Barcelona: a perfect weekend
First of all, you have to choose a hotel . If you want to throw the house out the window and you have a romantic-historical mood, choose the Palauet _(Passeig de Gràcia 113) _, an imposing stately building in one of the most beautiful places in Barcelona, the gardens of Gràcia . It's like staying in the decorative arts wing of a Modernist museum but with all the contemporary comforts.
If you are looking for something simpler and really contemporary, Margot House It is a discreet and very cool mix of a hotel with the aesthetics of a Nordic hostel _(Paseo de Gracia 46) _ just in front of Casa Batlló. And if what you want is to be well located but in a “real” neighborhood, Casa Camper _(Carrer d'Elisabets 11) _ in the Raval has been part of the new face of the area for years, the one with avant-garde design, an arty vibe and an absolutely Barcelona aesthetic . In addition, it offers much more than accommodation: the ground floor houses the two chopsticks , one of those reference restaurants expert in collecting the Bulli heritage, and in the basement is the ** Dos Billares **, a combination of English club lounge with leather couches and old-fashioned pool bar . From Tuesday to Thursday, the Club Casa Camper is set up here, an eclectic cultural program that ranges from exhibitions to electronic music sessions, in case you want to complete an afternoon that you have free in the city, although we see it as difficult. Drop your suitcase and off we go.
Between a Nordic hostel and your home
FRIDAY
five pm. We start at the nerve center of the city: Catalonian square , Zurich to the rear, Las Ramblas ahead with its hive of tourists and locals from which, for this time, we are going to try to get away. We go through the Raval to the Vicenç Martorell Square , and on a wall that is now part of the La Central bookstore, we look at a circular wooden window. It was a lathe for anonymously abandoning newborn babies, because what is now a bookstore was once the House of Mercy and, in Barcelona, history assails us at every step if we know where to look. We enter the courtyard of the CCCB _(carrer de Montalegre 5) _, where we do not forget to look up to find the sea reflected in the mirrors on the roof. The Contemporary Culture Center It is an example of a cultural institution that has always sought to get involved in the neighbourhood, the city and the in general world. They set up festivals (like the First person ), organize exhibitions, host conferences, courses, film screenings, workshops and is the kind of nerve center where interesting things keep happening.
Next door, the neighboring MACBA _(Plaça dels Àngels 1) _ has its collection of contemporary art permanently on display and organizes temporary exhibitions that are always worthwhile. Contemplate the movement of the square that unfolds in its shadow is a spectacle in itself and, you know, the bookshops in both buildings are the perfect place to find that art catalogue, Poetry fanzine, cursed novel or essential bullshit to give to whoever you want or to yourself.
The MACBA, in the heart of Raval
20.00. We go down by Carrer dels Angels trying to cross the gardens of the Hospital de Sant Pau and the Biblioteca de Catalunya (if the gate that leads to Carrer del Carme is open; if not, we enter through Carrer Hospital to take a look). A walk along the Rambla del Raval and surrounding areas is essential . In the process of cleaning up the face of the neighborhood that has been carried out since the 1980s, precisely when this promenade was opened, the new headquarters of the Filmoteca de Catalunya is the penultimate addition, with a lively bar and a bookstore specializing in cinema small but interesting. A step away we find the Romanesque monastery of Sant Pau del Camp in the street of the same name, and in the surrounding streets like Robadors and Sant Ramon , where the surviving clubs represent the other face of urbanism: that indomitable city, the xino neighborhood that refuses to be an amusement park for anyone and is as unpleasant or true or stimulating, as Makinabaja or as Jean Genet as one is willing to find out .
9:00 p.m. For dinner we have to test our ability to choose, because the offer is wide and level. In the middle of Rambla del Raval is the Suculent _(Rambla del Raval 43) _, with haute cuisine in the format of neotavern which has made it a favorite of the whole world (ask for the steak tartar on bone marrow). And if what you are looking for is a tavern-tavern, with no valid prefixes, the adjoining Taverna del Suculent _(Rambla del Raval 39) _ It is its informal version, of tapas, beers and vermouth . The birth house of Manuel Vazquez Montalban now hosts the Arume _(Botella 11) _, a new non-folkloric Galician with top quality products and people who know what they are doing. They embroider the rice dishes, the meat and of course, the dishes with nods to Galicia. If you agree, reserve Sunday morning to go to his electronic pulp . It's just what its name says: octopus -de Muros- and electronic music, and you don't know how much you can end up liking both.
Raval with 'v' for Taverna
From the same owners is the neighbor Cera 23 _(Cera 23, obviously) _, considered the creator of turning a rather sordid and uninteresting area of the neighborhood into a Magic place to which you go for the very careful food and good service ( order your tuna or your sirloin ) . In the very close street Carretas there are two other places that are worth a visit: Las Fernández _(Carretes 11) _ is a very lively place where it always seems that it is a party that serves inspired dinners in El Bierzo , where their owners are from (menu from which it is very difficult to choose and dishes of the day that are always tempting) , while Lo de flor _(Reels 18) _ it is more intimate and collected , with a quite charming Italian market cuisine vibe.
