Winter in Barcelona is made of magic and all things delicious!

December 2019

We were very lucky to spend over a week in Barcelona, Spain, on a film shoot. It was an epic trip, despite the cold because obody knew it would be the last foreign travel in a while, as we hurtled into 2020, blissfully unaware of the impending Lockdown. I did not know it would be the last time I would see my only child in nearly 18 months.

Read on! Beware, this story is full of commas as there are so many, many, many words to include!!

Barcelona is hands down one of my most favourite cities in the world. It’s elegant, grungy, beautiful and delicious, all at the same time. The food scene is insane. The people are mad about food and it’s very difficult to have a bad meal.

What’s not to love about tiny cafes, ancient alleys, stunning churches, hipster shops and the el Gotik and el Borne quarters? There are lots of sidewalk tables everywhere to sit watch the world go by as you enjoy patatas bravas and sangria. There are top notch bars and restaurants serving some brilliant food, and decadent bars with twinkly lights and history in their beautiful powder rooms ( La Boca Grande).

To this mix, add a vibrant party culture, amazing wine and cocktails, coffee culture, chocolate culture, gorgeous architecture and design and oodles of history.

Recapping my trip from December 2019 (and it was the perfect month to visit, deliciously cold but not freezing, Xmas lights across the city, and the clearest blue skies and golden sunshine), here is a list I recommend.

We flew via Abu Dhabi ( horrid airport). The Etihad airways flight was nothing to rave about, despite their reputation. The airline food was pretty good.

We stayed at the lovely boutique hotel Room Mate Anna, across the road from the main avenue Passeig de Gracias. Anna is a hop away from the metro station, all the fancy stores, the Casa Batllo ( Gaudi’s sumptuous apartment block), Casa Amattler ( next door, house of very good chocolate) and so much more. Walk up or down the Passeig and you reach most of the best spots to visit!!

Walk, walk and walk some more, gazing up at ornate wrought iron work on very beautiful and grand architecture of old stone cut buildings. Think London or Paris, in scale. There is fin de siecle, art deco and elegance in turrets, stained glass, stone facades, slender balconettes and sweeping office blocks from the 1900s. It’s a treat if you love architecture. And I do! Every building has a plaque with its date of construction: this is living history. Even the slightly seamier sides of Barca are grungy but chic, and the more medieval alleys and historic el Gotic quarter will take you right back to the time of the Moors and the Templars. Remember Spain was occupied for the longest time by the Moors and their influence is all-pervading and unmistakable, with orange trees laden with fruit on the main avenues and mashrabbiya screens on balconies and windows. The ornate floors are another Moorish remnant.

La Ramblas, tourist heaven, is the grand promenade under old trees of Holm oak, plane and Aleppo pines. Florists, souvenir kiosks, cafes, the famous Liceu theatre, and the even more famous market La Boqueria are all here. Look closely past cookie cutter high street stores and you will find a very old music shop selling music sheets and books, a sex museum, very old cafés, lots of lladro figurines and crystal, handmade lace and food shops. Don’t forget to look up, up, up at the sugar candy pink and golden facades with their charming balconies, framed by slim trees dressed for winter. The promenade itself is strung with fairy lights for Nadal. The wind is crisp and the walk is bracing. You enter La Boqueria and risk losing yourself in the fresh, wet market and it’s offerings ( that’s another post entirely) or hang out in one of the little cafes with your wine. This is where you taste and savor food, chocolate, jamin and wine. Try and do a walking tour or a cooking class that includes as trip to La Boqueria. Buy your jamon here if you ahve no time to find the finer stores. Spanish nougat is another must buy.

Just off la Ramblas is Placa Real, a grand, magnificent, enormous plaza which turns into the city’s party hub at night. Strung with a million lights and dressed in it’s festive best, Placa Real is lined with some truly good and truly awful restaurants, bars, jazz bars, cafes and every tourist trap possible. Look up and you will find shuttered windows past palm trees and hostels for back-packers. The music and the parties play on till dawn. I idly wonder what but might be like to spend a night in a hostel right here.

Just past the Placa Real starts the Barrio Gotic, the medieval heart of Barcelona. Cobblestone streets, narrow, winding alleyways, washing hanging out of balconies crammed with plants, narrow shuttered windows and little nooks and crannies to explore make el Gotic a must visit.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona_Cathedral

The famous Barcelona Cathedral is also here. Built in 1339, it dominates the square with its many gargoyles glaring down at you. The visit inside is free and crowded but those stained glass windows are unmissable. The ornate floors are worn smooth with the footsteps of thousands of pilgrims (and tourists) over the centuries. The interior is grand and gothic in style ( look UP! really, look up, never mind what is before you). Take a moment to say a prayer at the central altar after you visit ornate chapels for saints and angels surrounding the main knave. You may light red candles, or just sit and soak it in. As you head through the exit, you walk around the cloister with it’s white geese in memory of patron Saint Eulalia. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona_Cathedral

El Gotic is where you find those postcard views of stone buildings and moorish screened windows from all those videos and reels. Remember to keep looking up!

As you meander ahead, you eventually stumble onto Borne, the old but now uber hipster el Borne quarter. There is the grand Picasso museum, cubic and discreet in an old aller, and just ahead is the yummiest tapas bar in Barcelona. The family owned and run el Xampanyet is an absolute must visit, despite the long lines. The food is a marvel and the house cava is unmissable. This is Spanish local good and flavour at its BEST.

Keep walking further and you will reach the Santa Caterina wet market, the Chocolate Museum and trendy boutiques selling socks and linen dresses.

We searched for and found Cafes el Magnificos dating 1919 ( coffee lovers, attention!). Buy a coffee and sit in the nearby square, gazing at old streets, narrow alleys, graffiti art in unusual places and poles covered in more graffiti as residents walk their dogs and trees shiver in the winter wind. It is magical to just sit there and look around, trying not to wander into yet another enticing boutique or beckoning bistro.

As you walk back and get lost where your fancy takes you, spare a minute and a coin for the buskers. It is heartbreaking to see so many homeless people on the sidewalks with their dogs, bundled up close in the cold. Spare some of your coin for them. The dogs are well-cared for.

We did so much more, like a local restaurant that was insanely Spanish and delish. The Sagrada Familia cathedral, a famous Spanish nougat and touronne shop, local wine, bistros, and food shopping.

Spain is always gorgeous but Christmas time before the Pandemic changed us all….it was the best holiday one could ask for.