“there’s something about a city on the beach.”
that was my quote of the day as we walked down this street in barceloneta on monday, my last full day in barcelona. apparently, twenty years ago there was no beach. barcelona was just a massive port of trade, but now the beach is a draw and augments the city’s debaucherous reputation - giving a daytime leisure equivalent to bcn’s world class nightlife. it’s like los angeles but spanish - and with more art. cities are like cake batter. you add various elements to affect sweetness, texture, etc. the addition of hollywood to any beautiful beach town will inevitably lead to a kind of sourdough, bitter, fluffy cake. in other words - barcelona is like the los angeles you can actually live in.
but would i actually live there?
that’s the question i ask whenever i go to a new city. barcelona was kind of my main reason for coming to spain at all. i had heard so much about it and i wanted to see if it lived up to all the hype. as you may have read here, my first impressions of barcelona were not necessarily the best. thankfully i was able to meet some amazing people that showed me an amazing time, and now i have a markedly higher opinion of the city. as for permanent residence, i can’t really say. madrid seems to still be my spanish love, but the art scene in spain definitely lives in barcelona. as a designer, it would absolutely be the most fruitful place for me to be in spain. from the galleries and shops in el born, to the contemporary art museum in el raval to poble nau’s open studios, barcelona is a perfect climate for new and innovative design.
my new friends in barcelona include print-makers, painters, documentary film-makers and dj’s and they all absolutely rock. from lovely dinner parties to tapas to all-nighters at razzmatazz, every social interaction i experienced was genuine, non-pretentious and fascinating. if by any chance any of you are reading this : you’ve got a place to crash in nyc! (that means you, clare, becks, tom, james, dix, ninian, john, hiroshi, steve & all you other awesome folk!)
but now back to some of the stuff i saw / did in bcn. el primero, la playa :
barceloneta is the name of the area that has this gorgeous man-made beach. i believe it was probably put in for the 1992 olympics, as the olympic village is at one end of it. the water was frigid, but it was actually lovely in the sun.
jess and i had sangria at a beach-front bistro and then she proceeded to bake herself, while i napped in the solar-free comfort of my hostel.
but not before i walked down to this big bronze fish sculpture. it’s actually quite disappointing up close. it’s above a kebab stand and a hotel. but beyond lies the newly hip-ified neighborhood of poble nau.
this tapas joint (i believe called the champagneria) sold cava (spanish champagne) for mere centavos - and bottles for about 2 euro. mackenzie, natalie, james (my nyc buds - that are fully responsible for introducing me to all my new bcn buds) and i ate bocadillos and drank some delicious rosae cava. it was packed, but it rocked. i highly recommend it. also in barceloneta.
this is the (closed) door of my favorite little shop called duduá in el born. i only got to go inside once, as every other time i tried to visit it was either siesta or a monday… or a tuesday. you know, actually i don’t really know the hours of this store, but if you get like a week in barcelona, it’s totally worth it to stop by everyday at various hours to try to catch them in the rare action of being open.
amazing handmade bags, magazines and t-shirts.
el born is right next to the gothic district and kind of resembles soho. it’s got the twisty streets of barrio gottico, but with less irish pubs catering to tourists and more independently owned design shops, as well as high-end clothiers. this ivy covered graffiti wall seems to blend perfectly with the century old architecture.
when you look up in new york city, you see towering skyscrapers reaching far higher than you could really imagine, but in these tight, winding spanish streets, you see slivers of gorgeous sky framed by tile roofs and worn brick angularity.
more ultra-cool el born design.
this is an actual gun shop in el born. i tried to buy one of these crazy target posters, but they were sold out. bummer. i wanted that crazy hot chick with a gun in bathroom!
when natalie, james, kenzie and i walked into this cathedral, sta. maria del mar, natalie said, “find the one thing that doesn’t belong.” we walked around the massive interior snooping around for some glaring anachronism, and then we stumbled upon the above 1980’s, motel stained glass atrocity. what the hell is that? it absolutely didn’t match any of the other windows’ classic designs. it’s a must see if you’re in el born. amazing.
more hyper-cool graffiti collage on doors.
paper stores in europe are my guilty pleasure. i love me a good staples in the states, but here there are stores that are devoted exclusively to paper and paper products. no aisle after aisle of highlighters, just crafty uses of the medium in eloquent representation. the above is a paper cake carrier that i wanted desperately to purchase, but i couldn’t figure out how to store it in my duffel bag. has anyone seen one of these in the states? i could use them for my tarts!
back to barceloneta, this time on a cloudy day. good jetty. good light. yay.
this is the view from ninian’s barceloneta apartment’s terrace. that there’s montjuic - a sweet-ass park that i unfortunately did not get a chance to visit. next time!
more amazing view.
here’s a main street in el born (via laeitana, i think). i took this pic on tuesday before i had to hop on a plane to sevilla. i went specifically to see this :
it’s an exhibit at disseny hub barcelona called “tourism. spaces of fiction.” i was also super excited by a free exhibit called “clip/stamp/fold” which catalogued the design of small art and architecture magazines from the 60s and 70s.
the “tourism” exhibit featured this amazing design with plastic tubes and bamboo growing in futuristic soil.
it centered on how various spaces and cities have been ‘themed’ to attract tourists. it made me think of my own journey through this continent and if i was taking advantage of the theming of cities and places. in some ways, i am a perpetual tourist - constantly visiting various states of being and locations. but in other ways i’m a perpetual resident - settling in various ways everywhere i go. for instance, right now i’m parked down in the lobby of my sevilla youth hostel writing this 1200+ word blog post listening to “i should be so lucky” by kylie minogue, instead of taking the obligatory walking tour of the city. but i’ve got time.
in closing, barcelona’s got a new friend / perpetual tourist / resident in me. i’ll be back. to visit. to work. to live. or just to see the completed familia sagrada cathedral. either way : brb, bcn. it’s been a blast.
Tags: art, barcelona, barceloneta, beach, cava, champagneria, culture, design, dudua, el born, friends, los angeles, party, poble nau, razzmatazz, spain, tapas