Poblenou: My Neighborhood in Barcelona

I was lucky enough to have lived in the Poblenou neighborhood in Barcelona.  I consider myself lucky to live here because this area is still developing into a residential area and I have been able to witness it first hand.  Poblenou used to be the industrial part of town for Barcelona during the industrial revolution.  It was a big open plot of swampland located just southeast of the Old City and near the Mediterranean. This was a prime location to build factories not only because of the openness of the land, but also because importing and exporting goods was a lot easier and more efficient given that Poblenou is right near the ocean.  Chimneys from the old factories are still standing present day in order to remember the roots from which this neighborhood grew from.

It wasn't until long ago that this area of Barcelona started to become more of a residential area.  Old factories are now being turned into office buildings, apartment buildings, restaurants, art studios, and even night clubs (most famously Razzmatazz).  Given that Poblenou is a "late blooming" neighborhood, it is a blessing in disguise because this has given the residents of the area the opportunity to make the neighborhood how they want it.  From living in this area it is evident that art is greatly appreciated and important to the local residents.  Everywhere I walk I see graffiti on walls and there are also many local art stores on the Ramblas del Poblenou.  There are also many music festivals and little concerts going in this area as well.  Outdoor activities are also prevalent in this area.  There are many parks for kids and dogs in this area and they are always being used.  On the way to the beach from my apartment there is a soccer field, a rugby field, and a skate park just outside the beach and on the beach you are almost always guaranteed to see people wind surfing and kite surfing.  Lastly, and most obviously, family and friends is very important to the residents of Poblenou.  It is rare that you will see locals in the park, eating or drinking alone.  They are always with their family and/or friends.  

Poblenou is starting to become a more populated area because of the recently installed Diagonal Mar, which was the fairgrounds for the Forum and now is used to more easily connect opposite ends of the city of Barcelona.  Poblenou is on the yellow line metro (L4) and has its own stop, thus showing it has now become a major part of the outer city limits of the Old City of Barcelona.  Not only is there a major metro stop for Poblenou, but there is currently a project underway to install a high speed train in the St. Martin district.  Poblenou resides in the St. Martin district and is one of the biggest and most influential neighborhoods in this district.  By installing a high speed train in this district, it not only shows that Poblenou and the St. Martin district is greatly growing, but also that residents of this area will be able to reach more destinations faster.  Poblenou is a neighborhood full of life, art, fun, and growth and I feel very fortunate to have been a "local" here for the four months that I lived in Barcelona.

 

Barcelona Dining: Bo de B

Like El Timbal is our usual dinner if we don't want to eat anywhere else or make our own food, Bo de B can be considered the same for our lunch plans.  If we do not want to make our own lunch, Bo de B is our fallback plan every time.  Bo de B is a small sandwich shop in the El Barri Gotic area.  It is off the Barceloneta metro stop (yellow line, L4) and is right near the Marina where the statue of Christopher Columbus is.  Walking up to Bo de B, you would not think it is anything special; it is a small walk up window where you order unless you are sitting there to eat your sandwich.  The inside only seats about 10 to 15 people comfortably.  Once you walk up to the window is when you realize that you are going to eat a great sandwich.  You see an assortment of fresh chicken, beef, rice, sauces, cheeses, and vegetables that can all go on your sandwich--nothing is touched until you tell the person what you want on your sandwich.  Once you say what you want on your sandwich you see it get freshly made right in front of you--I get chicken, cheese, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, and all of the sauces on mine.  The sandwich is then served to you on a fresh baguette.  The best part about this sandwich is although it is made with high quality food, it only costs four euros!

After my friends and I all get our sandwiches we will either eat them on the steps of the post office right next to Bo de B or on the marina where we can look at all of the boats.  These sandwiches get a little messy and some of it falls to the ground, but not to worry because there are plenty of pigeons waiting around to eat what you drop!  I strongly suggest eating a sandwich at Bo de B if you never have before, you definitely won't regret it.

Barcelona Dining: El Timbal

El Timbal is in the neighborhood in Barcelona where I live, Poblenou.  It is about a three minute walk from my apartment and was stumbled upon by my roommates and I on our first night living in our apartment.  We wanted to eat somewhere local in order to not only get a feel for Spanish food and culture, but also for a general feel of what Poblenou is like as well.  We saw that El Timbal had a menu outside that displayed many options for Tapas, a famous Spanish dish, so we decided to try it.  All of us, however, did not feel comfortable or adventurous enough to try any of the unfamiliar tapas that were on the menu, so we decided to look at the sandwiches portion of the menu
instead.  From what we could interpret--the entire menu was in Catalan, not Spanish--a sandwich called "El Kiki" sounded appealing.  It is pretty much a toasted baguette with grilled chicken, a tomato spread, and another type of local spread, and it is delicious.  What made the sandwich taste even better was discovering that it was only three euros!  Our waiter suggested that we also try patatas bravas.  This was something unfamiliar to us all but we decided to try it anyways since we knew it had something to do with potatoes.  This was a great decision on our part because the patatas bravas tasted even better than the sandwiches.  Patas bravas are thin, circular sliced potatoes with all sorts of seasonings and mayonnaise on top.  Needless to say, we were all hooked after our first dining experience at El Timbal and became regulars there.  I have never gotten anything different when eating at El Timbal: patatas bravas and a kiki always.

