Life in the city of...BARCELONA
Name: Paddy Synge
Occupation: Food brand sampling and marketing
City of current residence: Barcelona
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What is the building like where you live?
The building is terraced and was built in 1878 (I know this because it says it on the entrance!). It’s on a quiet, single lane one way street in the centre of Barcelona old town, in the Raval area. It has 5 stories, a lift and in total 9 complete flats (two per floor except top floor). Each flat has two balconies on the road side and one big one at the back. We do have a lift although that was installed rather recently and slightly detracts from the original charm that the entrance and stairwell would have had, but that’s a sign of the modern times I suppose – function over form. My flat has 4 beds, one bathroom, kitchen and big dining/sitting room. We don’t really have any outdoor space (apart from smallish balconies) but there is a roof terrace which we have yet to find out if we can use yet, or not. I live three girls. One is English and a good friend before moving in. The other two were already friends from university in Paris and are here to do a placement at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. One is Polish and the other Mexican.
What is near where you live?
What isn’t near to where I live! Being in the centre there is everything here that you need. Things of note include the MACBA (Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art) that has really great exhibitions on such as press photography of the year. The space outside the museum is a Mecca for skaters (the whole city is seen as one of the best for skating) so can hear them sometimes from the front balconies of the flat.
Also near me is the old hospital of Barcelona that now serves as a library. It has a wonderful courtyard that, given we are only 100m from Las Ramblas, is remarkably silent inside. Of course there is then the usual centre stuff of the city: Las Ramblas, Plaza Catalunya, Passeig de Gracia, La Catedral, Port Vell etc.
I usually go to work on the Bicing (Barcelona’s equivalent of the Boris bikes – although existed here for many years before London got its arse into gear!). It takes about 7 minutes.
What is the building like where you work?
My work building is a typical 19th century Barcelona Modernista building. Has about 6 floors, very pretty from the outside but quite office-like inside. Big open plan space holds around 35 people. We have two terraces and have our first office BBQ next Friday.
What hours do people normally work?
Because I’m working with the UK market I do from around 9:30 to 19:00 Spain time. Others that work with Spanish and German markets get in around 08:30 and leave around 17:30 – 18:00. So we all do around the 45 hours a week mark. I take an hour for lunch, none of this siesta malarky!
The friends I have that work in traditional Spanish companies still have a change in timetable when it comes to the winter and summer. Winter is very similar to the UK but when the heat arrives (July and August) things change. They will normally start working at 8 instead of 9, and instead of having a lunch will work through till 3 and then go home for the day. You really notice it when you are working in the Spanish economy and if you want to get any work done in August, forget it! Everyone has at least 3 weeks off in August and the whole place shuts down. The only people here in that month are tourists as most locals leave for their small holiday houses up the coast or inland.
What have you discovered about the culture in your city since living there?
This is a very long question to answer, but to keep it short, quite a lot and not much of it (apart from the eating and drinking) do I like. As you are aware Catalunya wants to be a separate country from Spain but Madrid (the Government) is extremely reluctant to allow this. Therefore, most Catalans have a chip on their shoulder when it comes to talking about the rest of Spain and even talking in Spanish. I guess anyone that feels that they have something being taken away from them (taxes in return for little benefits, amongst many others) will behave in a more negative way than usual.
Apart from this the area behaves in a very similar fashion to the rest of Spain. We eat late in the evening, children are playing in the streets until midnight, it goes very quiet in the afternoon (although not everyone is taking a siesta many shops shut in the summer between 2 and 5-6ish) and you eat out. A lot!
Are there any unusual laws/regulations that you have to abide by?
Don’t drink and drive on a Bicing (bike). I think that’s common place everywhere now but it caught me out last year and the fine was astronomical (€700). I wouldn’t say there are any laws or regulations that one needs to abide by that aren’t present in the UK. In fact, although they still have the laws, a lot of them seem to be very relaxed here. It’s easy to drink on the street (there are Pakistani guys selling cans of Estrella beer everywhere for 1€) as long as you don’t do it in the face of a policeman you won’t get fined. You can by weed if you are a ‘member’ of a café that sells it and clubs stay open till 8am .
