I started my love affair with Barcelona in 1996. Two amazing years at IESE business school. I reunited with this long lost lover in 2015 when I said yes to a job opportunity that took me to Barcelona for six months. Six months turned into nearly two and a half years. Then a couple of visits in years after. Then a travel drought, aka, the pandemic. Now, I’m back for a week. Making new memories in old haunts. Seeing the people and places that I love the most…

Monday, June 26, 2023. I’m bucking my seat belt on the plane. Now I’m excited. I rarely get excited for trip until I am underway. Yes! Barcelona, here I come.

Tuesday, June 27, 2023. Arrive at BCN at 8:20am. Drop my bags at “my” apartment. Grab a Bicing bike and re-trace my daily work commute along the sea path to meet Markus S at Chiringuito Bambú for lunch. Catch up with my old friend. Swim in the sea. Return home – the same route in reverse. Regroup at flat. Nap. Actually, sleep. I think a three hour nap isn’t a nap anymore. Run in Parc de la Ciutadella. Meet Jose U. for a drink and a snack.

Wednesday, June 28, 2023. Take a Bicing bike to Poblé Sec. Look for my old apartment (can’t find it). Run in Montjuic. Visit all of my favorite secret staircases and magical parks. Go to El Sortidor for a coffee. Not open – have one at the cafe across the square. Delicious. Friendly. Lunch with Johanna at her apartment – just like the old but newer and better. Facial with Josefina. Mi amiga de corazón. Que lujo. Visit Laia. She didn’t know I was coming and and screams my name with delight as I cross her threshold. Go with her and Flor and Nina to the Sant Pere barrio street party. Meet Monica and Ursula (Swiss friends). Dinner with Josefina and Conchita (87) and Conchita (~50s). Find out Maestrazgo has closed for good – sad. Sant Pere festival again. Home.

Thursday, June 29, 2023. Jog in Parc del la Ciutadella. Run the stairs of the beautiful fountain again and again. Breakfast at La Catalana en Placa de les Olles. Entrecot with a cafe con leche. Go to the grocery to buy some jamón to take home. Visit Laia. Look for the hat that Josefina was carrying with her last night. Shop is closed with a “Abrimos a las 15:30” sign in the window. Have lunch. Return to shop. 15:40 still not open. Wait around. Finally buy the hat (La Bufanda Bisbe). Go to Museo di Arte Contemporánea. Understand nothing. Shoe breaks. Flop back to Laia’s. She asks me if I understood anything at the museum. We laugh. I reminded her that I was wearing her skirt bought four seasons ago and since embellished by a tailor in India. Laia laughs at me as I flop off toward home. Go to Thai massage. Very painful. Regroup at home. Pop out to the wine shop to get some Verdejo to take home. Get distracted on the way and buy a pair of shoes. Get wine. Go to Bubita Sangria Bar. Sit in comfy chair with book and Gin & Tonic. Wait for Christi. Christi arrives and has a glass of wine. I’m starving. We wait for and get a table outside. Find out it is a vegan restaurant. Eat anyway. Go home. Sleep. Wake up multiple times to an absolute racket on the street below. Welcome to Barcelona. Turn on white noise. Sleep more. Wake up in the morning thinking it is actually raining.

Friday, June 30, 2023. Realize it isn’t actually raining and roll over for more sleep. Calm has finally settled over the street below. Go to Alsur for a cafe con leche and breakfast. Christi joins me before carrying on to work. I stay for a while. Have a cortado. Go home for a nap. Wake up just as the official siesta time is about to begin. Dash out to the shoe repair Rápido y Bien to get my sandals re-glued before he closes.  I knew the shop and Ramon from before. As always, he is all business. I couldn’t get him to crack a smile. No patience for idle words. He does a rapido and bien glue job and I’m on my way. Visit Laia one more time. I always laugh so much with her. She shares my sentiments about Ramon. I have no intention to buy any of her clothes but, of course, I do. I buy the same outfit she has on and more. She sends me to Josep Vila in Mercado Caterina to buy jamón ibérico. Says to tell him she sent me. Josep Vila is Laia’s #1 fan!  “Que maja!” Stop to see my chicken ladies but they are already closed. Pass by my old favorite eco-shop to buy marcona almonds. They don’t have the ones I want. The ownership changed – I remember then the former owner telling me they were selling the business. Home to lie around. Out for a short run. Run (almost literally) into Sven and Eve. Fun spontaneous catch up. Carry on with the jog – try using the force to find Thomas’ art studio. Can’t find it. I wonder if he is still in Barcelona? Go home. Leave again to meet Cedric for drinks y tapas. Is amazing to catch up with him. Check out the various festival activities going on in El Born. Go home. 

