¡Bienvenidos a Barcelona!

Things I like about Barcelona (in no particular order):

1. Cheap Produce. Produce in the EU is much cheaper than in the US. This is, of course, because they heavily subsidize it, but I would rather have subsidized produce than subsidized corn, dairy, and flesh products (as it is in the US). 

Today, for instance, I bought 2.03 kg of peaches for 1.52 E total. This is almost 4.5 pounds for $2.2! They also have a bargain space for slightly damaged produce. .59 E/kilo. I picked up 2 small eggplants and 3 apples for... 90 dollar cents! (Everything you see above I bought for $5.45.)

2. Walking by the Arc de Triomf everyday. I can also see it out of my window. And this one is much, much better than the one in Paris.

3. Barcelona is a truly multicultural and diverse city. People don't even turn their heads, no matter what language you're speaking. Of course there are large immigrant groups, (Morroco, South America, Pakistan, China) but you really can find a bit of everything. 

4. Just as there are many different ethnicities, there are also many different neighbourhoods and parts of BCN. There's the Barri Gotic, the oldest part of town, and one of the best preserved Middle Ages neighborhoods in the world.  There you are likely to stumble on some Roman ruins as you walk to the sports goods store. There is the beach front, with its shiny buildings, chic restaurants and clubs, construction, and large promenade. There is Barceloneta, the gentrifying fisherman's quarter which reminds me very much of cara Italia. There is El Raval, the slightly dodgy, slightly hippy and very cool Pakistan/Morroco district. Tourists are now settling there however, and they are kicking people out of their homes to build hotels. There is the very large, sprawling L'Eixample, with its modernist gems, wide lanes, (full of cars and noise) and stupid, rounded corners, which make you walk half a block before you can cross the street. And there is Gracia (just discovered today). It's like the Barri Gotic in that it's largely pedestrian, but without all the tourists. There you find all sorts of progressive, new agey, community oriented things. Everything from yoga studios to independista community centers, to...Centers for the Parents of Adopted Chinese kids? 

I really enjoy the ability to pick and choose neighborhoods, even though they hardly form a cohesive atmosphere or spirit to the city. 

5. Walking through some part of the Barri Gotic everyday, and by countless fruit stands, bakeries, and natural products stores. (I will elaborate later on how the grocery system varies from the one in the US). 

Things I don't like:

1. Concrete. 

2. Cars.

3. Lack of grass/flowers/trees/green things in general. 

This city is an absolute disaster when it comes to being literally green. Everything is grey. Everything is paved. There are very few parks, and none of the sidewalks have grass or any other type of greenery lining them. You know what this means? Dogs pee/do other things on the pavement. 

Probably the majority of streets do have trees lining them. But as you see here, the poor things are encased in concrete. Although I am learning to plan my routes to avoid the big streets, my pulmonary and nervous system is frazzled by the end of the day. Too much car noise, too much car exhaust. 

4. Having to constantly be careful to not step in dog droppings. See above.

Those are actually my biggest complaints about the city, but in my book, they are very serious. Apart from the environmental implications of creating a baking urban heat island, it's just not very pleasant to be out and about,  no matter your politics.