How does it compare to your home city?
Coming from a tiny village it is a stark contrast. There is never a dull moment. This detracts from having to find fun things to do and be creative because there are right in your face here. It’s hard to get home without having witnessed a concert in the street, a parade of some kind or just something bizarre.
It’s a much busier environment to live in and to having everything so accessible is very handy.
What is there to do in your spare time?
I like to do a lot of sport and exercise so most of my spare time is filled with hockey (yes, they play normal hockey here!) and a thing called Beachfit. This is a class that lasts an hour and you can do it 6 times per week. It’s all based on the beach of Barcelona and is a very intense all round work out. In the summer when the beach is busy you get a lot of heckling, but it’s quite funny and you feel absolutely fantastic/dirty/sandy/sweaty by the end of it all.
Apart from exercise there is always something else to do. The city is full of museums, galleries and things to see. Gaudi’s influence courses the city and the architecture is pretty spectacular. Having a car makes the local area accessible and there are a lot of mountain ranges and interesting places to visit inland. France is only a two hour drive and so are the Pyrenees where there is some great skiing to be found.
What do the locals do in their spare time (if different from your own)?
They seem to walk around a lot - you often see them ambling about ridiculously slowly. Apart from that exercise is really popular (having a beachfront really helps!) and being social and eating out seems to take up the rest of their time. Did I mention that the city has a football team…..
What do you like about the city?
THE WEATHER! Without a doubt this is the main reason I am still here. You can plan things, you can say you are going to have a BBQ at the weekend without needing a plan B. You can go to the beach, get a tan, have roof top dinners, you can go skiing. It gets cold here in the winter but the best thing is that the sun will most likely be shining. There are 3 times more hours of sunshine in the winter in Barcelona than the northern half of Europe. This means it isn’t gray.
Apart from the weather there are many things to enjoy. There’s never a dull moment: there are fiestas that last for weeks at a time and no expense is spared when it comes to extravagant displays of dancing, music, tradition and fireworks (check out La Merce festival in September for example). The city is big enough to have different quarters with local people coming from each, but small enough to get to your mate’s house on the other side of the city within 30 minutes. It’s clean for a Spanish city (the streets are hosed down most nights) and the transport is well organized. Most of the city apart from the old town works on a one way grid system so traffic is never a massive issue. The underground is fast and clean, if not a little hot on occasion, but it serves it’s purpose and is relatively cheap.
What don’t you like about the city?
As I mentioned earlier, the whole ‘being a Catalan’ thing has become very repetitive over the last 3 years but you just have to live with it. It’s their country after all! Crime is quite high here. Pick pocketing is fierce and this can be a real nightmare.
What is the local food like?
The local food is good. When you think of Spain you think of tapas and that’s a good perception to have. However, it’s not the only thing that gets eaten: bread is a staple part of the diet in Catalunya. They have a trade mark way of preparing it with tomato, garlic, olive oil and salt and is called ‘Pan con Tomate’, no prizes for guessing the translation of that one. It is always offered at restaurants and most people take it. Apart from the bread a lot of stews and potatoes are eaten and patatas bravas are as common in Catalunya as the rest of Spain. Being situated on the coast a good seafood paella is fairly easy to find, although personally I think this is over rated and, more often than not, you will fall into a tourist trap, rather than traditional, freshly cooked variant.
It seems to be inherent here to eat out for breakfast, lunch and dinner. One reason for this is that it seems to be relatively cheap to do so. There is something called a ‘menu del dia’ (Menu of the day) which comprises of a starter, main and pudding plus bread, water and wine/beer for under 10€. It’s quite common to see business folk and tourists a like eating this for lunch. In the evenings you have your typical array of tapas and more catalan dishes being eaten and the wine is always flowing (cheaper to drink wine or cava here than beer).
Where do you eat mostly (out/at home)?