                                                   Patatas bravas (in the back) and peppers

Local News: Catalonia Bans Bullfighting

When I think of Spain, one of the first things that comes to mind is bullfighting.  This, however, will not be the case for Catalonia anymore.  In July of 2010, Catalonia's parliament voted to ban bullfighting on account of animal cruelty.  This vote made Catalonia the first region of Spain to ban this traditional sport.

I have to say, though it is cruel to the bulls, I was excited to see a bullfight in Barcelona.  Upon arriving in Barcelona, the hotel CEA put us in for a couple days before moving into our apartment was right next to the Barcelona bullfighting stadium, El Monumental.  I telling one of my friends we should try and see a bullfight as soon as possible, just to gain a sense of Spanish tradition and to experience something that neither of us have before.  After asking around if others would want to come with us, we found out that the sport had been banned.  When I went to Rome to meet my family for a weekend, my other friends went to Madrid and saw a bullfight there.  After asking them how it was, none of them seemed excited about it and simply replied, "I mean, you literally watch a bull get killed seven times in a row.  It got pretty disturbing and old after a while."  After hearing that, I was glad I didn't have the chance to see a bullfight in Barcelona.  Though it is a huge Spanish tradition, it seems pretty cruel and even a bit boring after hearing my friends describe it.  I wonder if banning the sport will have any sort of negative tourist or economical effect on Barcelona.  If there is any, I doubt it would be very relevant, if relevant at all.

Barcelona: Traveling

A great thing about studying in Barcelona is that it has a big airport.  This is good because it makes traveling to other parts of Europe cheap and easy.  I was fortunate enough to see so much of Europe, I will never have an opportunity to travel as frequently as I  did while I was in Barcelona ever again.  The places I traveled to were Ibiza, Munich, the French Riviera (south of France: Nice, Eze, Monaco, Antibes, Cannes), Rome, Amsterdam, Paris, Seville, Switzerland (Geneva and Interlaken), and London.  People have started to ask me what my favorite place was that I traveled to and I never have a good answer for them, I loved every place I visited.  This is how I explain my travels to people when they ask:

Ibiza: Craziest time of my life, nothing comes close. The clubs there were huge and absolutely wild!

Munich: So much fun!  We went there for Oktoberfest and there was nothing like drinking a beer screaming world known songs such as "Hey Baby!" and "Sweet Caroline" under a tent with thousands of people from around the world.

French Riviera: Very pretty scenery and a lot of big yachts.  My dream is to make enough money to one day have a house in Monaco because I don't think I've seen a place as beautiful as that.

Rome: Such an interesting and factual city--there is so much history there!  I was able to see the Vatican, the Forum, and the Coliseum.

Amsterdam: A very "laid back" place.  It was very pretty there because the leaves were just starting to change into fall colors and it made the canals look gorgeous.  We also got to see the Ann Frank Museum and take a tour of the Heinekin brewery.

Paris: Hands down the most sight seeing I have ever done.  There was so much to see there it was crazy.  We visited the Louvre, which was huge, the Eiffel tower (also huge), Notre Dame, the business district, Arc de Triomphe, and many other places.

Seville: Such a different culture than the culture in Barcelona.  People there are a lot more low-key and not as wild and always dress very nice.  Not to say that people in Barcelona don't dress nice but in Seville I saw little kids playing in the dirt wearing khaki's and button down shirts with sweaters.  The architecture was also very different from Barcelona.  Overall it seemed to be a very charming place.

Switzerland: Absolutely gorgeous!  It was the exact opposite of Barcelona in the aspect of landscape.  We were surrounded by huge mountains, big open fields and little towns in Interlaken and Geneva.  There was also snow there which was the first time I had seen snow in Europe.  I got to go paragliding in Interlaken too which was awesome!

London: Awesome city.  We got to see Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, the Parliament building, and many other things.  We also saw the play "We Will Rock You," which is with music all by the band Queen.  It was a very fun show to watch.  I could see myself living in London to work during my early career in business.

