I wrote this piece for a travel writing competition and thought it was romantic enough to revive this little project. Welcome back x
“It’s not you England, it’s me.”. And with that, I was on the easyJet flight. This love was one I’ve spent a decade of my life pursuing, and I was ready for it, if only for the summer. It felt like the freedom I’d been waiting my whole life for. A love for Barcelona seems to be hereditary in my family; my first visits were with parents and now I was of legal age to do all of my adventuring alone, determined to return some of the love.
I’d always stayed around Poblenou, which was initially down to being minutes from the beach but Poblenou’s bars and bazaars also can’t be ignored. Having history and exciting day / night life is part of the variety that made me really fall in love; it takes a lot to have the vitality of a young city with so much history. When staying in Generator (an amazing hostel with something going on at every hour of every day) within days we were contrasting wine tasting experiences with the monastery of Montserrat. Exploring Montserrat was probably a smart move to do first as the luscious green views are located up a gargantuan mountain so the heights were dizzying enough sober.
When talking about adventure and ‘seeing the world’, many people leave their continent, but Barcelona has enough to spend a decade exploring. Hills and castles lead to museums spanning every kind of history, science into modern art. Gaudi, Miro, Dali meet local art and graffiti everywhere. Fashion week might focus on Madrid but every year I would save up my wages from part time jobs to shop in Barcelona for my summer reinvention. Shopping centres like Diagonal Mar had everything, but mentioning fashion in Barcelona HAS to include El Raval and Barri Gottic, neighbourhoods with vintage stores, small businesses and unique brands. Further proof of the variety, your honour, the Gothic Quarter has everything from cool cafes like Satan’s Coffee co, architecture in the streets, the Cathedral, Santa Maria del Mar and Las Ramblas, all walkable.
There’s no street you can walk down in Barcelona without sensory heaven. Always metres from musicians and as much as there’s limitless sights and sunshine, the smells and sounds are also heaven, without overwhelming. There’s something about the heat which gives it a very distinctive smell. Again, the variety that really turned me on for the city captures everything from heating bricks of historical buildings, market meats, seafood, sea-air and the sweet slow-waft of bakeries.
On the last evening of my 18-year-old adventure we’d been drinking in Placa Real, had an argument and were walking home. We stopped in an Irish bar where we met American travellers and an Icelandic man living locally who took us to a club called Jamboree, where I had another argument and got the first metro back at 5AM. Despite that tension, I couldn’t ignore the spectrum of beauty and love that Barcelona and it’s people gifted me. I’m still in love.
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