Saturday, July 1, 2023. Wow! Saturday is a spectacular vacation from my vacation! At 5:30am I hot-foot it down to Barcelonetta for a sunrise stand up paddle board session. The seas are not calm. I fall off so many times! Much harder than in a lake. Legs very shaky. Very fun!  Go home. Pack adventure bag, hop on metro, Jose picks me up at Fabra y Puig. We drive to La Tossa de Mar. Have a cafe con leche y bocadillo. Walk to the beach. Catch the Cami de Ronda from La Tossa to Cala Pola. Pass another cala enroute. Such pretty little playas escondidas. Floating in the fresh clear water feels like heaven. Hike back to La Tossa. Eat a hamburger. Drive back to Barcelona. Get ready. Back on metro to Johanna’s. Roxana joins. Love those girls. Drink wine, eat crudities, go to Palace Hotel to do the same on the rooftop bar. Nearly a full moon. Take hilariously terrible photos. Have a lot of fun. Return home. Pack up my suitcase of treasures. Go to bed. Such a great life! 

Sunday, June 2, 2023. Sleep till 9. Another night of loud street activity. Took a video of the street at 1:30am. The revelry lasted till 5am. Get up and grab the tren to Mataró. Start walking to Christi’s. Stop for a cafe con leche y pincho de tórtilla de patatas. Finally get my tortilla de patatas fix – so good. Amused by the multitudes of people drinking beer and wine at 11am. Check out Christi’s new flat. Gorgeous with a spectacular terrace. Help her prepare for a job interview on Monday. We walk around Mataró a bit. Cute. Authentic. No obvious tourists. No time for swimming. Get the train back to Barcelona. Take a nap. Get ready for the party. Love my white dress! 

I arrive early for the party bus. No one arrives early in Barcelona. Alone at the meeting place. Standing in the shade, out from under the hot summer sun, the breeze is glorious. Nothing to do for 30 min. A gift. I’m in my old work neighborhood. I wander to the corner cafe. Sit outside under a big umbrella. Order a cortado y Vichy Catalan. Nothing to do but sit and enjoy the breeze and watch the world go by…

The fiesta. La fiesta tan buena. Beautiful location. Lovely food. Fun people. Aperitivos on the lawn. Sit down dinner in the sala de comedor. We send our dreams flying… We dance and dance. Make new memories with old friends (love that I hired four of them!). Make a new friend. Take fun pictures. Break a bottle of olive oil in my purse on the bus. LOL. Walk home from the bus drop off at 3am. Lots of shared photos and congrats to Susi and Marcie. Happy.

Monday, July 3, 2023. Lazy morning. Leave the house around 13:00. Find Marcona almonds from the other old school eco shop on Placa del Born. Have a cortado at Bornmuth. Go to Sr Ceviche and have a life saving coca-cola, bottle of water, and a Verdejo. Eat the most delicious bowl of ceviche I have had since living in Ecuador. The restaurant owner is from Ecuador too. Go to Sant Antoni by Bicing. On the way get a text from Cathrin to meet at El Xiringuito. After the appointment ride the Bicing down to the water and all the way across to Bogatel. Arrive as Marcie and Cathrin and a few others are leaving. Cathrin stays with me at the chiringuito. We have 30 min before I must leave to meet Josefina. I talk the guy into letting us sit in one of the primo reserved sofa tables. Have an aperol spritz. Really like my new friend. We say goodbye. I pedal back to El Born. Feliz. 

Meet Fina at her studio. Have a tratamiento corporal. Nearly mortgage the house to buy various potions and lotions. Conchita stops by. Fina and I set off to drop my wares at my flat. We wander on until coming across Saga – get a nice table outside. We greet the owner, Iñaki – a good Basque name. Fina knows everyone in the neighborhood. Have such a nice time with her. A true friend. We make plans for a Costa Brava adventure on the next trip. Walk around looking for the full moon. Nothing. It is 10:30pm – surely it had risen? We are confused. She goes home. I finish packing. I am getting into bed when she messages me a picture of the moon from her house. I step out on the balcony and there it is in all its splendor. The full moon high in the sky dead center at the end of the street. Beauty. 

Tuesday, July 4, 2023. Up early and out for a slow jog through Barceloneta and out to the beach. Move along familiar streets. Admire the sea. Loop up to Placa de Barceloneta. Sit at a cafe drinking my cafe con leche. Remember those 2015 summer dinners at La Ostia. Good times. Head home. Get ready. Pack up. Navigate the suitcases down the narrow three flights of stairs.

Jaume is there to pick me up. I had contacted Africa. She is so lovely. At the last minute she can’t take me to the airport so she lines up Jaume. Un encantador. We have the best conversation. My castellano improved so much from day one to day seven. He is patient and we talk about Costa Brava and Barcelona city life. I even give him dos besos and a hug when he drops me off. My life is amazing!