As if there were few places to choose from, you should never forget to go down to Cañete _(carrer Unió 17) _, an unstoppable hit adored by everyone who visits it (tourists love it, locals should love it even more) where you can have tapas and dishes (watch out for the poularda cannelloni) or cut plantains to share as an incredible Iberian prey that you will want to ask to marry. They are all honest cuisine restaurants , excellent service and an inexhaustible ability to make those who visit them happy.
Essence of Italy
night and early morning : the bars of Joaquin Costa They await you and it is very difficult not to find one to your liking. 33/45 is packed with cool people; the Negroni is a classic for cocktails in elegant twilight; the Olímpic is one of those old bars converted into a place for moderns and the like without changing a piece of furniture; ** Casa Almirall **, a historic with marble tables and sofas perfect for large groups and quiet drinks; and at Betty Fords they prepare cocktails with nods to the most famous detox clinic in the world. From here, well, it's up to you.
SATURDAY
10:00. We understand that the market the boqueria You already have seen it a lot (if it is possible to have seen a site like this too much), so we suggest changing the market concept for another with products of such good quality but in which life is not yet at risk of being displaced by the photo: the one of liberty _(Plaça de la Llibertat 27) _, in one of the most charming areas of the Gràcia neighbourhood. For breakfast, just opposite we have the best Catalan alternative to brunch: a fork lunch in La Pubilla _(Plaça de la Llibertat 23) _, the favorite of everyone who knows it. If you still have room in your stomach when you finish (which we doubt), you can have a tapa of fresh seafood or tuna with walnut sauce whose name poisons our dreams at the Joan Noi in the Llibertat market. Find a spot at the bar and the show will be guaranteed.
They prepare cocktails with nods to the most famous detox clinic in the world
11:30. Go down to the Seneca Street passing through the Quimet winery on Carrer Vic. You may be more than full, but it is always a good idea to take a look at their barrels and their vermouth. Séneca and its surroundings are a territory of shops and art galleries in which to look for –and find- treasures. They are described in detail here, but in general, do not miss the Marc Morro furniture workshop, the Antique Boutique or the Plom Gallery, Martha Zimmermann's project, a tiny contemporary art gallery aimed at children with the capacity to captivate adults.
13:00. Going down, deviate a bit towards Pau Claris to make a stop at Jaime Beriestain , (Pau Claris 167) pro concept-store . Mix of bookstore, restaurant, furniture store, florist, cocktail bar and one of the most chic places (can we use the adjective chic again without being cheesy? the place deserves it) in Barcelona. You can buy crockery, fabrics, delicious sauces or have a snack and try to resist the presence of the Jaime cake, the banoffee or the lemon meringue cake. Get up, we must continue.
2:00 p.m. The place chosen to eat is La Cuina d'en Garriga _(Consell de Cent 308) _, between Rambla Catalunya and Paseo de Gracia . A mix of a grocery store, a restaurant, a cafeteria, a gourmet shop and a beautiful place, it is one of the urban prides that you will visit during your stay. They have the highest quality meat, dishes suitable for vegetarians and macaroni as simple as they are addictive, because the true beauty is in the simple things ( and in a good crockery ) . Do you want an alternative? Just a step away, the Ciudad Condal _(Rambla Catalunya 2) _ is full of tourists eager to get a table, but believe us, the wait is worth it. What is imposed here they are their tapas, the montaditos (oh, its cod, oh, its sirloin) and try to get a table on an enviable terrace.
Coquettish entrance of La Cuina d'en Garriga
4:00 p.m. We continue the itinerary urging you to deviate a little and go down the Gothic to the cathedral, just to look out for a moment at the courtyard of the hiking club of Catalonia and take a look at the Roman columns of the Temple of Augustus, wrapped in those aseptic green walls like a hospital. You check that everything is still in order and you cross Via Laietana at the height of the Palau de la Música. Another rigorous look at its modernism-orgy-facade and you go down the alley that begins in front of the palau to the Antic Teatre _(Verdaguer i Callís 12) _. Behind its seemingly nondescript facade is one of the most beautiful interior gardens in Barcelona, nothing posh, nothing postured and all rollaco. A contemplative pause here is required, and by the way you can take a look at its theatrical programming, which is always interesting.
18:00. We took the opportunity to tour El Born a bit, the name by which the old neighborhood of Sant Pere and the Ribera , the old seaside area. It is accused of being too gentrified, of being only for tourists (something that, strictly speaking, is blamed on all of Barcelona) or of being synonymous with expensive and not very authentic places, but it is enough to scratch a little bit to verify that -still- it is not entirely so. Go down Jauma Giralt and take a look at the gardens of the forat of shame (Barcelona is also a citizen protest and a neighborhood organization) and it reaches the carrer Allada Vermell , full of charm and capable of reconciling anyone with the city.
