54. Barceloneta and the beach

Where to stay in Barcelona? In 2006 when I was there for a conference, I stayed with my friend Colette in an apartment in beachside Barceloneta. It was within walking distance of the conference hotel. So for a family trip, the area seemed perfect - a few steps to the beach for relaxation if it got too hot for sightseeing, a local neighbourhood not YET fully yuppified, not glitzy, but close to all the tourist action.

Like Bondi, Barceloneta is a city beach. It's sandy, and clean, and packed on hot days as locals and visitors take advantage of the proximity of public transport (bus and metro). The waterfront and Old Port (Port Vell - see separate entry) was revitalised in the lead up to the 1992 Olympics. BArceloneta benefitted from this, though it retains its sense of "villageness" as a traditional fishing-family area. There are no huge supermarkets, just lots of local shops, small groceries and a neighbourhood covered market.

A little bit of history. Barcelona is the capital of Catalunya (Catalonia), formerly independent, now an autonomous region within Spain (and with a long history of bitter conflict). A war was fought between 1701 and 1714, called the War of the Spanish Succession. It was a dust-up between the Austrian Archduke Charles against the french Bourbon Philip V about who would rule. The Catalunyans backed the wrong horse (Charles) and the city fell in November 1714.

Philip decided to build, at the city's expense, a huge fortress called "La Ciutadella" (now a massive park), and made the 5000 people living on the chosen land tear down their own houses stone by stone. Many were left in makeshift shelters on the beach, totally broke.

In 1735 a french military engineer called Prosper Verboom designed the neighbourhood called Barceloneta, reclaimed from the sea. The streets were laid out grid-like, with a market in the middle. The houses were long and narrow, only one room deep, so each room had a window and natural light. Houses were allowed only one upper floor. In 1837 the height restriction was modified, and then ignored altogether, so that every building is now at least four stories. It is one of these in which we stayed.

Barceloneta has been the traditional home of fisherfolk, port workers, sailors , with lots of seafood restaurants. Gentrification is happening, but there's still a lot of traditional families living in the area.

The photos are mix of those taken in May 2006 and June 2008

Below: The streets of Barceloneta from the beach at Placa del Mar. You can see the height of the buildings. Below: The beach (2006) . The whole area along the waterfront was cleaned up or re-developed in the period leading up to the Olympic Games in 1992. The city ensures the beach is cleaned every night.

Below: A photo shoot on the beach (2008)

Below: Beach cafe called a chiringuito (2008)

Below: Showers are provided by the city council

Below: Anti-littering campaign (2008)

Below: These concrete chairs are positioned for staring out to sea. And they ARE comfortable!


Below: Homage to Barceloneta by Rebecca Horn, a German artist and poet. Her sculpture echoes the narrow buildings of Barceloneta, with apartments stacked on top of each other. (2006)



Below: looking north from the Plaça del mar area to the Port Olimpic. The twin towers are the Hotel Arts, and behind it an office building. Rebecca Horn's sculpture is visible, and beyond it, the Frank Gehry work Fish. (2008)


Below: The Gehry sculpture up close (2008)

Below: And from inside the grounds of the Hotel Arts (2006)
Below: Real fish. Fresh catch sold each morning on the corner of our street.

Below: Looking north from the Hotel Arts along the Port Olimpic area. New restaurants and buildings emerged from the make-over for the 1992 Olymoic Games. (2008)
Below: Barceloneta - the beach at night (2008)






Below: Carrer Sant Miquel. The ground floor of this building is the flat we stayed in 2006 (2006)
Below: Carrer Sant Miquel (2006)

Below: Balcony (2006)


Below: Pretty window display (2006)
Below: Decorative wall tiles (2008) Below: How to dry your washing when you live on the ground floor (2008)

Below: Barceloneta market (2006)

Below: Parc de Barceloneta, created on the site of former gasworks (2006). It's a lovely green oasis. Music events are often held here (2006)

Below: the tower that looks a bit liek a minaret is an old water tower. Barceloneta Park. (2006)

Below: Plaça De Sant Miquel with the baroque church of Barceloneta's patron saint, Sant Miquel. (2006)

Below: Taken from the rooftop of the Museu d'Història de Catalunya (Museum of Catalonian History) - see entry on Port Vell - looking along Passeig de Joan Borbó, one of the boundaries of Barceloneta
Below: Paella, Catalunyan style - without saffron.

