July/August 2020 the city looks empty.
I thought going on holiday in mid August was only an Italian thing, but since I’m living abroad, I’ve figured that this culture is spread all over Europe especially in the south.
Out of those 20/30 days of holiday on a job contract, they will use one or two weeks in August to go away. Most of the time for us in mid-south Italy, because its cheaper, genuine, and friendly.
Ok, but why? Well, you don’t find an answer on Google because it’s culture: you can’t explain it. But let me try…
Maybe because of the heat, and because a lot of businesses are close. So, if everyone is shouted, why should we keep it open? Let’s go on holiday….
August, post-pandemic and a recent fear of a new lockdown ( yesterday 1200 new cases in Catalonia) pushed a lot of residents to leave the country, and come back in September.
This is giving me an opportunity to see Barcelona under a unique light.
Biking
For example I noticed a lot of bike lines all over the city. Apparently there are over 200 km of bike’s line and they keep expanding it.
We are using an app called BIKES, apparently it is the most popular and there are stations to pick up/rent bikes all over town. We paid 50euro x 1 year and we can pick up bikes from point A to point B for free for the first 30min.
Of course, they will ask you the NIE to register ( check out my previous article how to get it), but at the time we just googled “NIE generator”…
Interestingly I’ve noticed every now and then streets reduced by half carriage to make it accessible for people to walk, bars to expand their territory and bikes have more parking. I love it
The Metro system works well, and you can get 10 rides for 11euro!
Back in Manchester was 2.50£ one way!!!
Some of the trains are new with aircon, others are older, but they run quite regularly and there are 8 metro lines.
8 metro lines for 1.6M people.
Rome, 2.6M people, 2 metro lines.
You compare it.
But don’t get too comfy because Barcelona is ranked one of the worst cities for pickpockets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCG-LcGipmo
Be Outdoors
People in general love to spend time outdoors, therefore they planted trees all over town in order to create shade, chairs, and bench for elders to sit and chat and playground for kids.
My favourite is the called “Superislas” project: an entire crossing road blocked to the traffic and reclaimed as a pedestrian area filled with more chairs, trees, chess tables, and even with structures for exercise.
There is a big one in St Antoni, near the market, I recommend a visit.
Beside the “obvious” weather and climate differences with Manchester, I found a thriving goal the city aim to reach by 2050: be free from CO2 emission.
This is a big statement and a wonderful goal to achieve together. And it feels like the city is taking little steps every day to reach that goal.
Plus, during the normal time, there are plenty of barrio festivals( blocks festivals) and a lot of free events like free exhibitions and events.
I noticed people love to stay outdoors?
Why ?
Is culture, maybe the comfortable temperature, maybe because the houses, in general are small and old so they rather stay outdoors?!?!?
When I was in Manchester I felt like people would go out just for a pub or shopping mall. But come on, I find it weird to “hang out” in a shopping center!! It’s so sad!
Of course, here people still love to go shopping and definitely love to drink: no matter the time of the day you will see someone sitting at the bar drinking cerveza or vermouth with a bocadillo or some snacks.
But here I feel there is more hanging out in the plazas, more let’s get a gelato together, more walks in the city, more “I got time to stay with you”.
This is the first time for me to explore this concept and I will be back to it in the future with more information.
These are some of the things that most get my attention. Every time I go out I feel like there is something going on, and I never want to go back indoors.
My eyes are still very “Touristy” because we lived in Barcelona just for 3 months ( post pandemic ), so I am very curious to know more about this incredible city.
