Barcelona, Spain

You know exactly where I am from this one photo, don’t you?

Barcelona has this vibe that’s halfway between Madrid and Miami. And lots and lots of tourists, including me. I stayed in a very cool hotel, the Mercer House Bòria BCN, in the center of the old section of town. The person manning the reception desk was from New York and was exceptional at his job. I arrived exhausted and hungry, and when the restaurant was so busy they didn’t answer the phone, he walked down the block himself to make a reservation for me.

I ate here, at Arcano. After a discussion about what I liked, the waiter selected my wine, and it was perfect. After roaming around France, I felt almost like I’d come home.

The photo below is one of the side streets outside my hotel. My goal was to be close to the marina yet still in the historic area. The streets are narrow and twisty, with apartments mixed with businesses and restaurants.

Early in the morning, I saw people walking and riding bikes to work because, as you can see, cars are not possible. In taking the taxi from the train station, the driver let me out a block away, apologizing for his car's inability to take me to the front door.

Are you claustrophobic yet? I have to admit that on my walks, I had to get out of this area for a while and see green spaces.

Outside the central area, the neighborhoods have this vibe below: fewer tourists and more residents going about their day in a typical city. I wonder what they think about the 94 million visitors that are anticipated to come to the city this year. That number is so large I can’t picture it.

While the buildings resemble Madrid's, the people are entirely different. People seemed happy and less stressed outside the tourist areas than I found in Madrid.

I walked about fifteen minutes to the marina. My husband sails, and I like being around water. I quickly discovered that Barcelona is the site for the 37th America’s Cup. I watched as one of the boats was pulled from the water.

Until we moved to the farm, we always lived on or near the water. Sorry about the wind noise, but this will give you an idea of how big this section of the marina is. There were huge yachts on the other side from where I was standing.

The walk to Basílica de la Sagrada Família took about an hour from my hotel. I took a meandering route, ready to see as much of Barcelona on foot as possible. Along the way, I stopped to watch sidewalk dancing lessons. The music was low, as you can tell from the video, so it took me a minute to understand what they were doing.

And then more walking. I passed the Arc de Triomf, one of the many tourist sites in the city.

I was very surprised at the carnival-like atmosphere around the Basilica. The block in front of the church, which appeared to be a park, was surrounded by tents. These tents were filled with vendors selling food, alcohol, trinkets, and other (useless) tourist items. A DJ with a table and blaring music was directly in front of the church. No one danced, and no one was listening to the music.

While I’m not religious and unsure how the park across the street got this way, I understood how Jesus must have felt when seeing the money changers in the church that day. I started taking photos, stopped, crossed the block to see the church, and left. Even thirty minutes before closing time, the line into the Basilica was ridiculously long. People packed the area, and it was absolute chaos.

On that note, I returned to the hotel and enjoyed a quiet evening. Expecting the area to be in full swing after dark, I was surprised at how peaceful it was. After talking with several people from Barcelona, they suggested a return visit in February. While it is winter, the city is not too cold, and fewer tourists visit during this time.

I hope you’ll let me know what you think if you visit. I like Barcelona, and my map has numerous green flags for when I return. In February, without the other 93,999,999 tourists.