When I am writing this it is 10:30 PM at night. Well, in almost any other country I’d be asleep already, but not in Spain, or better said, Barcelona. Since coming here and finally beating the jetlag, my time schedule has shifted. In Barcelona people eat and stay up later.
Meeting my cousin who lives in Barcelona, we were discussing why that is over dinner. Perhaps it is because the evenings stay light for so long (it turns dark around 9 PM here), we figured. Perhaps it is because they have lunch so late, at 2 or 3 PM. Perhaps dinner is true social time here and therefore takes longer. Then a South American waiter, overhearing us, decided to cut our conversation abruptly short. “It is simple, they are just lazy here. They like to sleep the whole morning. They are lazy. That is the reason.” Well, that settled that.
That conversation was at the start of my Barcelona trip. I had been to Barcelona a few times, but that was before starting this blog. As I like to write from experience and not from memory, I was happy to come back and write this article. So I spent many days exploring neighbourhoods, charming plaças, soaking up the sun and, yes, staying up late.
Montjuïc and a different Barcelona
I booked a hotel near Montjuïc, in the Poble-Sec Sant-Antoni Area. A different part of the city from my previous visits. The area around my hotel felt more local, with tapas bars and other restaurants in small narrow streets. A local living area. More of a real Barcelona feeling.
Asking ChatGPT for jogging routes, I ended up at Montjuïc that first morning, meaning Jewish Mountain. This is a hill with a rich history, with settlements present before Barcelona was founded. It also hosted the 1929 International Exhibition, for which many grand buildings remain.
Well, apparently me and previous settlers were not the only ones liking the hill. While jogging I passed quite a few homeless people with trash scattered around. Nothing threatening or dangerous, but having lived Shanghai for long, it was something I had to get used to again. And it would not be the last time
Barceloneta, Poblenou and the August crowds
After my run I went to Plaça de Catalunya and jumped on the City Tour bus to get my usual overview of the city. We passed familiar attractions like Casa Milà, the Basilica of the Sagrada Família and Camp Nou, the Barcelona stadium where I had a great tour six years earlier.
After returning, I took my favourite walk in Barcelona. Down the classy Passeig de Gràcia around the Majestic Hotel, passing Plaça de Catalunya and the Gothic Quarter towards Barceloneta. This walk is touristy, yes, but for me it has the Barcelona vibe. I found myself returning to it often.
Barceloneta is the great beachfront area I vividly remembered visiting in October and January years before, quiet with a nice breeze overlooking the sea. As a Dutch person, there is something special about sitting in the warm sun during months when you feel it is not supposed to be there.
Well on this particular August day things get crowded and hotter. So I left Barceloneta and continued along the coast towards Poblenou, a quieter living area.
Things were immediately quieter. I eventually sat peacefully at a charming little square called Plaça de Prim, with trees in the middle, almost no people and just this peaceful feeling. Barcelona has many of these plaças and it became a sport for me to spot the most charming ones. I ended my day on Poblenou beach listening to the waves and feeling the breeze. It must be great to have this available every day, I thought.
Roman Barcelona, robbers and charming squares
The next day I decided to explore the Gothic Quarter. Barcelona was founded by the Romans as Barcino around the time of Emperor Augustus. It all started around today’s Gothic Quarter, where parts of the Temple of Augustus are still, very partly, standing. At the MUHBA history museum you can even walk underneath the modern city through Roman ruins. Roman history always adds a nice touch.
The Gothic Quarter also gave me another favourite square in Barcelona: Plaça de Sant Felip Neri. When I arrived there was a Spanish man playing guitar, a tree in the middle and few people around. Somehow it all came together. Like in a movie.
Then, walking further east of the Gothic Quarter, I witnessed something unusual. Two robberies within about five minutes. One was particularly distressing, with a 10-year-old girl’s bag stolen and the father going after the robber while the child was crying and shouting, “Papa, Papa.” Next up was an older lady’s handbag. A little later I witnessed what looked like another attempt, where some Chinese tourists managed to pull their belongings away just in time.
