I could spend my entire life just wandering around the coloured streets of Gràcia, so if I had to choose where to spend 24h, it would definitely be there.

I’m an early bird and would start the day around 7am, walking my dog Ed in the neighbourhood. Carrer de Mozart, Carrer de Sant Pere Màrtir, Carrer de Manrique de Lara… I find it so invigorating to simply walk in the streets when everyone is still asleep. Sun is there, but quite shy and you can feel the light summer breeze.

The coloured streets of Gràcia, Carrer de Manrique de Lara

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The beach at Barceloneta

“I first visited Barcelona just under four years ago. It was an unplanned visit but one that would set me up to fall helplessly in love with the place. I was on a four-month sabbatical from my job in London to focus on my ‘other’ life as an artist. I had started off in a small village in France but it was there I realised it wasn’t the peace and quiet or nature that was inspiring me but the vibrancy and energy of a city. So I headed to Barcelona. I arrived in to BCN at Arc de Triomfand had a while to wait for a friend so I grabbed an ice cream and sat by the exit to the metro watching the city fall in to its afternoon routine. Coming from London, where everything runs at an acutely fast pace, I felt an extension of time in the way the people of BCN went about things.

The streets of Barceloneta

After I met my friend we grabbed a drink in the back streets of Barceloneta, an area which would soon become a real favourite of mine, and decided the only thing to do as a new visitor to the city was to head to the beach and jump in the sea. We quickly stripped down and threw ourselves into the water diving in and out of the waves. At one point I turned back to look at the city around us and felt a further sense of adoration for the place. Something about being in the water surrounded by the throngs of a city, but more than that, a sense of energy from the place that I couldn’t quite place yet. I felt it had welcomed me with open arms instantly. No judgement. Read the rest of this article…