Well I'm a little older and a little wiser now, and the more places I visited the more I realised just how great Barcelona really is. It's got everything you need, great weather, great beach, great food (and a variety!), as much beer as wine, and countless shops and markets to get everything you need. These were all things I took for granted before, and came to miss when traveling elsewhere. For this reason I knew I had to go back, and I knew Genevieve needed to see Barcelona for herself. We stopped for 6 nights on our way back from Milan to London.
Most of the action is on or near La Ramblas, the main street in the centre of the city where most of the nightlife and touristic crap is. It's also where you get pick pocketed, harassed to buy stuff, and sexually assaulted by scary African prostitutes. So I didn't really care to stay in the thick of things again, and we booked a place a few metro stops away. The hostel was huge, cheap and clean, but the downside was these factors meant it was popular with school trips and the place was full of 15 year old kids and their parent chaperones. Didn't make for a fun or comfortable scene so we didn't spend much time there.
For those who don't know, or care, Barcelona has been a skateboarding mecca for at least a decade. The architecture is very unique, and the ground is smooth as ice, which makes it very appealing for skaters. Cheap beer, sun and a great metro system don't hurt either. When I came 5 years ago that's all I cared about and all I really did. I felt like I was on the tail end of its reign as we got a lot of attitude from locals (fairly so), many spots were falling apart and we actually had our boards confiscated by police. I would never have thought then that in 5 years it would still be so skateboard friendly. Many spots were actually still going strong, as well as lots of new ones, and there were several new parks along the water.
Obviously coming with a girlfriend skateboarding isn't going to be the focus, but in a city like Barcelona and with a girl as cool as Gen I did manage to skate as much as my body would let me. She even did a great job of seeming genuinely interested in getting behind the iphone for a couple clips as I pretended to be 20 again. They don't make many like her. Luckily I don't think any skaters saw us because it's a scene I know I'd laugh at. Second only to dad cam.
The benefit of visiting Barcelona a little older and with Gen was doing the things that didn't cross my mind the last time. The internet at our fingertips helped a lot too. We found a really cool bar with a great Catalan band playing one night and actually ended up buying their CD. We ate at a couple really good Mexican restaurants and found a few great pubs as well. There is no shortage of evening entertainment in Barcelona. One night we came back to the hostel around midnight after a night out and 2 pairs of girls in our room were separately just leaving to go out to a club, I think they got in around 5, which seemed to be quite normal. A bartender we had was Brazilian, but had ended up staying 5 years in Barcelona and described it as never never land, and to grow up she needed to move home. These are all parts of what Barcelona offers that I missed last time while I was pinching pennies and drinking 52 cent bottles of wine in the public plazas.
On the weekend there happened to be a really big Catalan food and drink market in the Gothic quarter called Mercat de Mercats. There were tons of booths set up with local prepared foods, craft beers and wines. We actually went both days, and on the second met a couple Argentinian guys and drank a few bottles of Cava (Catalan sparkling wine) on the steps of the cathedral. That stuff went straight to our heads.
You can't go to Barcelona without noticing the work of Antoni Gaudi. He was a very famous Catalan architect with a really unique style who was commissioned to design and build a number of visually stunning sights in the city, including the most famous Sagrada Familia cathedral. Whether or not you like his style you can't deny how unique and interesting it is. We went to Park Guell, the Sagrada Familia and Casa Mila before checking out Casa Batllo. I ended up paying to go in this one, it was expensive but I am really fascinated by his style and it was an incredible building inside and out. The flowing lines, references to nature and attention to detail is really spectacular. After that visit I was looking up a bit online and found out the following night there was a light show planned on the facade of the building to commemorate 10 years of being open to the public. Needless to say we went (free entertainment) and it was absolutely breathtaking.
We were a little exhausted by this point in our trip, but Barcelona was a perfect city to ease into London. It's still foreign, but much more comfortable and approachable than anywhere in Italy. I have an appreciation for the city after a second visit that I didn't have last time. Barcelona is an amazing place, and after London probably the only city we visited that I really hope to make it back to.
-Justin
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