January was a busy month. According to our calendar March, April, May and June also look to be very busy, so until we start traveling again in late March, we decided to stay in Barcelona and rest up.
In early January we moved into the neighborhood of El Clot (district of Sant Marti). We were there only 10 days, then left for three weeks, so we still had a lot of exploring to do in this part of town.
For this post, we’ll just present a diary of our daily activities. Also, this post references a lot of different neighborhoods in Barcelona, so you may as well use this link to bring up a map of neighborhoods as you read.
Feb 1: Upon returning from Extremadura, discovered that our internet didn’t work anymore. How do we get past the language issues to get Vodafone to come over here and fix it? 3 visits to Vodafone store, and several phone conversations later, the technician arrives and discovers that while we were in Extremadura, workers on the roof sliced the fibre optic cable providing our service. But the good news? We discovered that we have access to a nice rooftop space where we can hang out when the weather warms up.
Feb 2: Visit the gas company in person to get our billing untangled properly — language issues make it too difficult to accomplish over the phone.
Feb 3: After breakfast we went for a walk and discovered that there is a small flea market in front of Mercat del Clot (our neighborhood market) on weekends. Picked up a few posters to decorate the walls of our apartment. After this distraction, we visited the Design Museum of Barcelona. This is located near the big Torre Agbar about 5-10 minute walk from our apartment – near the big circle separating El Parc from El Clot neighborhoods. This museum has 4 floors, and each floor features different types of things requiring design. The top floor had a lot of pharmaceutical advertising posters, the 3rd floor featured clothing from 1500s-present and the 2nd floor had textiles dating to the 13th century, as well as various furniture examples from that era through the present day.
After this, we went to a tattoo shop where Teresa got her ears pierced. She didn’t bring any earrings along on this trip, and her piercings closed, so she should be able to wear her new earrings in 6 weeks or so…
Feb 4: At the neighborhood wine shop, you can buy wine right out of the barrel. We tried it and decided it wasn’t worth writing home about – but I guess I’ll mention it in the blog. This evening Yavar & Gisela came over for dinner.
Feb 5: Went to the El Born neighborhood to have tapas with Shane Erickson, formerly of Rochester, MN – now residing in Barcelona. Afterwards, we walked over to the Renoir Cinema to see a VOSE version of “Loving Vincent”.
Feb 6: Errand of the morning … visit ATMs to figure out which ones charge no extra fee for withdrawals from Security State Bank in Wykoff. (Most of them charge 3-5 euros). For this purpose I suggest Deutsche and/or Kuxta banks …
Late in the afternoon we met with Les and Aurora, friends from our old neighborhood. He is mostly British, but has lived here 30 years and speaks fluent Catalan. When we have things like rental or utility contracts to read, he kindly peruses them for us just to make sure there is nothing we don’t understand due to our language shortcomings. They are also live music aficionados and have told us about the best places to go to listen to great jam sessions. Tonight, we went with them to the Rhythm & Blues Jam at JazzSi in El Raval neighborhood.
7 Feb: Put new pulleys on the clothesline outside of our kitchen window. Teresa is coming down with some kind of crud… Better cross my fingers …
8 Feb: Teresa under the weather and stayed home all day. I went out to the Jazz Jam at JazzPetit bar in our old neighborhood (Eixample). Our friends Yavar & Gesela joined us.
9 Feb: I’m getting sick too …
9-11 Feb: Carnival celebration right out in front of our apartment, but we are feeling too crummy to drag ourselves out there to watch.
14 Feb (Wed): Tonight there was something else carnival (or lent) related on the pedestrian street in front of our apartment, though I didn’t really understand what was going on. The “Gran Sardina Farewell“. A bunch of “mourners” with an entourage of masked characters, people handing out sardines and carrying torches — parading down the street. There was also a New Orleans style brass band and a horse-drawn wagon carrying a coffin (of the Great Sardine).
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fTV4yLMzfI&w=640]
16 Feb: We are both starting to feel better — walked to Civic Center Guinardo (El Guinardo) for a free swing concert. On Thursday and Friday nights there are often free concerts at various Civic Centers located throughout the city.
Saturday, 17 Feb: Ride bikes to Panaria and visit Yavar & Gisela for coffee. Afterwards, ride down to Barceloneta and see the Museum of Catalonian History. That’s one of the museums in town that offer a discount if you have a Barcelona library card. We have never checked books out from the library, but the cards are useful anyway. This museum is on the waterfront in the neighborhood called Barceloneta which used to be a fishing village. Turns out to be a really good museum, too. We spent a few hours there and only covered one floor, from 1700s – present. Good info on the tensions between Catalonian region and Franco, and how some of those ill feelings spill over into the present day resulting in the Catalonian separatist movement. We will be back to see more of this museum.
