At the beginning of October we moved into a flat in the middle of El Born, a touristy part of town that is ideal for walking, shopping, eating, and just hanging out to people watch. Besides our own neighborhood, we have perfect access (5-10 minutes away) to at least three other "areas" of Barcelona that are also quite popular to visit, with other arrays of shops, restaurants, cafes, and tourist sites. We are in an ideal spot for many reasons.
First, we are very well located. Only a 5 minute walk away is the huge city park, which I have blogged about many times, as we pretty much take everyone there who comes to visit. The beach is also within a 20 minute walk, and within 10+ minutes you can get to La Rambla, the main avenue in the city where you find the street entertainers and artists, as well as the huge and popular market, La Boqueria. La Rambla runs between the huge Catalunya Plaza to the water with the statue of Columbus.
There are also particularly popular tourist sites nearby where we live, which gives the area a historical and often festive and energetic atmosphere. A huge cathedral on the back side of our building chimes its bells every quarter hour (after a while you don't hear them much of the time). A short walk away is the Catalunya Cultural Center which has Roman ruins you can see for free. Walk only 5+ minutes to reach the Cathedral of Barcelona, which is very popular with a huge plaza and events and activities going on at times, or the Santa Caterina market, full of good foods to buy without having to fight the tourists at the larger and more popular La Boqueria market.
What makes El Born so awesome is that there is virtually no street traffic within the neighborhood, so there is no motorized street noise (except for a rare motorbike that drives through). The neighborhood is mostly comprised of narrow alleyways, along with some wider main alleys, with quaint and quiet shops, as well as bars and restaurants. Gratefully, we live in an alley that does not have any bars. Of course, we get the occasional inebriated (or just crazy) person or groups of people who walk through the alley and echo their outbursts for all to hear at great decibels. However, the more pleasant sounds come from the end of the alley where the patio-seated guests are continually entertained (tips, please!) with singing, musical instruments, dancing, and even gymnastics. We are graced with the distant but clearly audible musical sounds that float our way. Now that it is summer, our balcony doors are always open to let in the breeze, and the delightful sounds waft into our apartment. There are those entertainers who play the same music or sing the same song every time...we find it amusing, but not too annoying.
Our apartment itself is quite unique and is in a building that is 500 years old. Even people who live in Barcelona and have been to our place (even folks from the property management company) are impressed with its character. All of our out of town visitors have enjoyed the space, as well as the area we are in. We are very grateful for discovering this flat and neighborhood (in which we were not originally searching) and share it with those who have visited. As for the apartment itself, I will let you read Nicholas' description. He wrote this long ago, but I am just now putting it together with photos to share on the blog. Hope you enjoy hearing about it...
Our Barcelona Apartment
by Nicholas
Our apartment has no elevator. All you can use are the stairs because it's just far enough that if you jump, it is obligatory that you will never be wholesome again. When you walk into our dwellings, you take a left turn and then a right, just to stride through a hallway with ancient brick and beam ceilings arching and soaring above you. You then pass an incomprehensible disaster of a room (Jacob's room) just to stumble by a pristine and elegant looking bathroom (Mom and Dad's bathroom). Walk a little further into the kitchen which has a precariously hanging loft above it. The loft is decked out with a Samsung TV, a table, and a red couch so low set that you have to stretch your legs to the utmost length toward the glowing rectangle of zombifying entertainment, but when you do, the outcome is glorious! Stride through our newly remodeled kitchen and down another hallway and to your left you see Mom and Dad's room with a balcony looking out on the tourists ambling just within dumping range of a glass of water. If you keep walking straight down the hallway you slam through a set of doors into my spotless, good looking room that every boy has. Ok, maybe I exaggerated a little bit. The only other room is the refrigerator; it's a little cold and cramped, but in the movies it saved Indiana Jones from a nuclear explosion. With that said, if you haven't seen Indiana Jones, get a Life (cereal), and join us in Spain with a brush for your Spanish! (Get it? "Brush" up on your Spanish.)
So, here are some photos of our apartment.
First, this is the view from our kitchen balcony. At the end of this alley is the main walking street with restaurants, shops, and where the music and entertainment takes place (that we can hear).
This is what you see when you walk into the entry.
View of the entry from the other direction
Go left from the entry and come to this little bathroom
From the little bathroom, you see a long corridor.
The first door on your right is a bedroom where almost all our guests slept.
For part of the year it was Jacob's bedroom.
The next door on the right is the main bathroom.
From the main bathroom, take a little turn to get to this hallway which leads you into the kitchen/living room area.
Almost there...
Here is the kitchen with living room loft above it.
Looking out into the alleyway
Similar photo with some daylight. We have nice "balcony neighbors". The top balcony is a rental, so a variety of people come and go. Very interesting to hear all the different languages spoken, and compliments to the boys when there are young girls staying there. So entertaining.
Looking onto the terrace with our clothes drying on the rack
(not many apartments have dryers...only washers)
Looking the other direction from the kitchen. There are windows/doors on either side of the kitchen, giving us a nice breeze through the room when it's too hot. Our air conditioning did not work for a good part of the summer (getting things fixed around here is quite a task), so we relied heavily on moving air to keep from sweating too much. Apparently, this has been a very hot summer...high 80's with maximum humidity.
Another view...in the back corner is the hall to the other bedrooms.
Looking back from that hall...
Up the stairs to the loft...
After going through the kitchen, you reach a hallway leading to the other two bedrooms. On the right is a closet.
The first door on the left is Ray's and my bedroom.
Here is looking directly down from our balcony.
Looking down the alley to the outdoor restaurant patios and an entertaining musician...
At the end of the hall (and the end of the flat) is the boys' room.
...and that's our home in Barcelona!