If you want to snack on something (this itinerary is designed for people with hypoglycemia and sympathizers), you are very close to one of the best places for traditional tapas, the Pla's Bar (carrer Montcada 2), although we suggest you continue along Rec Street checking out its shops and bars and holding out until you buy a cupcake (yes, we continue with hypoglycemia ) in Hofmann (Carrer dels Flassaders 44), almost on the corner with Passeig del Born. Cakes, sweets and cakes capable of changing your life.
Antic Teatre, one of those survivors.
20.00. Is the tapas and copichueleo already starting? Has it ever stopped? going through the Les Moreres Fossar (it is an almost imperceptible detour) let's go to the Rera Palau street, to Paradiso _(Rera Palau 4) _. This is one of those places where Barcelona plays at being New York and guarantees open eyes for visitors who don't know it. After a small pastrami bar (pasrami is real and you have to drink it, it's from Rooftop Smokehouse , some young people who started smoking on their rooftop, cut their teeth in the world of food trucks and now dispense their smoked products from a fixed place) , passing through what looks like an old fridge, hides a cocktail bar with wooden ceilings reminiscent of the stomach of a whale and in short, a roll like a clandestine from the 20s that, Despite being recent, it already has fervent followers.
Don't be too long, let's go to Barceloneta for tapas. Places that range from the most popular and rogue to slightly more established options, but all with delicious and addictive tapas. Memorize: the Golden Glass _ (Balboa 6) _, Bitácora _(Balboa, 1) _, the Cova Fumada (Baluart 56, it does not open at night but we include it just in case you are introducing variations in the route, which we always recommend ) , Jai-ca _(Geneva 13) _ , la Bombeta (la Maquinista 3) , Electricitat _(Sant Carles 15) _… And another thing, if you come back at night doing eses, don't forget to stop at Bar la Plata _(carrer de la Mercé 28) _, a fireproof history. The night walk through those worn streets, under the arcades and a step away from the sea , is one of the best things you can do to renew your vows of love for the city and end up humming “Barcelona is powerful”.
Here Barcelona plays at being New York (and it works out well)
SUNDAY
10:00. It's time to get closer to CaixaForum, which always offers us exciting exhibitions and whose building, in an old modernist factory, is worth a visit in itself (Av. Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, 6-8). We take this opportunity to pay our respects to the Mies Van der Rohe pavilion, a design by Mies for the universal exhibition of 1929 which is studied in all schools of architecture. If we have time or we prefer, we go up to the Joan Miró Foundation, delving a little deeper into that world at one end of the city that is Montjuic Park.
2:00 p.m. Time to eat, and since we are already in discount time to say goodbye to Barcelona, we do it in a big way, in the new gastronomic face of the old Poble Sec. We will have reserved a table at Espai Kru (Lleida 7), the modern seafood restaurant of the Iglesias brothers, or at Xemei, the Venetian Italian _(Paseo de la Exposicion 85) _, because at Tickets _(Av. del Paraŀlel 164 ) _ is impossible.
There are a number of highly recommended sites that are closed on Sundays, but we include them because perhaps this is your plan for another day of the week: they are the most informal and high-quality snacks Bodega 1900 _(Tamarit 91) _ and the very modern and unclassifiable international fusion Mano Rota _(Carrer de la Creu dels Molers 4) _ and Casa Xica _(Carrer de la França Xica, 20) _. if you are looking for something faster and battle , go through the giant barrels of l'Antiga Carboneria (Salvà 19), one of those places that you thought there were no longer in "such a cosmopolitan city"; by the bustling Casa de tapas Cañota _(Lleida 7) _, or by the classic among classics Quimet i Quimet vermouth and pickles cellar (Poeta Cabanyes 25), in the lower part of the neighbourhood.
Oysters from Espai Kru
4:00 p.m. We take the coffee that ends our trip (tears, sighs) in Sant Antoni and surrounding areas. It can be sophisticated and cutesy like Café Cometa (Parlament 20), international with Australian overtones like Federal _(Parlament 39) _, urban and modern like Tarannà _(Viladomat 23) _, outdoors on the terrace perfect for winter. or summer at Calders _(Parlament 25) _, or you can exchange it for a sweet and a Portuguese ditto wine at Caravela Gourmet _(Manso 13) _ (and by the way buy one of their wonderful Portuguese preserves).
The 48 hours are over and so is our route. Things like discovering new places of Passeig de Sant Joan, explore Poble Nou, go to the new Design Museum and know the Glories area Before it becomes a must… You leave Barcelona. When are you coming back to Barcelona?
Follow @raestaenlaaldea
*This report was published on May 6, 2016 and updated, with video, on May 4, 2017
The Wounded Star of La Barceloneta