Day 1 – Barcelona

Barcelona – Day 1

June 19, 2019 – We arrived at Barcelona after two nights of red eye flights…exhausted but excited to be here.  We took a taxi to our apartment in the Gràcia neighborhood of Barcelona.  In our travels we like to get out of the touristy areas and live among the locals.  Gràcia is both the smallest district by area, and the second most densely populated neighborhoods in Barcelona.  The majority of Gràcia’s inhabitants are locals.  Gràcia’s intimate, close-packed streets and predominately low-rise, Mediterranean architecture give it a distinct authentic feel.  Its old, one-way streets are organized around a series of plazas, “Old-world charm” abounds.  Gràcia has no major tourist attractions, international brand stores or fast-food chains.  We LOVE it!

One of the reasons we travel is to experience the different cultural traditions and rituals of the host nation and Spain has some great ones.  First of all, the working day is either 8am-3pm or else 10am-2pm and 5pm-8pm.  This makes for a very peaceful and quiet morning.  As we adjust to the 9-hour time difference, we have been waking between 6:30 and 7 am.  We have been sleeping with the balcony door open with no screen since there are no bugs and a nice cool breeze.  As we wake, all you can hear is the sounds of morning doves cooing while watching masses of swallows perform their aerial acrobats around and between the buildings.

In the afternoons, and in particularly older neighborhoods like Gràcia, the Spanish tradition of siesta is alive and well.  The traditional siesta for shops and businesses is from approximately 2 p.m. until 5 p.m. while bars and restaurants close from about 4 p.m. until about 8 or 9 p.m.  The locals have a long lunch with family and friends which often the biggest meal of the day with some wine followed by a quick 15 to 30-minute nap.  There is a noticeable quiet that comes over the area as everything shuts down.  After the siesta is over, the place gradually comes back alive with the sounds of children playing, shops reopening, resturants putting out tables/chairs/umbrellas in the plazas and people generally going about their business again. 

This leads to another favorite ritual of “el Paseo” which translates to “a leisurely evening stroll”.  During an el paseo, the entire community can be seeing walking the streets, talking/laughing and greeting their neighbors.  The pace is slow, and the decibel levels are often high amongst family groups!  The people often stop in a bar for a drink and some tapas or shop in one of the many stores lining the streets.  This goes on for a few hours until everyone is ready for a late dinner, usually starting between 9 and 10 pm.  Dinner and socializing go on until the early hours of the morning, even on weekdays.  Our apartment is off a small plaza (central open areas surrounded by apartments over shops and restaurants/bars) where the restaurants/bars will start closing their patio umbrellas and stacking chairs at midnight but, people can be heard talking and carrying on until at least 2 am with the younger crowd until 3 am.  Something noted is the talking is of a pleasant and fun nature and not drunkenly.  Although the Spanish enjoy drinking and can consume what might seem like vast quantities of alcohol with food, being drunk is always frowned upon – for many reasons – and one of them is that even the youngest members of a family will be out late in the evenings, specially on weekends.  After 3 am, the neighborhood goes perfectly quiet until around 8 am. and it starts all over again!

Wayne’s work schedule is such that he must still maintain California business hours.  That translates to roughly a 6 pm to 2 am local work day.  We get up at 7 am, he checks for any urgent emails that came in after business hours the night before, then we go out and enjoy a morning stroll explore the neighborhood and enjoy a coffee at a patio café, plan our day, head out and see the sights until 3 pm, come back for a siesta, get to work by 6 pm, stroll a bit with the locals, come back for more work while listening to the people having fun in the streets below, have a nice dinner about 10 or 11 pm, back to work till 2 am then to bed.  It kind of sounds crazy relatively to our previous work schedule at home, but it works perfectly here and is very enjoyable.

Our tiny apartment is in one of the low-rise apartments mentioned and we are on the top (4^th) floor.  It is extremely clean and charming.  It is a 3-bedroom place and our room and bathroom are on the second floor with a small terrace with a panoramic rooftop view of the city and Mount Tibidado in the distance.  At the 1,679 feet summit of Mt Tibidado is the Sagrat Cor Church which is lighted at night with a golden glow.

We arrived at our apartment in the early afternoon.  We showered and immediately adopted the afternoon Spanish activity called the siesta.  We really needed the nap before heading out to dinner.  Caitlin’s longtime friend Carrie has a brother who lived here for a couple of years.  He recommended a beautiful little restaurant to us that is his favorite in the area called Estel de Gràcia.  It was absolutely delicious.  We ordered a beer and some tapas including Padron peppers with goat cheese and honey, anchovy with tomato for Wayne-ewww, tomato bread, Andalusian squid with lime aioli and chocolate coulant with tangerine ice cream….so so so good!  Total bill for dinner and beers…$33

After dinner we took a stroll through Gràcia.  Even though it was Wednesday, the streets were alive with people visiting and partying in the Plaça de Vila de Gràcia and Plaça del Sol….a great first day

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•