Lounging in Barcelona

The first thing I fell in love with was the architecture. Again with the paradox: there are the curvacious, degenerated and sooted stone edifices of the ciutat vella (most notably in the impossibly old Gothic Quarter), and then there are the sharp and startling jabs of modernism; the novel, often asymmetrical splashes of contemporary experimentation that give Barcelona its kooky edge. The funny thing is that all this architectural diversity is interspersed evenly. There is graffiti everywhere and I have to admit it is every bit as impressive as the buildings it defaces.

The smells – my God – I love every one of them. Even the bad smells, because they too serve as strong reminders of all the life in Barcelona. But the good ones are almost too good to be true: on this street the smell of a bakery or churreria; on the next, a chicken roasting in someone’s kitchen, its mouthwatering aroma flirting with the sweet scent of lime trees lining the street; half a block down, the cologne on the sharply-dressed businessman as he zips to the office; now a paella sizzling on a hotplate, its manifold flavors infusing one at a time; and finally, a whiff of the sea, carried in by a lovely breeze (there are so many lovely breezes in Mediterranean cities).

As you might imagine, everything tastes as good as it smells. I still don’t have a favorite tapa yet, though. I like everything I’ve tried. I would recommend you start with patatas bravas and some pink sauce to dip them in, and of course all the jamón you can eat. Fuet, chorizo, xistorra, butifarra, and sobrassada are all staples here, and I give them all an A+. Oh hell, and then there are the grilled calamars and the lightly fried bacalao (codfish). Don’t even get me started on the seafood. Just make sure that you wash anything you eat down with a good Spanish wine. Preferably a red Rioja. Am I making you jealous? I mean, I am making myself jealous.

Kelly Doyle-Mace was a runner-up for the 2009 World Traveler Internship and chronicled her prize for the STA Travel Blog – a spot as a University of Dreams Intern at BCN Week in Barcelona, Spain.