Sunday, 18 Feb: Walked to Ciutadella Park (la Ribera) with Teresa. Ciutadella Fortress, built some 300 years ago – was torn down and rebuilt several times depending on the wars and political moods of the moment. It is now a green park, popular with tourists and locals alike. Always a lot of street musicians and other performers working the crowds for tips. In the evening after dark, we strolled the nearby neighborhood of Poblenou to take in the Illumination Event – massive light/sound shows reflected from buildings in the area.
19 Feb: In our furnished apartment, the cookware is not very good. Decided to bite the bullet and buy a new cast iron frying pan — we hate using teflon coated cookware, and that seems to be all you can get around here. Looked all over for cast iron locally but it’s very hard to find, so ordered via Amazon.es and delivered the next day to the electronics shop across the street, which is also a package drop for Amazon.
20 Feb: 7 members of our monthly Potluck group from Minnesota flew into Barcelona this morning. Greeted them at the airport and made sure they found their way to their lodgings. For their stay they rented a very nice AirBnB apartment just a block off Rambla Catalunya (Eixample). After lunch, we left them to nap for a bit with plans to meet again later for supper at our place.
Before coming, I had advised them to buy local SIM cards for their smartphones after arrival. I forgot to remind them it only works on unlocked phones … so dear readers, if your cellphone is locked to an ATT plan in the US – ask your carrier to unlock for a few weeks while you travel to Europe! Then get a SIM card and it’ll be a lot easier to use your phone…
We got (some of) them squared away with SIM cards at the shop a few doors down from our apartment, then had a simple supper of ham sandwiches with Asturian stew. They all seemed to be struggling with jet lag and we called it an evening early.
21 Feb (Wed.): This evening Teresa and I took the bus to meet the Potluck group at their apartment. From there, we walked to Yavar & Gisela’s cafe and had supper together.
The cafe is on the ground floor of our old apartment building where we lived from June-Dec last year. Last December Yavar & Gisela came upstairs for dinner one night and we also watched one of the old Blues Brothers movies — old to us, but new to them. By happy coincidence, since that time I have often heard tunes like “Sweet Home Chicago” wafting from the music system in the cafe…
22 Feb: Teresa and I visited the Music Museum of Barcelona , about 15 minute walk from our place.
23 Feb: Potluck group met us at our apartment this morning, and we walked about 10 minutes to the big covered flea market near Torre Agbar, one of the iconic landmark buildings of Barcelona. Mercat del Encants is one of the official city markets (in El Fort Pienc) After lunch, rode the metro to Barceloneta for ice cream and a walk on the beach.
24 Feb: Met Potluck group at Park Guell (la Salut), one of the Gaudi masterpieces of Barcelona. Visited Hospital Sant Pau (El Guinardo) in the afternoon. They were just about to close for the day, and we didn’t get to go inside. Too bad, because this incredible example of Modernisma architecture is overlooked by many visitors to the city. The back story is interesting as well – an incredibly beautiful hospital, intended for the poor of Barcelona, and embracing the latest trends in sanitation and hygiene.
25 Feb (Sun): Woke up early and got on a train to the airport where we rented a 9 passenger van. Took a day trip to the Benedictine Abbey of Montserrat. Once we got there, the skies were quite clear and the views spectacular. They also have a pretty decent art museum up there.
We are planning to keep the van for 3 days so we can take a road trip Monday and Tuesday — therefore we have to find a place to park overnight near our place. What a hassle!! No free street parking for this big boat — parking spaces are too small on the street.
26 Feb: Road trip! Too bad it’s cloudy, windy and spitting a bit of rain. And quite chilly, for these parts — high 40s, I guess. We take a leisurely drive through the beach towns up the coast to Lloret de Mar where we stop to visit a Modernista cemetery of some renown. Afterwards, we continue through town up the beach road and look for a place to get some lunch. Since it’s Monday, and the season hasn’t really started yet – there aren’t many options. It’s a small place, but the waiter assures us our large group can be accommodated in outdoor seating and they have space heaters! They worked OK last season anyway! The food was actually quite good, but we were cold and ready to move on when lunch was complete.
