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Published: June 26th 2009
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After a couple of crazy weeks in the US is was great to finally hit Barcelona in Spain and relax for a while. I ended up staying there for nearly two weeks and had a great time. It's definitely a city that I could live in for a while one day... mmmm, maybe maybe.. we'll see hey.
Once again the contrast from Asia to the US to Spain really was amazing... Going from the fast food driven, 24/7, high octane city of New York across to Barcelona with its afternoon siesta’s and late night dinners was a very welcome change. Don't get me wrong I loved NYC, but Barcelona is very, very liveable. Also any city where public nudity is legal is 'a' ok by me (haha). I'm serious you can walk into your local bank or go and have a dinner in any restaurant in Barcelona and be totally but naked and it's cool. Crazy hey...
The night I arrived was also an interesting one. It was the same night Real Madrid defeated Man United in the Champions League finals and needless to say the entire city where out on the street going absolutely mental. I'm talking street
riots, tear gas and cars being turned over. It was an amazing site to see and an interesting welcome to the city. After a few days however, most of the locals sobered up and things returned back to normal.
Surprisingly the main part of Barcelona is also quite compact and its definitely walkable if your up for it .They also have a good metro system that you can use and a lot of people also get around on bikes. I stayed just off Las Ramblas (the main street) in an area called the Bari Gothic which is part of the old town. It's a very beautiful little area and you can spend days just exploring all the little back streets and plaza's.
Also if you’re in town one day and you have the time I also highly recommend the underground museum right under the Bari Gothi old town, its very interesting as they have excavated the old city down below so you can actually see what it would have looked like some 600-800 years ago then almost like you’re in a time warp step back up onto the modern day street.
My days typically consisted of a
late start, brunch in a local cafe, a couple of hours work, some site seeing a quick siesta and then a night out on the town... The other thing that was great is that I had a friend and his wife who lived there in 'Barca' (that’s what you call Barcelona if your a local) and they were living just down the road. It was good to catch up with them again, have a few home cooked meals and get the local low down.
The other thing you may not realise about Barca is it actually has about 5km of beaches (which are very busy on weekends too I might add). They are pretty much man made but as a result are fairly nice and clean. And yes for those deviants amongst you all, there is a lot of nudity happening on them... unfortunately most of it seemed to be rather large well grounded old men! Not a pretty sight especially if there are playing volley ball at the time.
And I know it goes without saying but Barca has some amazing architecture and very old school buildings that are a must see. Guadi's work is everywhere and
he has really influenced the cities general buildings and design big time. Normally I wouldn't recommend the local tourist buses and they tend to be a bit expensive and overrated but the one's in Barca are well worth it. They cover all the big attractions and if you don't want to rush just pay an extra 4 euro and make it a two day pass. That way you can take your time and enjoy the sightseeing more.
So long story short, its a thumbs up for Barcelona.
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