthe in an attempt to acquire inspiration of some sort! I understand that Hemingway drank a glass or ten in his favourite bar so the stories go! I believe that although absinthe was never banned in Spain, the Spanish were never much inspired by this drink as were the French for instance. Read the rest of this article…
Eixample, Barcelona from the air
“It was around 7-8 years ago when I first stepped into the world that is Barcelona. I didn’t exactly choose a great time of year to visit (it was December) and I wasn’t staying in a particularly touristy area (Gràcia), but nevertheless I ended up falling in love with the city, making it my eventual home.
It’s funny, because over the past 7 years the city has seen the economy go from an all time high to a low. The first restaurant I ever ate at in Barcelona is now closed, many new shops have replaced old ones that just couldn’t make it… A lot has changed… Yet the city is always the same as I remembered it the first time I came here. I call this effect the Barcelona Charm.
So how can you experience Barcelona Charm; a memory of the city that carries on like a flowing story, as if you never left, each time you visit? Maybe if you experience the city the way I have, you’ll see what I mean. Read the rest of this article…
