What I like about Barcelona’s neighborhoods is, if you go to Barceloneta, it feels like a different city than Gràcia. If you go to Plaça de la Vila de Gràcia or Plaça de Sol in Gràcia, you can get great tapas and it’s more local, and less touristy.
Barcelona's skateboarders hang out in front of MACBA, Barcelona's museum of contemporary art.
There are other places that are also really cool, but maybe a little more touristic: Born and the Raval. There is a street called Carrer de Joaquín Costa? It’s a street with really cheap bars--you can get French fries for, like, one euro in the Raval. Afterward, you can go to MACBA. All the skaters gather there, and it’s really fun with all the bars around there.
You know, I don’t really know the names of any of the bars. Like for me, I’m gonna be honest, I just sit at the first place I see. Because I’ve never had bad food here in Barcelona. But maybe that’s just because I like food a lot, so it’s not fair. But I can’t tell.
I don’t live in a tourist place. I live in Gràcia. I love this place called Toyo. It’s maybe not the best sushi in town, but it’s local and it’s cheap. 15 euros, and you can eat whatever you want—it’s a buffet. I also eat a lot of hummus. It’s not Spanish, but I love it, I always order the hummus.
For me, Gràcia has a lot of spirit. It’s very local, and very…it’s different. During the night, in Plaça de Sol, everyone gathers and sits on the floor, just to hang out with friends, play music, drink something. For me, it’s more about the gastronomy and the little boutiques. You have Verdi Street, a pedestrian walk. You have any kind of food you want, a cinema, clothing stores.
A casual weeknight out at the cinema on Carrer de Verdi.
Gràcia is full of short, narrow streets that welcome pedestrians with restaurants and shops. Lively in the evening, totally asleep in the afternoon.
For me, Gràcia is all about promoting another side of Barcelona. You know? Sometimes you’re gonna want to spend 10 euros more for a jacket that’s not from H&M or Zara, and they do that here. It’s more cultural, and they really push the neighborhood. Everyone helps each other, the food is really good. Just, on Sundays a lot is closed, and everything closes for siesta from 2pm to 5pm.
The thing about Barcelona is that locals are really pushy about keeping the local culture. Las Ramblas is very touristic, but it’s like, in Barcelona, they are keeping their originality through different neighborhoods. For example, around Sagrada Familia, you can walk like the two blocks around it and you have all the craziness. But it’s still a local neighborhood outside of those two blocks. Barcelona people really want to fight to keep something, to just keep it like a little place. And that’s Gràcia. You can experience one day, a couple of hours in Gràcia, and take the bus to Las Ramblas, and you’ll feel like you’re in a different city. And that’s the charm.