Needless to say, I have seen a lot while abroad and consider myself very fortunate to have done so.  This is a trip I will never forget.  It was easy to get around to these different places because Barcelona has a high number of tourists coming in and out of it's city as well.  I feel like it would have been a lot more difficult to travel as easily as I did if I were studying in Granada or Seville.

                                                       Oktoberfest in Munich

                                                          French Riviera-- Monaco

                                                            Es Paradis-- Club in Ibiza

                                                                         Amsterdam

                                                                               Paris

                                                                              Rome

                                                                             Seville

                                                              Interlaken, Switzerland

                                                                          London

Barcelona: Parc Guell

Along with La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell is one of Barcelona's main tourist attractions; but more importantly it is another example of Barcelona art and culture.  The original intention of this site in Barcelona was thought up by Count Eusebi Guell.  He wanted to make a housing location for the upper class residents of Barcelona--the location of Parc Guell was above and away from the industrial towns of Barcelona and therefore provided fresh air and an incredible view of the city.  This idea, however, failed and never became a reality.  Once again, famous local architect Antoni Gaudi was asked to design this housing development.  Though today this is a very cool and interesting park to walk around, it failed as a residential area because the upper class of Barcelona thought that Gaudi's designs and architecture for it was simply too weird to be living in.  Only two houses were built in Parc Guell, the Lerrard House and a show house; neither houses were designed by Gaudi.  Guell lived in the Lerrard House and Gaudi lived in the other.  The other house was built originally to be a show house, and once it was completed in 1904 it was put up for sale; however, nobody bought it and so Gaudi and his family moved into it in 1906 and lived there until 1926.  In 1963 this house was transformed into the Gaudi Museum (Casa Museu Gaudi) and in 1969 it was declared a historical artistic monument of national interest.  This allowed Barcelona culture to be further showcased to the world.

When I visited Parc Guell the first thing I saw was the famous dragon on the entrance steps to the park.  The curvature, bright colors, and unique tile design was a style of art that I had not been familiar with and it gave me a sense of what the rest of the park would be like.  This park is not only a lot bigger than I thought, but also a lot prettier than I thought.  The landscape and creativity used in the park was beautiful to look at and it also showed me another side of Gaudi's imagination.  This park is more expressive of Barcelona culture in general and is complimented perfectly by the amazing view of the entire city.  I thought that the Gaudi Museum was also very cool to see and walk around.  To be able to be in the same house that the genius architect once lived in was an incredible experience.  Not only did I get a sense of how he lived  his last 20 years of his life, but also I was able to see where he drew up designs for his other famous works such as La Sagrada Famila.  Visiting Parc Guell gave me a feeling that I had fully experienced Barcelona culture.  The art and design of the park expresses a fun and different way of life, and this is noticeably reflected by the people of Barcelona which I think is very cool and unique.  Not every city has a landmark that correlates so closely with the lifestyle of its people, but Barcelona does with Parc Guell.

Barcelona: Nightlife

When somebody mentions Barcelona, the average college student does not think about the famous architects, artists, or landmarks the city is home of, but rather the nightlife the city is home of.  Besides Ibiza, an Spanish island in the Mediterranean known as "the party capital of the world," Barcelona arguably places in a close second.  This city is full of beautiful culture, beautiful people, and beautiful clubs.  Though despised by a good majority of locals, famous clubs on Port Olimpico such as Opium, Shoko, and CDLC give Barcelona its reputation for great nightlife.  They are huge, spectacular looking clubs with great music and a great location: right on the beach.  It can't get much better than that.  The only problem is drinks are ridiculously over priced.  If you are to arrive at one of these clubs before 2am, you're early.  These places don't get going until usually 2:30am and can go well into sunrise.  The unique thing about Barcelona night life is that any night of the week there will be a club promoting drink specials or famous DJ's playing at that club on that particular night.

I have never experienced a night scene such as the one that I have in Barcelona.  There are not many, if any, clubs such as Razzmatazz, Opium, Otto Zutz, Shoko, or CDLC in my hometown back in the United States.  For this reason, I tried to take advantage of going to these places while studying in Barcelona... then my wallet got very thin very fast.  It was then that I discovered that the night life does not have to only consist of these posh clubs.  I discovered many different local bars in my neighborhood and around the city that are filled with locals looking to have just as good of a time as the tourists are in the major clubs.  Drinks are a lot more reasonably priced at these places, and the bouncers do not have a sense of entitlement thinking they are some sort of invincible god.  Overall, I have had a great experience of Barcelona nightlife and am confident that I will not be able to find anything like it anywhere back in America.

