Barcelona, Spain
Hi, All! I haven’t posted much since we returned to the U.S. after our Caminos this summer. There’s a good reason for that. As we hinted we might, we bought an apartment in Barcelona, sold our house in Santa Fe, and moved! We’ve spent the last four weeks in Barcelona and will be here another two before heading to Miami for the winter.
Several people have asked why we chose Barcelona so here’s a recap on our decision-making process. First, if you know me, you know I was born in Spain (Sevilla), speak Spanish, and love all things Spain. Fortunately, I’ve been blessed with a husband who also, well…loves Spain. He’s working on improving his Spanish and having great success. He’s also deeply committed to environmental causes and acutely aware of the effects climate change might have on us in the short to mid-term. So, while we love Madrid, we sat down, sharpened our pencils (not) and evaluated the odds for various locations in Spain. In the end, Barcelona’s moderate climate (75o F/24o C today, November 12), beach location with proximity to mountains, easy access to the rest of Europe via plane and train, youthful culture, and access to satellite locations of our U.S. clubs made Barcelona the right choice for us.
That said, like many of our relocation impulses (and there have been a few), it was still a stab in the dark. After four weeks, however, we’re calling it a smashing success!
The move itself and the apartment set-up have been seamless even though we experienced several “firsts”. The actual move involved three different entities: one to pack us up, one to ship our goods to Spain, and one to collect our things from the port authority and deliver them to the new apartment. Since the Panama Canal has dreadfully low water levels, the shipping company made a last-minute decision to switch the departure port from Los Angeles to Houston, which meant our container sailed directly from Houston to Barcelona with a couple of stops along the way. No need to traverse the canal. Then, in a stroke of luck, our goods cleared customs in less than 24 hours and were ready for delivery 10 days before we arrived!
When we finally arrived, we met the owner for a final walk-through, picked up a bank check(!) to pay the balance due on the apartment, met the realtor for coffee, and attended the closing. It was all very exciting, but since we had only slept for four hours, we were happy to check into a hotel and grab a siesta. The following day the furniture arrived, and we witnessed how furniture is moved into 100-year-old, state-protected historic structures. Hint: it isn’t up the hand-painted U-shaped marble staircase, and it isn’t in the antique cage elevator complete with an exterior metal door, etched glass-panel interior double doors, wooden paneling, and wooden seat. It has to come up the outside of the building. It turns out that many buildings in Barcelona, ours included, have these curious metal bars jutting out from just below the roof. Historically, these were used to haul furniture up to the apartments piece by piece. In our case, there was too much furniture and too many obstacles on the sidewalk below (sidewalk construction and a restaurant with terrace seating). Instead, a spiffy little cart arrived with a platform that could be raised and lowered from the ground to our 4th floor apartment. Everything came in through the balcony and double doors in what would become our office. The operation took eight men and 10 hours. I’m happy to report that the building suffered no damage, but I imagine the men were hurting at the end of the day.
Back on the topic of construction: Barcelona is undergoing several construction projects. One block to our north a major water and tram project is underway. Just outside our windows (see above), one road has been repaved and a bicycle lane installed, and a second road has been made pedestrian only. All around the city huge infrastructure upgrades are in the works. It’s all very exciting but noisy. We’re hoping most of the work will be done soon. I’ve heard more jackhammering here than I did in Manhattan! The result should be a more pedestrian-friendly, greener, and quieter city.
Since moving in, we’ve been organizing the apartment and setting up our internet, utilities, and other accounts. I won’t bore you with that, though. After crawling out from under those, we’ve started exploring the city.
Dan and Yaz were our first official visitors.
Dan and Yaz at SoHo House Barcelona.
In between eating, eating, and eating, we decided to take in some culture and headed over to Barcelona’s Design Museum “El Museu de Disseny”. The museum holds three floors of aerospace and graphic design, as well as a decorative arts section and clothing design.
The graphic arts exhibit traced the arc of graphic design as it evolved following the death of Spanish Dictator Francisco Franco in 1975. Under his control, Spain languished culturally as his government frowned upon anything that might be considered avant-garde or otherwise “radical”. Upon his death, however, artists and graphic designers began to spread their design wings impacting everything from posters to cigarette labels. The exhibit was set up chronologically. Unfortunately, we went through it backwards so while we saw everything, the impact was muted, and it was difficult to appreciate the breadth of the flourishing of design over the years.
The clothing exhibit paid tribute to four centuries of changes in fashion, relating the fabrics, styles, and especially the silhouettes to societal patterns. While one generation favored the wasp waist and bountiful chests, another celebrated hips and bums. Hats went in and out of style, as did trains, coattails, mutton sleeves, no sleeves, waistcoats, corsets, stays, and, in the roaring twenties, the lack of any structure at all. I can safely say that Yaz and I loved this exhibit. Dave enjoyed it, while Dan merely tolerated it.
In the decorative arts section, we unanimously agreed that the carriage stole the show.
Sadly, we missed the aerospace exhibit. Must have been up in the air 😉.
Dinner was at The Green Spot, a super cool Scandinavian-inspired haven of zen-cool design with outstanding food and service and a damn-fine wine list.