So walking there, I decided to strap my backpack around two shoulders and not give anyone any ideas.
To escape the robbers I walked in the opposite direction and ended up at Plaça Reial. This was a bigger plaça. Not the kind of charm of the others, but impressive nevertheless, with palm trees in the middle and Gaudí-designed lamp posts.
This time I met a beggar who told me the government had screwed things up and now he was living on the street. And here again the question popped up: will I give, and how much? I gave this person 10 euros, quite a bit more than the 50 cents he asked for. The surprise was clear on his face.
El Born is a charming district full of cafés and bars next to the Gothic Quarter. I ended my day having another late dinner, at 8 PM, and wandering around the many alleys.
Sitges, a fun day out
Next was Sitges, a coastal town 35 kilometers outside Barcelona. I have family living there and, after first visiting their house while it was under construction six years ago, this time I could see it finished.
If one decides to move to Barcelona, it is definitely an option to live in a town like this. Away and quiet, but still close enough. Or in the closer Castelldefels, where Lionel Messi lived. Sitges is charming and has its own identity. As for me, it is always difficult. I guess I would still miss the Barcelona city vibe too much.
We went out for a nice lunch near the beach. Getting there is easy enough, with frequent trains taking around 30 minutes.
Johan Cruyff’s former home and charming Sarrià
Visiting any city, I am always curious how people live and I try to visit different neighbourhoods. This day I wanted to know how and where the rich lived.
So I took a taxi to Pedralbes and Avinguda de Pearson, one of its most exclusive streets. Big villas, but the streets themselves were not particularly nice or charming. Kind of barebones, not befitting Barcelona, I thought.
Then somehow Johan Cruyff popped into my head. The late Dutch and FC Barcelona football legend lived in Barcelona for much of his life. I found out online that the house where he had lived was on Carrer de les Escoles Pies in Bonanova, Sant Gervasi. Close to where I was.
So I walked there. It was indeed the house where he had lived for more than 20 years. I walked around, and it seemed neglected, with weeds growing everywhere and little sign that anyone was taking care of it. Always strange to imagine someone famous living somewhere for so long and now seeing it like this. Like nothing ever happened.
From Cruyff’s former home I walked to nearby Sarrià. This was a beautiful little village within Barcelona. I started from the nice and peaceful Plaça de Sarrià and wandered around the streets and shops. One particularly charming plaça I walked into was Plaça de Sant Vicenç de Sarrià. There is a restaurant there called Bar-Ba Pau. It all comes together, an almost movie-like setting to have your dinner or wine.
Exploring the neighbourhoods
My last days I spent further wandering around Barcelona. It took some time for me to start travelling by Metro instead of Uber, but somehow it freed me. So I visited many different districts and areas, from the classy “old money” feeling of Sant Gervasi to Gràcia.
Gràcia has a nice cozy vibe, with small streets, some of them on hills, giving the neighbourhood an interesting feel. I remembered visiting a festival on Plaça del Sol six years earlier. It was well worth coming back and checking out the area properly.
On my last afternoon I took an Uber back to my hotel. The driver was Pakistani, as many Uber drivers here seem to be. He told me he was happy in Barcelona but had become obsessed with money and sometimes felt frustrated seeing everyone having a good time while he had to work.
He had hope, though. Claiming to be the only Catalan-speaking Pakistani in Barcelona, he had recently gotten some Spanish movie roles. That should be his money turnaround, he said.
Before I left, he gave me one final tip: go up to Montjuïc Castle for the views and the calm surroundings. So I did. Looking over Barcelona one last time reinforced much of what I had come to like about the city. The weather, the vibe, the sea, the little bistros and the people.
My next stop is Amsterdam. Back to 6 PM dinners and shorter evenings.
It might take some getting used to.
