BARCELONA

(8/1-10/1/10) This was actually our second visit to Barcelona, but the last time about 5 years ago was only for a whirlwind 5-day tour of the City (combined with stays in Amalfi and Sicily). We liked it a lot back then, and always thought it might make a nice place to live (or at least test out for a longer stay). The only thing keeping us from coming sooner was our fear of the expense, especially while the Dollar-Euro exchange rate remains poor. Frankly, the only reason we dared to come back at this time was because of our difficulties in finding an apartment in Seattle and finding the terrific airfare from Vancouver (non-stop). But, as it turns out our fears were for the most part unfounded. We were pleasantly surprised to find that for the most part, if you stayed away from the touristy restaurants and the like, that living here is actually a fairly reasonable value. Finding an apartment for a reasonable rent is probably the biggest hurdle, but we were lucky in that respect as previously noted in our Seattle Blog entry. Lucky again, we had one of the better/bigger and most reasonable Grocery stores located only a block away from our apartment, and most meats, produce, staples etc. were on par with or slightly less than one might expect in our former home in Chicago. And, for us, best of all, the selection and value of Wines here were as good or better than we previously boasted of during our stays in Buenos Aires. Likewise, the Metro/Subway system was as convenient and cheap as Buenos Aires; as was our find of a superb Fitness Gym.

Of course, we revisited all of the major tourist attractions that we saw during our first Stay, including: Antoni Gaudi's amazing moderniste architectural gem of the La Sagrada Familia Basilica, his equally amazing Palau Musica Catalana, the ‘Block of Discord’ and Gaudi’s moderniste residential designs Casa Battlo, Casa Mila (a/k/a La Pedrera). Strolling along La Rambla, wandering in the Barri Gotic (along with Tapa tasting at its many taverna during the evenings), the medieval Catedral de Barcelona, the Palau Reial, the Museo Picasso, the Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya, hiking around the top of Montjuic, and likewise journeying by way of funicular to the top of Tibadabo to gaze at the beautiful city below, and leisurely strolls through the beautiful Parcede Ciutadella (which this time had its lovely Fountains working for us).

In addition, new for us this trip, were our day-trips to Sitges and Montserrat, and the amazing experience of the Le Merce Festival (See 3 Separate Blog Entries for these), and the not-to-be-missed (though somehow we did on our first visit???) moderniste Parc Guell designed by Antoni Gaudi of course. Also thanks to Bob's 'charm', we received a special invitation for private VIP Box Seats at the Palau Musica Catalana for a Saturday evening performance by Manuel Gonzalez, one of Spain’s leading Classical Guitarists.

Aside from seeing all of the Tourist attractions, as usual for us the most important aspect of our visit is simply trying to meld ourselves into experiencing daily living as a Barcelonian. We think we did that nicely, and found life here not only affordable, but comfortable and attractive, and in many ways quite comparable to Buenos Aires. So Barcelona will definitely be at the top of our list as a candidate for return stays if not permanent or semi-permanent living along with Buenos Aires, Chiang Mai (Thailand), and Portland. It may just be, that until and unless a job or other business opportunity anchors us to one of those locale (and Bob is making occasional inquiries as noted in our Portland/Seattle Blog Entries), we may remain on a ‘round robin’ among those cities along with an occasional new place that fits into our travel scheme.

NEXT UP: We left Barcelona on Oct. 1 and arrived in BUCHAREST (Romania), where we will stay in a rented Apartment until Nov. 2.