By Week Four, we began to establish a schedule. If you know us, you know we like to walk 5+ miles a day and figuring out how to do this is a challenge in any city. I know that many of you are thinking “five miles, no problem”! True, but we like the 5 to be strictly exercise with any additional walking, to museums, restaurants et cetera merely icing on the cake.
Barcelona provides several obvious walking opportunities. The beach, with its lovely boardwalk and views, the Ciudadela Park, site of the 1888 World Expo with its surviving architectural gems, sculptures, and zoo, Tibidabo Mountain, site of a fantastic cathedral and adjacent 19th century amusement park (I’m not kidding) with views over the entire city and Mediterranean Sea, Park Güell, Gaudi’s landscaped masterpiece, also with views, and Montjuic, site of the 1929 World Expo, complete with Museums: Catalan Art, Ethnology, Anthropology, Architecture, gorgeous gardens, and oh yeah, views.
So, what to do with this wealth of opportunity? First, figure out how to access it on a regular basis without spending a fortune. You see, after years of living in Europe’s touristic hinterlands, Spain has discovered out how to monetize tourists. Here are the challenges:
- The Ciudadela Zoo, which adds a mile or two and endless entertainment to our walk, costs 21€ per person for a day pass. Solution? Buy a year-long family membership for 80€ and go whenever you want! Good for walking, good for the animals, good for the environment. We visit twice a week, and I’m pretty sure the animals are starting to recognize us – especially the hungry-looking tiger. I cannot express the joy I get from seeing the animals go through their daily routines (a Silver-back gorilla can spend 15 minutes scratching his head to find one nit – then he takes only a second to eat it), and Dave is getting over his impatience at my endless wonderment.
- Monte Tibidabo, which normal people access by taking a metro train or bus to the funicular and then making the final ascent on the funicular itself, took us several hours of walking, and even then, we had to take a taxi at the end, nonetheless clocking 12 miles that day. Oops. Solution: taxis and The National, a touristy venue with wine bars and restaurants in a large airy space on the Paseo de Gracia where you can sip the courage to walk the final distance home.
- Park Güell, a mere mile from our apartment, also charges access fees, which we would rather not pay on a bi-weekly basis. Solution: Gaudir Mes, a registration with the Ayuntamiento de Barcelona (City Hall) available to locals, which gives us free access any time we want to go!!!! It’s beautiful and peaceful – except our kids keep calling.
- Montjuic turned out to not be a problem. We walk down pedestrian-only Calle Girona for about 5 blocks, turn right on pedestrian-only Calle Consell de Cent for another ~2 miles, and soon enter Montjuic from any one of its access points. Bonus: we’ve discovered Veganashi, a vegan sushi joint with some of the most creative vegan sushi we’ve ever had, and it even looks (scarily) like fish! Who knew a thin slice of banana looks just like hamachi??? It’s owned by a young Portuguese woman named Debora, with whom we’re already on cheek-to-cheek kissing terms. On the way back we can walk through the original Barcelona neighborhoods of El Raval, El Gótico, and El Born hitting (or missing) all the classic tourist joints they encompass.
- The beach? We actually don’t make it down there much, but if you come visit, we’ll take you!
Outdoor exercise? Solved.
Now how about that “feeling like you’re home” issue? We’re lucky in that our two clubs, the Yale Club and SoHo House, both have Barcelona venues. SoHo House is down near the Barceloneta and waterfront and also has a beach club a couple of train stops south in the teeny-tiny, picturesque town of Garraf. In Barcelona, Friday nights find us at the SoHo House bar dining on Endive Salad and Vegan Smash Burgers and chatting up the bar staff. The Yale Club has a reciprocal relationship with the Círculo Ecuestre (half a mile from out apartment). We tend to go there for a glass (bottle?) of Cava before heading out to dinner. The two clubs are seriously different, with SoHo asking that members wear casual, creative attire and the Círculo Ecuestre asking guests to respect traditional business attire. The two form nice alternatives for us.
Now, are we getting to see any art? Duh! Yes!
On a recent visit to the Picasso Museum, we were fortunate to see the joint Picasso-Miró exhibit. While Picasso was not technically from Catalunya, the community has adopted him as one of their own, and he donated a large collection of works to found a museum in his name there. Joan Miró was born in Barcelona. The two met in Paris, where Miró went to study in 1921. A Picasso fan, Miró sought the grand master out there, and the two became friends, a friendship that would last over 50 years.
I must admit my ignorance relative to Pablo Picasso. As a young person, I never quite understood the appeal. His stuff was weird! It was only after a visit to the Picasso Museum in Barcelona in the late 1990’s that I understood his mastery of classic painting and his later exploration of newer creative forms. Only in realizing that he was a master of classical painting technique could I appreciate his later work. In short, I’m a fan, but I can’t claim to have been an early adopter. In fact, had I been a gallerist, I would have failed massively with recognizing his genius! Oh well, better late than never.
Perhaps this late recognition of Picasso enabled me to appreciate Miró more quickly. I love his quirky, colorful approach to art. Friends might disagree, but I find his work less intellectually rigorous than Picasso’s but infinitely more whimsical and fun.
The exhibit tracks Picasso’s influence on Miró’s work once the younger man arrived in Paris.
We have only just begun to explore Barcelona, so stay tuned for more!
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