Excerpts from Barcelona - 08
A weekly glimpse into my Catalan adventures
My eighth week in Barcelona started with a family trip to Tossa de Mar, a coastal town along the Costa Brava. Despite the cooler weather, it was so nice to be by the sea and be surrounded by an overall coastal “vacation” ambiance.
We enjoyed two nights at a hotel, explored the town, went for dinner, and even a super nice trail run along a part of the the Camí de Ronda, a camino that runs along the Costa Brava.
Semana Santa ended on Monday, meaning that things (mostly) returned to “normal” on Tuesday, as far as daily routine goes.
I got the “day off” on Monday, since it was Easter and both the girls’ parents were home, so I finally made my way to Hidden Coffee Roasters, at their Les Corts location. I love when cafes give coffee knowledge cards to accompany your order. I thought it was super cool that they also included the SCA scores on the cards.
The rest of the week consisted of my usual running, school drop offs, pickups, and homework, however this week it was a little more interesting because of Sant Jordi, which you can read about more down below.
The last thing I got up to this week was visiting the Fundació Joan Miró, a museum dedicated to the cubist artist located up on Montjuïc.
The architecture was super cool, and just being able to walk up through a different part of Montjuïc was an experience in and of itself.
Highlights of the week
Experiencing Sant Jordi
Sant Jordi, or Saint George’s Day, is super widely celebrated in Barcelona and I’m so happy I got to experience it. Traditionally, men offer women roses and, in return, women offer them a book. Nowadays, everyone offers roses to whomever they’d like, as a symbol of love, friendship, appreciation, you name it. You can’t take more than 5 steps without seeing a little stand (like the one in the photo) selling roses.
Everyone, and I mean everyone sells roses all around the city. I think what surprised me the most was the overall unanimous spirit around this day. In the street, on the metro, at shops and restaurants, 90% of people held roses that they’d either received or wanted to offer someone. I’ve never seen such a general collaboration over one single day before. It left me with a sense of warmth and happiness that I’ve never experience on a celebrated day, and that includes Christmas and Valentine’s Day. It just seemed like everyone was sharing the same feeling and everyone was pleased about it, too.
Just a few of the stands I passed by on Wednesday (all of which were on the same block).
A glimpse at next week…
Due to Sant Jordi festivities this week, I never ended up making it to the Catalan Museum of Archaeology on Wednesday’s free access day, so this week’s goal is to make it there on Wednesday for their current exhibition on Sardinia.
I’d like to explore La Barceloneta a little more. The neighbourhood features a ton of cafes and terraces right by the sea. Last time I visited, I was still wearing a puffer jacket and freezing. Now that the weather is warmer, I think the vibe is going to be entirely different!
This week was a little harder, not going to lie. It’s the first time I’ve not been home for Easter, spending time with my family and sharing our traditions.
It was definitely odd to not have an Easter dinner, to not spend the day in the kitchen cooking with my mom and grandmother, to not wake up and make coffee and sit together all morning, being lazy and indulging in a grasse matinée.
All that to say… TWO MONTHS! That’s actually kind of crazy to me, also the longest I’ve ever been away from home so maybe it’s not too crazy that I feel that it’s crazy.