Guild Area Field Trip

This field trip was a fun one.  We were able to get a feeling of what the life was for the working class of Barcelona during the 13th century era.  This area was for all industry specialists in Barcelona.  These specialties ranged from clothing washers, to wool weavers, silversmiths, and so on.  This area for the guild people was created when the walls of Barcelona were extended by Peter III at the beginning of the 13th century.

I thought it was very cool that you were able to tell what guild you were standing out front of by looking at the tile sign/picture by each particular door.  For example, there is a picture of a woman washing clothes on the street dedicated to that guild.  What is most cool about these signs is that they are still outside modern day stores today.  This is just another example of how Barcelona preserves its rich and interesting history.

Another stop we made on this field trip was to one of the most famous churches in Barcelona: Santa Maria del Mar (translated Saint Maria of the Sea).  This church was built in the mid 1300s and a true testament to the guild area.  It was a church that all guilders could attend--socioeconomic status was not significant in this church.  The common folk who built this church are recognized on the church's main entrance door, where a man carrying a stone on his back is displayed.  This church was beautiful and exhibited the gothic style of architecture that was used at the time.

This field trip not only gave another perspective of a different lifestyle once obtained and used in Barcelona, but also shows the next step of how the progress of this city was moved forward.

Old Roman City Field Trip

The first field trip we took for our Barcelona Past & Present class was to the location of the old Roman city of Barcelona.  I thought this was a very appropriate first field trip because it allowed me to see the foundation of where the city I am studying in was started.  We saw ruins in the museum that were over 2000 years old! That was very cool to see that such structures (or remainders of structures) were still standing after being built so long ago.  It was astounding to see the original pillars to one of the main gates to the city were still standing as well.  This is an attribute to the Roman culture; their physical structures are just as strong as the strength of their culture.

It was also very fascinating to see how the Romans lived in their day-to-day lives in Barcelona.  The museum displayed the pots and utensils that were used for cooking back then.  It was interesting to find out that clay pottery and similar utensils that the Romans once used are still commonly used in present day Barcelona.  I thought it was also fascinating seeing the sewage and fresh water systems in these ruins and also the way they would preserve food such as fish--who knew that such a simple preservation tactic was putting fish underground!  The public bathing area interested me because I learned that these were the most common areas to talk about politics and other community events.  I also learned that the assassination of Caesar was thought to have been planned in a public bathing area such as the one we saw.  The one thing that grossed me out about this field trip was learning about how the Romans washed their clothes during this time: by mixing coal and urine.  Never in my life would I think that these two components would clean my clothes.

All in all, this was a great way to start my experience in Barcelona and learn about ancient past times in this old and historic city.  Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed in the museum so I could only snap a few.

Barcelona: La Sagrada Familia

La Sagrada Familia (translated to The Holy Family) is probably Barcelona's main attraction to tourists; but it is also an important part of Barcelona culture.  This cathedral was designed by world famous and local resident architect Antoni Gaudi.  Construction of La Sagrada Familia started in 1882, and it has just reached its half way point in regards to finishing construction in 2010.  In fact, construction of this immaculate church is estimated to be finished in 2035!  Construction is slow for a couple different reasons. First off there was a stint in the construction during the Spanish Civil War and it did not start up agin until the 1950s.  Also, funding of the construction is strictly based on private donations, so it is up to the people of Barcelona and Catalonia to determine how fast or slow construction will be finished.  Finally, when looking at the detail of parts already built of this cathedral, it is easy to see why the whole construction process takes time--the second half of this construction is estimated to have the greatest challenges.  Pope Benedict XVI visited La Sagrada Familia just this past month of November 2010 to declare this church a minor basilica.  Considering that the church isn't even fully built, this declaration by the Pope alone is a huge accomplishment for Barcelona.  The one problem La Sagrada Familia faces currently is the construction of the AVE that would go beneath the church.  The AVE is a high speed train that is intended to connect major cities across Spain and the rest of Europe, and the major debate right now is whether or not the vibrations the train would give off will disrupt the church or not in regards to stability.  Tests have shown that there should be no interference.

When I visited La Sagrada Familia I was amazed at what I was looking at.  Never in my life have I seen something so unbelievably beautiful and detailed.  To think that this is one of the more massive structures I have ever seen in my life and it is only half way built astonishes me.  I think it is so cool how each side of the church is made up of very detailed sculptures that tell a story about the catholic religion, but every side has a different style of sculpture.  This church alone gave me a new found respect for Antoni Gaudi and all other architects because in order to build something as epic as La Sagrada Familia takes an incredible amount and combination of imagination and intelligence.  I hope to come back to Barcelona one day to see the final product of La Sagrada Familia.  I can only imagine what it will look like then!