55. Barcelona: the apartment in Barceloneta

In 2006 when I was in Barcelona with Colette, my friend from England, we stayed in Barceloneta, in Carrer Sant Miquel. The location was great - it met the criteria I prefer - a slice of "real life", not far from the tourist beat. So I looked for an apartment in the same area again, and came up with one in the same street. It's only a stone's throw from the beach, with plenty of local shopping, and a short walk away from transport of all kinds.

Below: Carrer Sant Miquel - the beach is at the end of the street. We were on the third floor (no lift).
Below: Carrer Sant Miquel looking in the opposite direction

Below: The traditional houses of Barceloneta are four to five stories high (added on to over the years) and similar in plan. They are one room deep, so each room has a light source, and all but the ground floor apts have a tiny balcony. All sorts of things happen on those balconies, including drying clothes, and eating!
Below: All the ingredients for my yummy salad were gathered in local shops. In the immediate neighbourhood there were no large supermarkets, but plenty of small grocery shops, fruit & veg shop and a covered neighbourhood market.
Below: Sheet washing day opposite.

Below: A good sleep after a long day touristing and a long night reading.

Below: Chef at work. Ben cooked a few times. His specialty: spaghetti carbonara.

Below: The front door opened on to the kitchen...the tiny bathroom to the right.

Below: The bedroom

Below: From kitchen to bedroom, bathroom on the left, balcony on the right.


Below: The stairs we climbed several times a day. My leg and foot on the left...

56. Barcelona - The Waterfront: Port Vell; Maritime Museum; Museum of Catalonian History

Port Vell ('Old Port' in Catalunyan) adjoins Barceloneta. Once an industrial dockyard it is now a haven for expensive yachts and there are major re-developments including a large shopping centre, IMAX cinema, promenades.

Below: An extension of Las Ramblas, newly built, is the Rambla de Mar, a pedestrian walkway leading to the shopping centre Maremagnum, aquarium and IMAX. The statue, inspired by Nelson;s Column in London, is the Monument a Colom (monument to Christopher Columbus) erected for the 1888 Universal Exhibition. Though WHY I am still wondering about; Columbus didn't have anything to do with Barcelona. (2006)

Below: One afternoon we came across a band, Barrio Candela, playing their infectious brand of Latin-Reggae fusion. Here's Tomás on peercussion, and Gonzapa on alto sax. Download some of their songs from their site, and check them out on You Tube! And here. They are fabulous.

Below: Barrio Candela prompts by-standers to get dancing (2008)
Below: And this young woman sold their CD for €10 (yes, we bought!)

Below: Getting taken for a skate by the dog (2008)
Below: Barcelona Head by Roy Lichtenstein. Echoing Barcelona's favourite son, Antoni Gaudi's technique of trencadis tiling - smashing up ceramics and piecing them together, Lichtenstein created this from coloured ceramic tiles (2006)
Below: Barcelona's own Big Lobster, Gambrinus by Javier Mariscal. Mariscal designed Cobi, the mascot of the 1992 Olympics. It once marked the Gambrinus cafe and bar, now closed.

Below: Port Vell with Montjuïc behind. The Olympic stadium, pool and other facilities are on Montjuïc. (2006)
Below: The marina of Port Vell. You can just see the gondola cableway which links Barceloneta and Montjuïc. (2008)

Below: Port Vell. The intermediary cableway station is at the World Trade Centre. The cableway was constructed for the 1929 World Fair. (2008)
Below: Port Vell with the pedestrianised Moll de la Fusta, a seaside promenade. (2008)
Below: To the right the Palau de Mar, former warehouses, which have now been refurbished to house restaurants and the excellent Museu d'Història de Catalunya (2008)
Below: The Palau de Mar (2006) , the refurbished 19th century warehouse
Below: The Museu d'Història de Catalunya covers Catlalunyan history from the Palaeolithic era right up to 1980 and the re-establishment of semi-autonomous Catalunya. It's a fabulous place, a museum of social and political history, with explanations in English and Spanish as well as Catalunyan. Here's a typical 1930s kitchen (2008)
Below: A kitchen updated to the 1950s (2008)
Below: A typical 1960s bar (2008)

Below: Presidential table and chairs from the Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya (Palace of the Parliament of Catalunya
Below: Inside the Museu Marítim, in the old medieval shipyards (Drassanes) , members of the Friends of the Museum make model ships.

Below: The Drassanes, the refurbished shipyard. They used to be right on the sea.
Below: The vaults of the Drassanes, and a reconstruction of La Real, Don Juanse Austria's flagship at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, in which the Muslim Ottoman Empire was prevented from controlling the Mediterranean.