Each year Barcelona enjoys more and more popularity among Spaniards, foreign visitors and new international residents alike. The town started growing and booming after the Olympics in 1996 had put it on the global map and bestowed much international attention upon it.
Since then a steady stream of tourists has visited the city in the heart of Catalunya, in Northeastern Spain. It offers easy access to the seaside and close by mountains as well as proximity to the Costa Brava, the wild and rugged Coastline along the Mediterranean Sea.
The local food is fresh and excellent and an encounter with the delicious tapas, a local specialty, leaves your mouth watering for days. The catch of the day is usually plentiful and the wine a delight. Its climate offers much sunshine year round and moderate temperatures in the winter. Beware of the month of August, though, when the high temperatures coupled with equally high humidity make for a moist and hot visit. Palm trees lining the streets bear witness to the temperate climate. And last but not least the vast cultural program that the city has to offer, ranging from Opera, concerts, exhibits and theater performances that keep you entertained until the wee hours of the night and make Barcelona a memorable city to live in. In fact, some of the concerts do not even start before midnight. Barcelona is known as a city with an abundant nightlife.
It is easy to see why people might want to stay for a while, learn Spanish or Catalan, the local language in one of the many institutes for foreigners, enroll in University courses for credit reasons or plain old elect to take a time out from their daily lives to smell the fresh sea air.
If you decide to do so, it makes most sense to rent a place in the old part of town, Las Ramblas, where the action takes place and the streets are lined with restaurants and places to entertain yourself. It is the noisy part of town where the houses are built close together and where one is forever enveloped in the presence of those living in the same building and those passing by in the narrow streets. You might find yourself awakened in the middle of the night by some strange noise. It could be the narrow street reverberating with each passing vehicle, the happily intoxicated passers-by in the night, the haunting cries of the seagulls circling high above your window, the skaters scraping along the pavement, the lights shining into your room. Everything feels so close that forever you will be unable to discern if your phone in the apartment is ringing or if one of the neighbors is receiving an incoming call. Up close and personal. Your stay in the heart of Barcelona is offering you precisely that.
A flat in Barcelona is called a “habitacion” and these apartments are available for rent within minutes walking distance from the water and just around the corner from a wonderful fresh food market, called “La Boqueria”. The houses are old and feature the balconies that are so typical of Barcelona, high ceilings and stuccoed walls.
Many buildings have seen better days, but it is often still retraceable from the marble steps in the entryways that they have been fit for the life of nobility in the past. Someone has usually painted over the frescos in the staircase, but they have reappeared where the paint was chipping off, giving the house the feeling of a treasure about to be excavated, a gift about to be unwrapped. Even the steps leading to the different floors are beautifully laid out and carefully designed, sporting a wonderful mosaic of colorful tiles that has given way to human weight over the years and is sagging from the wear and tear.
The customary concierge, “La Portera” on the ground floor informs new inhabitants that it is not necessary to try to open the door with a key during the day, as long as she is around doing her duty of scanning the people entering the house for potential trouble the door will remain unlocked. She makes friendly small talk with new tenants to get to know them, bids them farewell and wishes them a wonderful day, which just about covers all of her duties.
Once you have found your living niche in this town it is best to start exploring your new surroundings by going to the seaside. The beach is heavily frequented during the warm days of summer, but offers plenty of space during the rest of the year.
You may stop for lunch at a restaurant with a view of the water to eat their daily lunch special which has a choice of either water, wine or Cava, the local Champagne like drink. The food in Barcelona is good, fresh and healthy. Many places offer Paella, a local specialty with seafood, sausages and saffron rice. It is delicious when prepared fresh, but cheaper versions usually are prepared in advance and have been frozen. For a full flavor experience it is advisable to ask beforehand, if it has been prepared fresh on the premises and to spend a little extra money to get the real thing. Beware of tourist trap type restaurants in the popular areas of town with hidden charges of immense proportions. You might find yourself confronted with a bill that lists tap water as costing 4 Euro a glass, so ask before you order anything and have a good look at the menu. Most waiters in the areas frequented by tourists speak English. However, there are little, off-the-beaten-path restaurants that are family run and usually offer great lunch specials for an equally great price. It takes some exploring to find them.