We then continued up the winding coast road through Tossa de Mar and on to Sant Feliu de Guixols. From there we headed on to Peratallada, where Teresa had booked some rooms for our group with an eye towards, “interesting, but not too expensive, and also somewhat close to Figueres, the next day’s destination”. The town was really out in the weeds, and we got sidetracked on some single lane dirt roads for a while, but eventually found our place for the night at Hostal Blau, a 16th century house restored as a hotel. Unfortunately did not get any good pictures of this place, but check out the web link, because this is one of the coolest places I have had the pleasure to stay at.
Since this was Monday, there were no restaurants open, but the owner of the Hostal told us about a restaurant in another village a few kilometers away – which was open, and they served us a very fine meal with excellent local wines.
27 Feb: The clouds had parted, and we awoke to a cold, crisp and clear day with just a trace of ice visible in the puddles from yesterday. At least that’s cold for this area. We drove 45 minutes to Figures, birthplace of Salvador Dali, and spent the morning at the museum he created there over the last 20 years of his life. For lunch we drove over to Cadaques, a picturesque town on the Costa Brava. Because the town is relatively isolated, they still speak a medieval version of Catalan distinct from the rest of Catalonia. Luckily, the menus were also printed in English.
We had also noticed a great number of yellow ribbons fluttering from fence posts and porches, and used as kerchiefs. This was to remember some of their separatist politicians. Some of them are in prison in Madrid, others are holed up in Belgium, and as you get farther from Barcelona, the separatist support is much stronger.
We drove back to Barcelona in the late afternoon, where it was very cloudy, cold and rainy. While we were gone, it had snowed about 15 inches in the mountains on the edges of town – a very uncommon occurrence.
1 Mar (Thursday): Found a delightful new watering hole on our walk this afternoon: La Cerveceria Clandestina. It’s pretty close to Hospital Sant Pau, but in neighborhood: La Sagrada Familia, so named because of the landmark cathedral Sagrada Familia in its center. It’s about a 10 minute walk from our apartment.
2 Mar: Joined Kirby & Sarah from the Potluck group this morning and took the funicular up the mountain to Tibidabo for a grand view of the surroundings. This evening we met them again and brought them to one of our favorite music venues: JazzSi. Tonight they had a flamenco performance. For the last set, the performers brought some of their friends on stage for a flamenco free for all! Great stuff!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guaDCcm1WSE&h=640&w=320]
3 Mar: The Palo Alto market is open the first weekend of the month, and we decided to go for the first time today. Lots of great street food and interesting, artisanal merchandise booths. I tried on some glasses frames made from cork – but passed on them. Teresa bought a new purse – fabric with a leather strap. They cut the strap to size and fitted it right there.
Passed by the Barcelona Chapter HQ of the Hell’s Angels as we strolled home. I guess they ride motorbikes instead of Harley Davidsons here!
In the evening we went to an Internations event in the Poble Sec neighborhood. A wine tasting, along with a lot of great food and live music. It was held in an artist’s loft/workspace – very intimate setting. The event was put on by a Polish woman studying to become a sommelier, and featured several Catalonian wines. I can generally have a few sips of a sparkling wine — and pass it by for the rest of the evening, but she brought one made from Pinot Noir grapes that left me wondering where to find a bottle. I am still looking…
4 Mar (Sunday): Potluck Day!!! Our potluck group met for dinner at the AirBnB apartment where the group is staying. Yavar also came and brought his roast chicken smothered in a wonderful Azeri marmalade. After dinner, and a few bottles of wine, we walked a few blocks to a bar called JazzPetit. I go there on a regular basis to sit in on jam sessions held several times weekly. This was Jazz Manouche night, but it was kind of quiet and they were happy to see a big contingent of Minnesotans come through the door. The beer and wine kept flowing, and towards the end of the evening somebody suggested a group sing-along of “16 Tons”. The musicians were more than happy to accommodate – even though it wasn’t exactly within the repertoire of Gypsy Jazz …
(editors note: I returned to JazzPetit 11 days later, and they were still laughing about doing “16 Tons” as a Manouche … )
5 Mar: Trish & Jerry came over to do some fabric shopping in our neighborhood this morning. Nearby, we discovered a delightful Egyptian restaurant for lunch. In the evening, we all went to dinner together in the Gracia neighborhood. Potluck group is heading back in the morning, and we said farewell. It was really nice of them to come and see us — we had a wonderful time with them.
6 Mar: Bought airline tickets for our trip to Azerbaijan in April.
8 Mar (Thursday): Heard a big commotion out in front of our apartment this morning. Women’s day marches all over Barcelona – with this march of about 20 women protected by about 100 police! Gisela said they closed down (the 4 lane) Carrer del Comte d’ Urgell in front of their cafe for a lengthy march of topless feministas.
