Poblenou: Barcelona’s Reinvented Industrial District
Poblenou was Barcelona’s industrial heart. Now it’s something else entirely, and still changing.
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Catalan Identity in Barcelona: What It Means for People Who Live Here
I am Catalan. I am also Spanish. These are not contradictions here, though the outside world tends to cover them as if they are. What identity actually means in daily life in Barcelona.
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Poble Sec: The Neighbourhood That Got Good While Nobody Was Looking
Poble Sec used to be working class, cheap, and ignored. Then Carrer de Blai happened, then Apolo, then the rents. Here’s what it still is.
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Vermut Is Not a Trend in Barcelona. It Never Stopped Being Normal.
Vermouth on Sunday before lunch has been the ritual in Barcelona for generations. Here’s how it works and where to do it properly.
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Gràcia Is Not a Village. Stop Calling It One.
Every guide to Barcelona describes Gràcia as a ‘charming village within the city.’ I grew up here. Let me tell you what it actually is.
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The Barcelona Mistakes I’ve Watched People Make for Twenty Years
I’ve been watching visitors make the same mistakes in this city since I was a teenager. Most of them are harmless. A few are expensive. Here, in no particular order, are the ones that happen most often. Eating on the Rambla. The restaurants on Las Ramblas operate on a single business model: high prices, mediocre…
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On Catalan: What the Language Question Actually Means in Barcelona
People from outside Barcelona often ask: do I need to speak Catalan? The practical answer is no. Everyone speaks Spanish. Most people in the service industry speak English. You will not be stranded. But that’s a different question from what the language means here, and what it costs you if you don’t pay it any…
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Sant Jordi Is Not a Holiday. That’s the Whole Point.
Every year on April 23rd, Barcelona stops being a city and becomes something else. Not a tourist attraction. Not a spectacle. Just a city that decided, collectively, that books and roses are the right way to spend a Thursday. Sant Jordi is not a public holiday. The shops are open. The offices are technically open…
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Barcelona After Dark: Where the City Actually Goes at Night
Barcelona nightlife starts late and lasts long. This is not an exaggeration. Clubs don’t fill up until 2am. If you arrive at midnight you’re early. If you arrive at 10pm you’ll be alone with the staff. Plan accordingly. The two venues that define the city’s serious music scene are both in the eastern half of…
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What Opened on Carrer de la Providència (And What It Replaced)
There is a new bar on Carrer de la Providència. I’ve walked past it three times in the past week. The first time I thought it was still being fitted out. The second time it was open. The third time I looked through the window long enough to read the cocktail menu board, and the…
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The Eixample Grid Is Not Boring. Let Me Explain.
People who dismiss the Eixample have only walked through it. They’ve seen the wide avenues, the uniform cornered blocks, the Passeig de Gràcia shops, and concluded that it’s a shopping district with expensive apartments. That’s not wrong, but it’s not right either. Ildefons Cerdà designed the Eixample in 1860 with genuine social intent: wide streets…
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Ten Things About Barcelona That Nobody Puts in a Guide
After three years in Barcelona, here are the things I still tell every person who visits me here. Not all of them are obvious. The Palau de la Música Catalana is not optional. I know you’ve seen photos. It’s better in person. The building was designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner and completed in 1908,…