On your way home from the beach take special care not to miss all the little side lanes, the nooks and crannies of your neighboring streets, since they are charming and lovely to look at with the balconies and plants everywhere, leading to obscure passageways and giving the brave explorer the feeling of being on a treasure hunt. Many small shops are lining these streets, each one with a little special something to offer the visitor.
Everything you could possibly want or need during your stay in Barcelona is right there in these little streets. You do not even have to venture out very far, if you do not feel like it. But of course, you have to continue along to find “La Boqueria”, the fresh produce market around the corner from Las Ramblas where a myriad of sights and sounds awaits you. The vending stalls seem to vibrate with the life of their produce, everything is fresh and ripe and ready for consumption right then and there. Carefully, you may pick your vegetables and fruits for the day, vowing to be back soon.
All the while, as you are soaking in your new experiences, keep a tight grip on your purse or bag and be aware of pickpockets who openly work the streets of Las Ramblas day and night. There are undercover policemen trying to catch them, but they nevertheless have not ceased to prowl along the heavily frequented areas of town. They do not even shy away from stealing suitcases at hotel lobbies. It is advisable to keep most of your money and your passport in a money belt. Sometimes, organized bands of young pickpockets are encroaching on a person to rip a bag out of their hands. Barcelona does not seem dangerous in other ways, though. Given the throngs of people in the streets during all hours the day and night, coupled with the efforts of the local police to keep the tourists safe and happy it is easy to get around unscathed and there is no real reason to not enjoy yourself. Just use good common sense in all aspects of your stay.
Make sure to watch the vendors as they are going about their business of selling their wares. Most of them have years of experience under their belts and know their produce inside out. The meat carvers, with nothing but a knife in hand are able to render the most perfect cuts of choice meat, giving advice on how to best prepare it in the process. The lady that cuts the cheese does so with the utmost deliberation, all the while talking to you about the special properties of this particular cheese, measuring precisely up to the exact amount of ounces that you request.
Visiting the market appears to be a daily ritual for elderly people. It provides them with an outlet to be social and meet up with friends and neighbors, and at the same time to do their shopping. Beautiful old ladies were all done up, with their gray hair arranged perfectly, a small bag with rollers on hand and an alert and ready to bargain countenance about them. Your days will fly by as you are exploring this great city by the water and close to the mountains and chances are that you will not even miss home too much.
But if you do get homesick: a large community of expats in Barcelona makes it easy to counteract a bad case of the homesickness blues in case it strikes you. Just visit expatica.com to find them.
How to find an apartment:
The black board at the different university around town is the best bet for enrolled students, language students have an option of a home stay program where they will be placed in a family or of renting a place through the language institute. Real estate ads in “Catalunya Today”, the weekly English speaking newspaper of Barcelona might offer some apartments for rent, as well as information on happenings around town in English. Via the Internet you may contact:
cominghome.com
pisobarcelona.com
barcelonaforrent.com
barcelona-tourist-apartments.com
rent4days.com
top-barbelona-apartments.com
rentals-barcelona.com
holidaysinbarcelona.com
rent-loft-barcelona.com
Agencies usually take a commission, which is a percentage of the monthly rent of the flat; apartments can be rented over the Internet upon viewing pictures and accepting the rental conditions.
Reference:
- How to find an apartment: The black board at the different university around town is the best bet for enrolled students, language students have an option of a home stay program where they will be placed in a family or of renting a place through the language institute. Real estate ads in “Catalunya Today”, the weekly English speaking newspaper of Barcelona might offer some apartments for rent, as well as information on happenings around town in English. Via the Internet you may contact: cominghome.com pisobarcelona.com barcelonaforrent.com barcelona-tourist-apartments.com rent4days.com top-barbelona-apartments.com rentals-barcelona.com holidaysinbarcelona.com rent-loft-barcelona.com Agencies usually take a commission, which is a percentage of the monthly rent of the flat; apartments can be rented over the Internet upon viewing pictures and accepting the rental conditions.