We recently picked up a guide to brewpubs in Barcelona, and have been trying to visit the ones we didn’t already know about. This afternoon we went to the Gothic Quarter and visited a bar called: Kalderkold. The barkeeper was Turkish, and from the area of Turkey that we intend to visit next month, so we grilled him on what we should see while we are there. One of the places suggested: Sumela Monastery. Check our next blogpost to see if we make it…
9 Mar: Visited friends Rich & Carol whom we met at a JazzPetit jam session several months ago. Had tapas at their apartment (Poble Sec) then visited the Smokehouse Pastrami Bar for supper. It would be a good place to bring visitors in the future.
On our way back home, Yavar & Gisela pinged us and invited us to meet for dessert at the Kebab place near our apartment. They have a pretty good baklava selection there.
10 Mar: Rode bikes to Nau Bostik (La Sagrera) to attend “Eat Street” — this month featuring pasta from around the world. We tried samples from Thailand, Siberia and Japan – also discovered a pie shop operated by an American/Scottish couple.
11 Mar (Sunday):
Heard lots of drums banging nearby, so I went out and discovered there was a marathon route a half block from our door, with a bunch of drummers out to alert the neighbors!
After that excitement, headed the other direction, towards Torre Agbar. On weekends there is always a big flea market nearby. I think it’s illegal, but on weekends there aren’t so many police out and it’s always there … just stuff that can be carried in a backpack or maybe a shopping cart. We got a metal spatula and a picture for the living room.
Then walked up Carrer del Clot to find a place to get some lunch. Near the market, there was a neighborhood calçotada going on. Tried to get in line to join the fun, but they were all sold out. Calçots (green onions) are a big thing in Catalonia this time of year, and when a big group of folks gather to enjoy them together, it’s called a Calçotada.
12 Mar: Casa Amatller is celebrating some big anniversary, and offered half price tours today only, so we took advantage of them. It’s located on Passeig de Gracia, not far from several other residences in the modernista style. About 1890 or so the chocolatier Antoni Amatller bought a home on this street and then had it remodeled for him and his daughter – who lived there until her death in 1960. You can still buy Amatller chocolates, packaged up in fancy tins like this:
13 Mar (Tuesday): Visited an accountant for advice about whether we needed to file any papers with the Spanish Tax authorities. Verdict: no filing required, just keep good records (which is good advice in most places …)
This was near Yavar & Gisela’s restaurant so we popped in for coffee.
Then to a 2pm lunch organized by Internations – at a Peruvian restaurant.
After that, walked to El Raval neighborhood and shopped for some clothes at vintage and 2nd hand shops. Lots of those types of places in El Raval.
After that, we stopped at a cerveceria in El Gotic and met a young Belgian guy closely examining the clarity of his beer. Turns out that he is working on a Business Masters degree, and his part-time job was to identify the best “beer nerd” places in Europe to market barrel aged beers produced by his Belgian employer, Brouwerij Alvinne. What a job! We plan to look him up again soon, after we sample some of their products – which are kind of hard to find around here.
15 Mar
Met a guitarist from Chicago at the Jazz Jam (at JazzPetit) tonight – will try to find time for a side jam sometime.
16 Mar
Long walk today into PoubleNou neighborhood. Visited some interesting parks which we will need to revisit after the vegetation grows back. We were also looking for petanque ball set, as we have noticed a lot of petanque courts in the city parks, generally frequented by old guys killing time. I guess we’re old enough, and retired enough, to do such things… We found a set and tried it out at Parc del Clot.
In the evening we went out for dinner to a place that was billed as having live Jazz & Soul. But it turned out to be a Karaoke singer doing a bunch of pop music. She was good, but that’s not what we were looking for…
17 Mar
St Patrick’s Day! Lots of Irish looking people celebrating in the streets and pubs. This afternoon we found an Irish band performing a great set of Irish Rock n Roll at an outdoor venue in Les Corts neighborhood. It was cloudy, chilly and starting to spit a bit of rain, and we left as soon as the set was complete. A few minutes after we got home, Gisela called and invited us to Panaria for supper – they wanted to do a test run on a new grill they had just purchased, and we gladly obliged.
18 Mar
They had a Calçotada at Parc del Clot today. We got in on the celebration this time. Here’s what 10,000 calçots look like…
And check out the dainty manner of consumption:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxqddHy55wQ&w=640]
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